The newest rental apartment-finding tool to cross our radar, Apartable, is something of a mix of the tools that have come before it. The site offers detailed rental listings and matches renters with their dream apartments. There's room for renter reviews?a dash of InsideDigs?the potential for rankings?a dash of Rentenna?and the possibility of connecting renters with brokers and property managers?a dash of renter referral and RentJolt. Will bringing all those features together create the ideal rental search site? It's a bit too soon to tell, but we took the site for a spin anyway, of course.
Things we like about the listings: each apartment's location is clearly pinpointed via Google maps. There are enough search options to allow a renter to get really nitpicky?only want carpeted floors, a sauna, and a walk-in pantry? Good luck with that, but all those boxes are available for checking off. There's also a thorough cost breakdown for each apartment, factoring in the net effect of a broker fee where there is one and the estimated moving cost when a security deposit is included. We wish all rental listings came with that information.
The site gets its listings?there are about 8,600 in NYC as of today?directly from brokers, landlords, and property managers, so what's listed is likely to be more accurate than what's on Craigslist. But the submissions policy has a downside: the offerings are limited by who in the industry is aware of the site and chooses to submit. So for now, it's probably best combined with other rental search methods.
· Official website: Apartable [apartable.com]
· Launches & Releases archive [Curbed]