Rental Hunting Services (San Diego, Vista, Carlsbad: apartment, rentals, mortgage)

[bigcaat]

We are hopefully being paroled this month from our small town bubble and want to go home to San Diego. We are taking a pay cut to do it.

Has anyone ever paid one of those services like apartmenthunterz.com, and if so, how were they? I know there's one for pet-friendly, as well.

We have always resisted "membership" to such a thing, but some of the listings look really good. I can't tell if they are legitimately better prices for the rentals or if those things are just a tease.

We are looking for a temporary place until we sell our current home. We would like someplace in La Costa/Carlsbad (first choice) but are certainly willing to look in Vista, San Marcos etc. (And of course all the more expensive places like Solana Beach, but figure we'll never find anything there. )

We need a place that takes cats, our absolute top dollar would be $1500/month -- but we're willing to compromise on things to get cheaper than that since we will be paying both a rent and a mortgage until we sell this place. The only thing I really don't want to compromise on is that it needs to have natural light and not be near a busy street or freeway. We're willing to live a little farther out for a while (my husband will hopefully be working at UCSD) to be someplace quiet where the cats will be away from traffic.

So, have any of you ever tried any of those services? Are they legit or are they a scam? We already know about Craig's List and The BackPage. That's where we're finding most of our leads.

Thanks,
Caat

[cnkad]

They are not really a scam per se, but it has been my experience that they cant really find anything that you cant find yourself. If you are willing to search for a place on your own then I am not sure I would waist the money. Plus I know that most have a money back guarantee, where if you find something through another lead they will refund you, but it is kind of a pain to get your money back, at least that was my experience.....so I am not sure they are as helpful as they seem.... But maybe some are better than others.

[NYSD1995]

the only place you want (need) to use a rental broker is NYC. Everywhere else, not worth it.

[bigcaat]

Originally Posted by cnkad

They are not really a scam per se, but it has been my experience that they cant really find anything that you cant find yourself. If you are willing to search for a place on your own then I am not sure I would waist the money. Plus I know that most have a money back guarantee, where if you find something through another lead they will refund you, but it is kind of a pain to get your money back, at least that was my experience.....so I am not sure they are as helpful as they seem.... But maybe some are better than others.

That's what I thought. Thanks. I just hope we can sell our home in short order. That's what's going to kill us, the double home payments.

No, not moving to NYC. Way too cold there.

Thanks for the input.

[jksouthbay88]

Um I use forrent.com and rent.com.
With those two sites I then use apartmentratings.com along with google maps.

It works for me.