Introduction To National Apartment & Rental Locator Services

Most apartment and rental locators are moving onto the Internet to make their services more convenient to those who are wired.  National services, which virtually did not exist just a few years ago, now strive to cater to the whole country and the coverage of some is impressive.  Local rental services restrict their operations to specific metropolitan areas and niche markets such as offering luxury housing, up-scale apartment communities, high-rise buildings, senior citizen complexes, hard to find cottages, etc.  National services will usually provide listings of a large number of available units in an area it serves, others claim that they expose the largest percentage of all units advertised in the US.  ( See our list below of top National On-line rental locator services ).

Fees & Commissions

Locator services make their money by connecting landlords who have vacancies with tenants searching for new residences.A landlord lists his property and its features and benefits, and sets out general criteria for acceptance of applicants.A prospective tenant will describe the area in which he wants to live, general characteristics of the type of residence he would like to rent, and fills out an on-line application.The service matches apparently qualified prospects with apparently suitable properties, and the landlord contacts the applicant by email.The service is without charge to the prospect.The landlord pays a fee or commission that is agreed upon when the landlord lists his property.

Landlords & Tenants Make Final Decisions

Once placed in contact, the parties are free to conclude the transaction, or not, between themselves. Some rental industry experts forecast that within the next five years as much as 80% of all future advertising for rentals will be done on the Internet.

Top Tier National Locator Companies:

Rentals.com	Rent.com	Move.com
For Rent	Apartments.com	Apartment Guide
Realtor.com	Yahoo! Real Estate	Craigslist