apt. websites?

leahmariess

DH and I plan to move to Chicago within the year and want to begin looking into apartments. I have searched rent.com, apartments.com etc. I like thehomesteadgroup.com but wish they provided pictures. Does anyone have any recommendations? We are open to any area but would like not to live in the suberbs.

ladychicago

I'm not sure I'm much help...  we found our current place on Craigslist.   But, I do highly recommend using them, because we were able to find a rented condo unit (its an investment property of the owner).    We're paying WAY below market-rate rent AND he's very flexible with our lease terms.   Of course, it totally depends on the landlord, but we're much happier with this arrangement than we were in our last building with a giant management company. 

kleen

Check out the Web site for the Chicago Reader.  I found all of my apartments through this site.

Good luck!

teambollman

The Apartment People, they have a few locations in the city, you walk in, tell them your price range and neighborhood, they drive you around that day and are great.  I used them a lot before, strongly recommend them.

wifeplzak

I work in property management and recommend craigslist if you are looking for something unconventional and if you want a highrise I would suggest apartment people (I have worked closely with them and they are great) or using a real estate agent. best of luck!

abseptember

I like Craigslist and ChicagoReader.  We found our first place by picking an area and driving around looking for rental postings.  It worked well for us b/c then we knew if we even interested in living in the building.

lizziebee106

I second craigslist.  You can find apartments that are not owned by large companies, which can be really nice.  And you can get some great deals on rent!!