When looking for a new apartment, you might excitedly think of aspects like finally getting relief from your noisy, nosey neighbor or having enough money to upgrade to an abode with a home office.
However, the process of finding the perfect place often doesn't appear on such a list of positives.
That's because it's often time-consuming, difficult to specify the details most important to you and challenging to judge an apartment by pictures and a text-based description before scheduling a viewing.
However, the developers behind these six most helpful apartment-finding apps and websites understand those struggles — and use tech to ease them.
1. VeryApt
VeryApt emphasizes the philosophy that it's sometimes the relatively small things about an apartment, such as a light-filled kitchen or a friendly doorman, that make living in a place genuinely enjoyable. It uses a data-driven approach complete with proprietary algorithms to analyze a person's most wanted apartment characteristics, then provides personalized recommendations.
Plus, much like a flight or hotel-searching site, the results include the best deals on the market. It's also possible to read user reviews from current and past tenants and schedule viewings without going outside of the VeryApt site.
2. Apartment Guide
While browsing through the most useful apartment-related sites, don't overlook the appropriately named Apartment Guide as a resource. It has both a website and app presence, helping you search from your home, office or on the go.
The straightforward interface allows inputting a rent price range or searching with provided categories such as apartments for seniors or units close to college campuses. After specifying some details about the kind of abode you want, all the options appear in a map pane on the side of the screen. Then, it's easy to see the location of specific units related to local landmarks or roads.
3. Smart City Apartment Locating
Are you relocating to the Lone Star State and aiming to find a place in Dallas, Austin or Houston? Smart City Apartment Locating connects users with professionals who help them find their new pads, for free. You merely need to cite the website when asked how you found an apartment in the respective Texan city.
Begin your apartment search by filling out an online form. Alternatively, call or text the branch location in the desired area of Texas. The details you give help the apartment searchers scour the area and pinpoint the properties that fit your needs. Even better, the individuals assisting you live and work in the areas of the state they serve. So, no need to worry about getting leads from someone who's never even visited Texas.
4. Apartments.com
Apartments.com is among the best apps for apartment searches because some properties offer 3-D views of the apartments. You can zoom in, rotate your perspective and see a "dollhouse view" that shows a miniaturized version of the property and how it looks from the outside.
Plus, see availability specifics — such as if you could move in now or need to wait until a particular date — without even clicking to see the full property description. That feature saves time as you scan the listings.
5. LIVV
Advertised as the first apartment search assistant powered by artificial intelligence, Livv is a mobile-friendly app that looks for apartments based on your ideal descriptions. It analyzes the listings more carefully than most simplified searches do and pays attention to aspects like the neighborhood and what people think about the properties based on their reviews.
Getting started with Livv is simple. You click a button on the website and start describing your ideal property "just as you would to a friend," plus fill in a few other fields, such as your price range and desired location.
Then, the service sends you "smart match" emails featuring listings matching the things you mentioned. It seems similar to the job search apps that look for new career opportunities 24/7, even as you snooze.
6. Zillow Rentals
You might have browsed Zillow when not in the market for a new place. It's an app and website people often use to dream about properties before even thinking about moving. Although Zillow shows apartments, townhomes and houses for renters, you can filter out the latter two and only see apartments.
Another convenient aspect of the Zillow website layout is that it has several drop-down sections showing the amount of interest in the property from other site users, statistics about the neighborhood, nearby schools and more.
Open or close those portions depending on if they apply to your situation. Zillow also unveiled new features for prospective or current tenants. You can submit an online rental application through Zillow for $29 that includes background and credit checks. After moving in, Zillow facilitates online rent payments, too.
A streamlined search process with less stress
Locating a new apartment should be exciting, not anxiety-inducing. These purposeful apps eliminate hassles and focus on your needs, simplifying your search and helping you anticipate move-in day with happiness.
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