My roommate and I have commenced on The Great Apartment Hunt of 2012 in Chicago. After using many different apartment search websites, I have settled on hotpads.com as my site of choice.
I don't understand why people don't post pictures of their apartments. Why should I believe your written description of a place? Just because you say it's a castle in the middle of the city, doesn't make it true. I don't want to waste my time going to look at a place that you were too embarrassed to even put pictures up. People who put up floors plans or dimensions are the best.
Hotpads.com has a cool "street view" application where you can look at a 360 of the view of the neighborhood around the apartment. When a matter of a block could be the difference between college housing and the projects, it's important to know exactly where the apt is. I have found that using the street view then looking at the cars parked on the street is really helpful. If there is a BMW parked on the street, I figure we're probably ok. If all the hubcaps are missing from the cars, should probably avoid that area.
I will be in the city Thursday and Friday and will try to see as many units as I can during that time. We are hoping to move-in as soon as possible since I start work Monday, and my roommate is already past sick of the commute. I would prefer using my money towards rent rather than train tickets.
So far I've request information about eight apartments and have received responses from three. Good odds? I should probably be getting back to the hunt. Onward!
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