Which is the best website to search for apartment rentals?

[donaldtang]

I am international student and is going to do rotation at Staten Island University Hospital. And I want to reserve a room ahead of time so it can be cheaper. However, I have no exprience in aparment renting in the US. Do you know any website that provide the most reliable and comprehensive information on housing?
I tried to contact the clerkship coordinator of Staten Island University Hospital, but she/he told me that she/he didn't have any information on housing.
Thanks in advance for any imput!

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[Gabby]

I always use rent.com or apartments.com

 

[kryptik]

craigslist.org select New York for city and do a search for "rooms to rent in staten island"

 

[McGillGrad]

Keep in mind that most of the realtors that mediate the rentals charge something like 1 month's rent (or at the very least $500-600)

 

[vicinihil]

relatively new website/idea. It takes advantage of Google Maps and helps you visually location an apt in a specific location.

www.padmapper.com (I'm no way associated)

 

[McGillGrad]

relatively new website/idea. It takes advantage of Google Maps and helps you visually location an apt in a specific location.

www.padmapper.com (I'm no way associated)

It seems that most of these are long-term. I think he is looking for short term, month-by-month rentals.

 

[donaldtang]

Thanks for the answers above!
I contacted some apartment owners. They require a one-month deposit before they can reserve a room for me. They told me that I may send them a money order or wire transfer the deposit. But I'm worried about that because of two possibilities:
(1)If I arrive in the US and find that the apartment is not the same as what they described, they may refuse to refund my deposit.
(2)Even if they indeed received my deposit, they may tell me that they have not received the deposit and ask me to send them again.
How do you solve the problem?
Really appreciate your imput

 

[HealingDoc]

I used roomster.com and bought a temporary 2-day membership for about $5 to search for renters. I was able to easily send out a message to all of the renters in my search criteria: 4-6wk, furnished, non-smoking, and described myself to the potential renters. Based on the replies I received, I was able chat on the phone with a couple of potential renters and found a very nice family that let me stay in one of their empty rooms.

Roomster does have renters who agree to take you in for shorter periods of time.

 

[HealingDoc]

I used roomster.com and bought a temporary 2-day membership for about $5 to search for renters. I was able to easily send out a message to all of the renters in my search criteria: 4-6wk, furnished, non-smoking, and described myself to the potential renters. Based on the replies I received, I was able chat on the phone with a couple of potential renters and found a very nice family that let me stay in one of their empty rooms.

Roomster does have renters who agree to take you in for shorter periods of time.

Forgot to mention that you should discontinue the membership before it expires- so use it for under 48 hours, otherwise they automatically renew your membership for 1 month and charge your card (this happened to me).

 

[keys]

try www.rotatingroom.com

its for medical students that are traveling 🙂

 

[DocEspana]

also in NYC a great website is sublet.com