Relocating from Chicago - looking for a rental house (San Diego: for sale, real estate)

[raheri]

Hi,

First of all, thanks to all for reading and taking the time to reply to this post. I do appreciate it. We are moving from Chicago, and we will be visiting soon for a week to look at some rental properties and sign our lease. I am not finding good sites for rental properties there. Realtor.com does not help much. I dont see much in Craig's list. We are looking for rental homes or townhomes/what is referred to as multi-level condos (not apartment units in buildings), 3 bedroom 2 bath - 20-25 mins driving dist from Rancho Bernardo. Could you point me to some sites that have good listings for rentals.

I saw the other thread about property search engines where cruitr and some others had proposed redfin, and SDLookup etc, I checked them out, but they seem to be mostly for properties to be purchased.

Also do real estate agents do this research? It would be great to have someone working for us there and can line up some homes to check out.

Thanks again for your help. So confused.

[cruitr]

Rentals are a very fragmented market. There is no MLS for all rentals. A realtor probably won't be of much help to you. You'll find the best rentals when you work directly with the property owners. However, many owners turn marketing and management of their properties to property managers.

Here are two rental sites:
HotPads - Map Search for Real Estate, Apartments and Houses for Rent, Foreclosures and Homes for Sale
Rent Jungle - Apartment and Rental Search Engine With Millions of Apartments And Houses For Rent

For the shortest commutes to Rancho Bernardo, look for a rental in zips 92127 and 92128.

Go Bears! (just kidding... my wife is a Cheesehead)

[raheri]

Thanks cruitr. I will definitely check out both the links. Do you have any idea where the property management companies market their single houses for rent?

Thanks for your help.

[cruitr]

Originally Posted by raheri

Thanks cruitr. I will definitely check out both the links. Do you have any idea where the property management companies market their single houses for rent?

Thanks for your help.

Most property managers use craigslist. It's cheap and everybody looks there.

Here are two reputable property management companies:
San Diego Property Management
SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO Homes and Real Estate For Sale - ,
There are dozens of others.

[Erikas]

Hi Raheri,

I'm a real estate agent as well as a property manager in San Diego. I moved here from Chicago area nearly 13 years ago and would be happy to do some research for you!

Erika
Erika Satre Smith, Realtor @ CENTURY 21 Award and San Diego community advocate.