Boston North End Apartment Search (neighborhood, tenants, landlords)

[Linds2011]

Hey everyone... I have the dreaded task of looking for an apartment this spring. My boyfriend and I are looking for a 1 bedroom in the North End for no more than $1200 with heat and hot water. I know this will be pretty difficult to find, but I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find apartment postings by landlords themselves in stores in the north end, a website, etc. Or if anyone currently lives there or has lived there in the past and managed to find a good deal and how they found it. Or anyone who knows someone moving, looking for good tenants, etc. If I can avoid working with a realtor, that would be awesome. I've lived in my current apartment in Brighton with roommates for the past 4 years and love it, but I also remember how difficult it was to find and how terrible our first post college apartment was. I've used craigslist, but am looking for other resources to search the north end because I've only been to that neighborhood for dinner and to walk around in the nice weather. Please send me a message on here if you're able to help. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I appreciate anything!