When you start looking for a new apartment, chances are you have a finite amount of time before you need to move.
It can be challenging to find the right place to call your next home, and securing it before it gets snapped up by another renter makes the search even more pressing. In a competitive market, available apartments come and go at a moment’s notice, and a rental open house can feel more like a face-off with other renters than a tour of the space.
Fortunately, there are rental apps that not only provide up-to-date apartment availability and more precise search options, but also speed up the application process, helping you act quickly once you’ve found your next home. For instance, some rental apps have evolved to provide renters’ financial information to potential landlords and allow tenants to pay rent once a lease has been signed.
Here are 10 popular and free rental apps you can use to find your next apartment available on both iOS and Android:
— HotPads
— Zumper
— Rent.com
— Apartment Guide Home Rentals
Zillow Rentals
Best for Comparing Rental Rates
The Zillow Rentals app (Apple, Android) gives users access to spaces for rent throughout the country, with the ability to search more than one city, neighborhood or ZIP code at once to capture all areas of interest. You have the ability to personalize a search with specific features such as pet policy, in-unit laundry or on-site parking, and then save the searches that interest you most. Zillow applies its Zestimate technology — best recognized to estimate the market value of a home — to show Rent Zestimates, making it easier for renters to compare an asking rent with others in the local area. Rental listings also note if the area has legal protections against discrimination regarding LGBTQ individuals, housing vouchers or source of income. Reviewers say a big advantage is that the app allows them to quickly search up-to-the-minute rental listings, and they appreciate Zillow’s verification system. But there are some complaints that you can’t filter saved homes in the app and that most places never contact you back through the app.
Trulia Rentals
Best for Scoping Out the Neighborhood
Trulia Rentals (Apple, Android) helps streamline inquiries with its one-click feature, which puts interested renters in direct contact with the property manager, without having to fill out an inquiry form for every apartment they’re interested in or search for a phone number. The Trulia Neighborhoods feature provides photos and drone footage of the neighborhood, with details including surveyed opinions from local residents on safety and walkability, whether local laws protect gender identity and sexual orientation in housing, as well as employment and public accommodations. The “Affordability” tab on each rental listing automatically calculates the ideal income to comfortably rent at the asking rate, based on Trulia’s recommendation that you rent within a third of gross household income. Parents can also search for homes to rent in a desired school district by searching by school or district. Alana Lindsay, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Warburg, says Trulia has rental listings that are not stale or without updates, and that the app often has better listings for renters with a very tight budget. However, some reviewers wish listings included floor plans and would like to see properties that accept Section 8 housing vouchers.
Apartment List
Best for Curated Apartment Options
Apartment List (Apple, Android) initially opens to ask you a series of questions about your next rental — location, budget, how you prioritize those details and what amenities are most important to you. Once you’ve answered these questions, Apartment List presents categorized groups of rental listings that match everything you want or are a bit kinder on your budget, among other options. When going through the listings, you can create a short list of favorites by approving or rejecting your options like you would on a dating app. When you note that you like a particular rental listing, the app can reach out to the property on your behalf to start an inquiry. The personalized renter questionnaire and swipe features are popular, but reviewers say the app sometimes gives results that are not close to the set parameters and there’s no way to search without giving your email and other personal information.
Apartments.com
Best for Real-Time Availability
Apartments.com’s app (Apple, Android) provides real-time availability with a focus on including details on the amenities apartment communities offer and additional fees renters can expect. Filters make it easy to search within your own parameters, from school information to commute to work or other spots you frequent. Apartments.com also verifies its listings to cut down on the possibility of scam listings or dated information. A transportation feature in the app notes the distance to the nearest airports and access to public transit. You can also search for nearby restaurants and college campuses. However, some users say the app can be buggy at times.
