Not so long ago, looking for an apartment meant searching through the real estate classified ads in the newspaper, circling the descriptions of apartment rental listings that sounded promising. And while newspaper apartment listings still exist, the Internet has made researching apartment rental listings much easier and faster.

• There are a number of websites that offer free apartment listings by location, such as Craigslist, Rent.com, and Apartments.com. Or start by using a search engine such as Google and type in “apartment rentals” or “apartment finder.” Apartment rental sites list affordable apartments and will allow you to search by price, location, and amenities. Internet listing sites provide pricing and contact information, photos, floor plans, and virtual tours.
• Many towns and cities have apartment-locating services that can match prospective renters with apartments. You can do an Internet search for apartment listings in your location to see if such a service exists. Then just plug in your search criteria, and the service will provide you with apartment listings that match. These services are free; most apartment locators get paid a percentage of the monthly rent by the apartment complex to which a renter moves.
• Determine exactly what you are looking for in an apartment such as monthly rent, how much you can spend on a security deposit, size, and whether you’ll be splitting rent with a roommate. By narrowing down your options, you’ll have better luck finding rentals that are within your budget and have the features you desire when you submit your information to an apartment listing website.
• Once you have a list of available apartments in front of you, look at photos and go on virtual tours of each listing, noting the ones that come the closest to matching your needs. Then you can visit the apartments you’re most interested in by taking an actual tour of the ones on your list.