How Did You Find Your Denver Rental House (or Apt.)? (Littleton: apartments, condo)

[kevin_in_Denver]

Of course, the internet is the most common spot to search for rental vacancies in Denver. The dominant websites seem to be playing musical chairs since Craigslist got outflanked a few years ago.

So my question is directed to recent house hunters (within the last three months).

Which website (or websites) was the most helpful to you?

Current house hunters are also encouraged to report.

Landlords are encouraged to report their experience (if you have filled a vacancy within the last 3 months).

Non-house hunters are not encouraged to chime in (because they would be guessing and speculating).

[wilberry]

I think it was called six and seven figure salary only dot com

[ADogNamedSam]

I'm interested as well, I'll be renting an apartment/town-home/condo close to Buckley AFB.

"close" = about, I don't know, a 20 minute drive or so ?

Generally the closer to the base, the lower the monthly rent but the worse reviews (Google, others). Especially as one looks to the west of the base. Looking for the sweet spot along the "proximity", "cost", and "desirability" axes ... low rent isn't as good when dodging gunfire while walking Sam !

The couple of apartments I have been looking at have gone up in rent recently. Seriously, $1500 or more (plus pet rent, covered parking space) for an 850 sq ft 1-br, 1-bath apt ? Looks like I will be competing with other folks moving in and needing a home while bidding on properties.

[illinoisphotographer]

Google. We just looked up "Apartments Littleton, CO" and went from there.

We also looked at Apartments.com

To be completely honest, we looked at 12 different apartments when we came out last summer within 2 days. By the end, we realized 1 thing: Once you're in a set price range, they're pretty much all the same.

Sure, location changes, layouts are slightly different, and some units had 3 stories vs others that were only 2 stories, but after the 3rd or 4th one, they started to blend together.

The one we went with is actually a townhouse-style apartment with an unfinished basement and a covered parking spot.

[SkyDog77]

I put a sign up in the yards with an open house date a week in advance. I'm there for exactly 3 hours on a Saturday with a stack of applications.

I post an ad on Zillow advertising the open house.

I don't get a single phone call or email. I price slightly below market. The last few years I have received 20-30 applications and I have my pick of the best tenant.

[kevin_in_Denver]

Do you suggest bringing an application or do you hand them a blank one when they arrive at the open house?

On that note, what's a good website for an online application?

[kevin_in_Denver]

Coincidentally, Apartments.com often has a popup ad on this website.

They certainly have a large advertising budget, but it's used only by the large apartment communities. You won't find a mom and pop rental house or apartment on there.

[SkyDog77]

Yes old school paper apps. I print out a stack.

I kicked around the idea of using an app service that people could fill out online and put in a credit card number to have a credit check run, but then I would have 30 people paying for credit checks they don't need.

I select a few finalists from the paper apps, then call them back and get $15 for a credit check if they are interested.

[Thom Hanks]

When I didn't own, I used to just drive or bike around and inquire within. I never found the online sites to be very helpful other than to point out the locations of places I would want to visit.

[wilberry]

seriously though I used apartment list dot com found it very helpful.