what web site do people use in SF to find apts? (apartment, rentals)

[YoungTraveler2011]

im just curious about prices (want to compare them to LA) but zillow isn't showing many.

the site we use down here is westsiderentals.com.

[beb0p]

craigslist.org

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by beb0p

craigslist.org

Yep. The housing market here is so hot, that nobody needs to pay for an ad anywhere. They just run ads for open houses on CL and do the bidding from there.

[WizardOfRadical]

Craigslist will probably do you no good. You will go to an open house with like 100 other people. It is getting really, really bad. You have to know someone.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

Craigslist will probably do you no good. You will go to an open house with like 100 other people. It is getting really, really bad. You have to know someone.

He's just wanting to compare prices, not actually lease anything - at least from what I gathered.

[FC76-81]

You can tell me if I'm wrong but, CL isn't that great of a resource for accurate information you're trying to get because (since it's completely free to post on that site) great numbers who advertise rentals on it are slumlords and what they are trying to offer is shear garbage places to live.

Reason why I feel this way is because I have a chick friend who over the past 8 or so years has moved about two to three times. She looks on CL and I've gone with her about 99% of the time since she doesn't want to go alone when looking at rentals. Some of the stuff I've seen is just incredible. Broken windows, water & termite damage, doors with holes punched in them and a piece of sheet metal bolted over the hole, you name it. Total garbage. She's also gone through rental agencies which those are much better because their clients are held to a higher standard. And in most cases, rents reflect this higher standard.

So there are variables which quality is one of the factors.

[Sierrajeff]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

Craigslist will probably do you no good. You will go to an open house with like 100 other people. It is getting really, really bad. You have to know someone.

Plus a lot of the ads on craigslist are fake (or at least misleading). A friend moved here in May, looking for one-bedrooms - one person on craigslist wanted the deposit check before he'd show my friend the place (Danger! Danger!); for another, the "one bedroom" advertised on craigslist turned out to be one of two bedrooms in a two-bedroom apartment (to be shared with a stranger!).

I like Zumper - particularly since you can search by map, and various specific criteria.

[MauiPartTimer]

Yes there are scams on craigslist, but that doesn't mean they all (or even a majority) are. We've used it for properties where we are landlords, as well as one time when we were a tenant. Haven't had a bad experience. For the OP's purposes, I think it'll work as long as you're familiar enough with the area to disregard the ones that sound too good to be true. If not familiar enough to weed out the scams, just looking at ones holding open houses would be a pretty good filter as that tends to make it very likely to be real.

[WizardOfRadical]

Slum lording is the norm in the bay. There is no incentive for landlords to upkeep properties. Rents go up regardless of quality.

[Lalato]

Craigslist is the main source for info on apartment rentals. There are a few scams here and there, but they are pretty easy to spot. If it sounds too good to be true, than it probably isn't true. The vast majority of listings on Craigslist are legit. Scams usually get quickly reported and taken down. Most listings have pictures.

Next best place to look for rentals is Hotpads.com. You will get a few things not found on Craigslist though there is a lot of overlap between the two.

Zillow and Trulia (same parent company) both have rental listings. I prefer Trulia because you can see crime overlays to help you decide the relative safety of a neighborhood.

Best of luck on your search.