Better web alternative to Craigslist – finally!
Tired of the Craigslist bait and switch, NY’ers?
Never fear — MyFirstApartment has the scoop on a new site that should make apartment hunting a little easier! It’s called RentHop.com and you can search by multiple neighborhoods at once. Most importantly, after you put in your search criteria, you can see all the listings on a MAP, which was always my main gripe with Craigslist: I’d see a place that sounded terrific, only to eventually find out that it was in a crummy area.
Another perk is that there’s a deal section where you can see great, often last-minute, offers. For instance, a place that has 2 free months of rent if you agree to a 14-month lease. Um, AWESOME.
Don’t believe me? Check out a chunk of their mission statement: Unfortunately, New York apartment hunters who use Craigslist typically pay 15% of a year of rent in broker fees; that’s over $3,000 at lease-signing in the median case. On top of the high costs, apartment hunting on Craigslist means searching through pages of anonymously posted boxes of text. A more effective tool would ensure each listing contains detailed and accurate information, each advertiser is a trustworthy counter-party, and each apartment hunter can search the listings to suit specific housing tastes.
Darn tootin’! Whether the variety will be good enough to out-Craig Craigslist is what I’m really anxious to see. Here’s hoping though — and that it can expand to additional cities!
