Picture courtesy of Damon Tighe Flickr

If you ve ever looked for an apartment online, chances are you ve been to Craigslist.

Although it is possible to find your dream apartment on the Internet’s biggest warehouse for local offerings. You re likely to get bogged down by Craigslist s infinite spam and heavy traffic, which rapidly snatches up legitimate listings.

If you re interested in finding an apartment online, but don t know where to look aside from Craigslist, we ve got the roundup for you. Here are 5 sites to help you find the perfect apartment in your LA neighborhood of choice, at your preferred price range.

RadPad

Hmmm…why do I love RadPad?!

Because it was created by someone who actually lives in Los Angeles! What a better way to create an apartment service than from someone who actually understands the struggles of finding the perfect place in LA?

What I like about RadPad is that it approaches apartment searching in such a novel way. In addition to offering the basic city/price searches found in any apartment search engine, RadPad has placed a strong emphasis on high quality photos and verified listings. There’s nothing worse than scouring Craigslist for hours sifting through low quality photos (or no photos at all) and fake listings. RadPad has solved this problem by verifying each listing and requiring landlords to post at least 3 high quality photos for each property.

More importantly, they have a free mobile app that makes apartment searching ridiculously convenient. While driving  through any LA neighborhood you love, you can search on the app for rentals near your current location. You can hit love on rental listings that catch your eye, and then come back to them later on your favorites list.

Quick Tip: RadPad has recently updated the app to allow apartment hunters to instant message property owners, making it easy to ask questions and set up viewings quickly. Be sure to take advantage of it!

You can check out the desktop version and download the mobile app here .

People With Pets

For all of you who want to live with your four-legged friends, PeopleWithPets.com is here to solve the problem.

As some of you may know, landlords have made it extremely difficult to find places in LA that will accommodate your pet, especially if it’s a large animal. People With Pets offers a national directory of pet friendly apartments and hotels across America including Los Angeles.

Quick Tip: There’s a dirty little secret Angelenos have been using for years to circumvent pet policies across LA but you didn’t hear it from us :-).

Walk Score

Find a walkable place to live with a better commute, great nearby places to eat and shop, and transportation choices.

Walk Score is a website that takes a physical address and measures its walkability (i.e. distance from hospital, grocery store, etc.). The more amenities (including restaurants, movie theaters, and schools) surrounding a specific address, and the closer they are, the higher your Walk Score.  It also tracks how transit-friendly neighborhoods are too.

Quick Tip: If the Walk Score for your desired neighborhood is below 75—find a new neighborhood or get prepared to put some mileage on your car.

Westside Rentals

Westside Rentals is the premiere online destination where landlords come to list their available units. Their database is continuously updated with fresh listings everyday. The two big flaws with Westside Rentals are that it’s 60 bucks and the mobile app is nowhere up to par with the likes of a RadPad.

The Rental Girls

The Rental Girl is a Los Angeles based leasing agency with neighborhood branches throughout the city. Each branch is operated by an individual agent providing free listings to renters. They don’t have as many listings as the previous services mentioned, but they are known to have great vacancies not listed on any other service.

Hey Justin, what’s your favorite apartment service?

Ah…I thought you’d never ask.

It would be a combination of RadPad and Walkscore. I’ve been using RadPad as of late because of its nifty iOS app that lets me contact property owners directly from my phone which saves me a tremendous amount of time setting up appointments. Once I find that right apartment with Radpad, I use Walk Score to let me know the walkability of the neighborhood.

Don’t get me wrong, other services like Westside Rentals are great, but I’d rather save my $60 and spend it on a nice dinner with my lady :-).

Now get out there and find that perfect apartment!