Renting

Looking for a new apartment could be daunting. However, there are several things that can do to ease your search:

1. Walking around the area where you want to rent and looking at building that have for rent signs. I suggest jotting notes and the phone number on a notepad as you can easily confuse which phone number belongs to whom.
2. Looking up Craigslist posts. Again, if you are going to write someone an email about a posting, include the link in the posting so you can refer to it later. 
3. Calling a realtor in your area. Some places, realtors are not that common for renting, however, in others like downtown Miami, it is highly unlikely that you will find an apartment if you do not go through a realtor. You can find them by going to Realtor.com. They should not cost you anything and they will do all the work for you. Try it even if renting through a relator is not common in your area.

Remember to always negotiate the listed price. Realtors advise that you can get 10% off, however, I've gotten 20% off by starting low and offering to pay some months up-front. The factors you can negotiate is price, lease term, how much to pay upfront or for security deposit, utilities, etc. Therefore, if you are willing to dish out 6 months upfront, most places won't mind putting you on a month-to-month lease after that, for example.