<p>D graduated in May and is looking for a place to rent in LA. I suggested she try Padmapper and Craigslist, as well as the property manager she currently rents from and find herself something but so far, she doesn’t really know what to do.</p>
<p>Where in L.A.? What people often refer to as ‘LA’ is actually about a hundred square miles and many different cities.</p>
<p>Craigslist is the best. I used to work for the largest apartment rental company in LA and believe that it’s better to use Craigslist than any proprietary company. There’s simply more listings on the site than anywhere else.</p>
<p>Centralish, to the east of la cornets blv. And west of maple ave, near USoCal appears to be her major area of concentration.</p>
<p>I agree about Craigslist, and don’t know much about Padmapper.</p>
<p>Also, network via Facebook. She can post status reports that she’s looking, and ask all her FB friends and acquaintances to look out for her in their neighborhoods, ask among their coworkers, etc. If she has a hundred dollars to spare, offer her friends a “finder’s fee” if their suggestion ends up becoming her home. That may motivate them to try even harder to scout for her.</p>
<p>Padmapper is a great website that crawls websites like Craigslist and apartments.com for listings. It then puts an overlay on Google Maps where you can click on each place to get more info (and be linked directly to the ad). It’s free and a really convenient way to get started searching.</p>
<p>Your DD could also check the USC housing site. I found a condo to rent, owned by a former grad student, for my son in Pasadena (after he graduated).</p>
<p>D found both of her LA apts by just driving around the areas she wanted and looking for rental signs. (Hollywood and Echo Park). It’s really the best way to avoid the Craigslist scams. Has she considered Atwater Village and Echo Park?</p>
<p>Thanks for these thoughts and reminders about scams. Wow. Lots to think about.</p>
<p>A studio or even sharing a place where D could have own room and parking space would be ok too, if anyone has suggestions. Have forwarded D this thread.</p>
<p>My daughter just moved into her new LA apartment last week. She was saying the best way to find apartments in the UCLA/Santa Monica side of town is to drive around looking for signs.</p>
<p>Ok. That’s what others have suggested to. Thanks. Will repeat that to her again.</p>
<p>Himom…does she already have a roomie that she is making the search with? I just pm’d you with a bit of useless information ;)</p>
<p>At the moment, searching for a place to live alone.</p>
<p>Did your D go to USC? I know when we toured there they mentioned one direction was pretty safe, patrolled by campus police. The other directions were not recommended as places to visit.</p>
<p>Yes, she did attend USC and would only be interested in the safe areas around campus, which she is pretty familiar with.</p>
<p>Our D moved to LA after grad school for her job. I was with her on her 1st apt hunting visit 2 years ago. We did all the above–driving around in the neighborhood area she was interested in. Found several but most were too expensive for her budget. Used craigslist extensively and toured several that way too. She had the best luck using Westside Rentals which has listings that are somewhat “vetted” and more extensive than any other resource we’d used. (also tried other online options, ie padmapper etc).</p>
<p>The catch is that the listings all fit the definition of “westside” LA. That may not fit with your D’s plans. When my D decided to change from her 1st apt and move to Santa Monica, she went back to Westside Rentals again. There was an application process with them, a small fee (maybe $60?), before they’d give you the listings. </p>
<p>It may be worth checking their website to see if any of their listing area is within your D’s location preferences. Good luck! Apts are expensive in the LA area, especially if you want to live sans roommate, as my D learned. However, she’s been pretty happy with her choices.</p>
<p>Thanks–can you give me a sampling of some neighborhoods considered “westside” and covered by that rental company? I’d like to forward those to D.</p>
<p>Have read mixed reviews about Westside Rentals–lovers and haters of this service.</p>
<p>Westside Rentals covers pretty much all of the Los Angeles area. I got a subscription to them through my school and found it relatively worthless in my area (Pasadena).</p>
<p>HI Mom:
Best bet is to google Westside Rentals and go to their website. As I recall, you could look at where their neighborhoods/listings were concentrated. Based on that, D decided that their areas overlapped with her areas of interest.</p>