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HotPads
Best for Major City Searches
HotPads (Apple, Android) is best known for its apartment listings in major cities, but the app displays inventory throughout the country. Features include neighborhood details, such as nearby schools and a walk score, to help you get a feel for the area around the apartment you’re considering. If you find a listing that you think would be a great fit for a friend or family member, the share button allows you to send the information with a couple of simple clicks. Like many other apps, similar availabilities are shown at the bottom of a listing, but on HotPads you can also see other properties listed by the same property manager, in case you’re interested in inquiring about more than one availability at once. While you can use filters to narrow down your search, such as by senior housing communities, student housing or low-income restricted houses, users say they wish there were more filters when it came to preferred amenities. Another common complaint is about the alerts, which reviewers said suggested apartments outside of their budget or for apartments that aren’t close to what they’re searching for.
Zumper
Best for Completing the Renting Process
Zumper (Apple, Android) offers instant alerts as rental listings that meet your needs come online. Zumper also partners with TransUnion to provide you with your credit report so you can submit a rental application to a landlord securely through the app. Renters can take advantage of features such as booking tours, prequalifying for an apartment, making an offer on a rental and, in some markets, even paying rent once you’ve signed a lease. Rent trends also show you how an apartment’s rent compares to the current average rent in the area, and how the average has changed in recent weeks. You can also use Zumper to book short-term accommodations since Zumper has partnered with Vrbo, Booking.com and others to offer short-term and vacation rentals. Reviewers appreciate how simple it is to apply for an apartment but complain that houses are not verified and warn others to be wary of scams.
StreetEasy
Best for Renting in New York City
StreetEasy (Apple, Android) has one of the largest selections of rentals in New York City (all five boroughs and parts of New Jersey), and it’s the go-to app to find a home for New Yorkers. You can use the app to search for listings and buildings and view full-screen listing photos and floor plans, as well as filter a search by price, neighborhood, amenities, virtual tours or no-fees. Save your favorite apartments and buildings to receive updates whenever there’s a change in price or availability. When you see something you like, you can email or call real estate agents directly from the app. “StreetEasy is for your mid- to high-budget renter who’s looking primarily to live in Manhattan,” says Lindsay. But there are also downsides to the app. “Rentals in New York City go so quickly that by the time a listing even has its first open house, it may have several applications,” she says.
[Read: 8 Red Flags to Help You Spot a Rental Scam.]
Rent.com
Best for Boundary Search Options
Rent Group Inc.’s app (Apple, Android) allows you to find available visit times and book a tour for the apartments you’re interested in. You can narrow your search based on certified residents’ reviews, which are obtained by a Rent.com survey of residents. Rent.com makes its boundary search, which is common in other apps, even more useful by being able to focus on more than one area that may not be connected. If a property recently lowered the asking rent, you’ll see it noted at the top of the listing. Leasing office hours are also clearly noted on property information so you know when you’ll be able to reach someone directly with an inquiry. Some users say the biggest problem with the app is the inability to search a specific region; the location has to be changed manually.
Apartment Guide Home Rentals
Best for Providing Landlords With Info
Apartment Guide (Apple, Android) provides high-definition photos and floor plans for a deeper look at available spaces. The app lets you save listings and send interesting ones to a friend for a second opinion. With the ability to contact property managers and landlords directly from the app, you’re also able to provide information they’ll want to approve your application, like income, credit score, move-in date and whether you have any pets. There are several downsides. For example, some users say the filters don’t always work, and it’s difficult to get a response to tour requests.
PadMapper
Best for Providing Property Basics
The PadMapper app (Apple, Android) provides rental availabilities in a clean, simple presentation to make it easy to check out apartment details, building amenities and more. You can also find listings for roommates and sublets, which gives you a much wider range of options to choose from. Plus, you can contact landlords directly with just a single tap. “From using all of the top apps for finding apartments, I usually find that PadMapper often shows the most apartments in total, from the most to the least expensive,” says Seamus Nally, CEO at TurboTenant, a software platform for landlords and property managers. “That’s invaluable for renters because it allows them to really just use that one app to search for an apartment, rather than having to bounce between a few apps.” However, PadMapper doesn’t have as many reviews in app stores as some other apartment rental apps, and some users said there were too many bugs, including broken filters.
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The 10 Best Apps for Finding Your Next Apartment originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 05/20/24: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
