Top 8 Apartment Search Websites For Apartment Shoppers

ILoveLeasing.com has provided lead tracking and prospect management for the apartment industry since 2006. The following information represents a professional classification based on observation and factual analysis.

• Move.com
  • Although not one of the largest ILS's, I think Move.com presents prospects with the right amount of information presented in an easy to read design. The margins of the property listing aren't cluttered with links to a variety of other services. That information is there - on the homepage - but it isn't overwhelming each listing.
  • Doesn't require prospects to login to find out information, but it does remember the information entered into the "Contact Property" form so that prospects don't have to retyped their contact information repeatedly.
  • Prospects begin their search broadly - either by city or zip code. Once they have the full listings within an area, they can reduce the apartments through a variety of options. The properties listed within an area also provide a lot of initial information:
  • Four big photos of the property start out the listing. It also lets a prospect know how many more photos there are. Below the photos are the floor plans, organized by amount of bedrooms. The floor plan information is neatly presented and each plan has a linked icon to the image of the floor plan:
• Apartments.com
  • Doesn't require prospects to login to find out information, but it does remember the information entered into the "Check Availability" form so that prospects don't have to retype their contact information or comments over and over.
  • Can search a property by map, city/state, property name and corporate/temporary/short term housing.
  • Has an iPhone Application to contact properties via iPhone.
  • Overall has the biggest, clearest photos and larger floor plans.
  • Searching by city, you can make your search as narrow or as broad as you want -
  • List of properties includes range of pricing - a great indicator right away on whether a prospect can afford to look further into a particular community.
  • Detailed information on Parking, Pets, Community and Neighborhood. The way the information is presented more structured and easier to read than some other ILS's (see: ForRent.com).
  • Google Map not only lets you see where the property is located, but let's you type in your address for driving directions:
• ApartmentGuide.com
  • Doesn't require prospects to login to find out information, but it does remember the information entered into the "Check Availability" form so that prospects don’t have to retype their contact information or comments over and over
  • AG lets prospects search for specific types of properties within an area: apartments, student housing, corporate apartments, military housing, senior living, and properties en Espanol.
  • Searching within a location is made simple. Just a few of the ways you can organize the list of properties is by alphabetical order, price or location. You can increase or narrow down the properties in a specific area by price, features and more:
    
  • Have coupons
  • Prospects can fill out online applications:
    
  • Included demographics about the community and information about the schools:
    
  • On average, has large photos and floor plans. Also features 360 Views of apartments.
• ForRent.com
  • Doesn't require prospects to login to find out information.
  • Has partner sites dedicated to specific housing - senior housing, corporate housing and Spanish-speaking housing.
  • If you enter a specific zip code, ForRent.com will note all of the properties in that precise zip code and then list properties in nearby areas.
  • Before you even click on a specific property, a fair amount of information is provided:
    
  • All listings feature a virtual tour of the community and/or model.
  • The Features section of each property gives more insight into property amenities. Instead of just having a "Jacuzzi", ForRent.com lets the property elaborate - "32-Foot Heated Jacuzzi".
    
• Rent.com
  • Requires prospects to login. Once logged in, the program remembers the information used in the contact form. Also, when you visit Rent.com again, the homepage notes the properties the prospect has viewed, the properties saved as "favorites" and the properties the prospect has contacted.
    
  • Rent.com has one of the cleanest, simplistic layouts of information. The amenities, floor plans, and information are well organized.
    
• ApartmentFinder.com
  • Doesn't require prospects to login to find out information.
  • Apartments can be posted to Facebook or Twitter.
  • Each property features a YouTube video.
    
  • Neighborhood Information is detailed with nearby restaurants, schools, retail and more:
    
• MyNewPlace.com
  • Saves the prospect's information in the contact form.
  • Clicking on each floor plan drops down to providing information about the specific floor plan:
    
  • After completing a search, MyNewPlace.com recommends properties:
    
  • It also remembers what you’ve previously viewed/searched:
    
• 4Walls.us
  • RealEstateRama noted that 4Walls.us was the 2nd in the top apartment hunting search engines.
  • In a highly populated area like Dallas, this listing service has only has 14 properties with paid ads. The paid ads are not impressive to us. Below is an example of a 4Walls.us "Featured Apartment Home." The presentation does not perform well beside its competition. It's easy to overlook that there are additional photos and floor plans.
    
    

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