4. FIND AN APARTMENT FOR YOURSELF USING THESE TECHNIQUES

It's not so hard to find an apartment in Chicago that you absolutely must have a broker, so you may find these techniques useful in your solo search:

Employer or school
Online
Newspapers and magazines
Bulletin board, postings
Walking around

Hit up your employer or school

You may want to begin your search by asking your employer if the company has any real estate services; some large companies hold apartments for employees or have very good contacts in the rental market.

Don't neglect area colleges and universities, as they have high turnover rates (leading to easier apartment searches). Many of the most reasonably priced apartment listings can be found littering the lightposts of college walkways. And Chicago has plenty of campuses to search. There's DePaul University, the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, University of Chicago, and Loyola University, all of which lie almost directly in the heart of the city. And Northwestern University in Evanston (North Side, remember?) would surely be a good resource if you plan to live outside the Magnificent Mile or The Loop.

Online

There are a bunch of apartment sites out there, but we'll give you a few leads:

All of these provide regularly updated listings of apartments available for rent in various neighborhoods based on options you select.

Newspapers and magazines

Newspapers and magazines are good sources for apartment listings, both in print and online. Here are some examples:

CHICAGO TRIBUNE - The classified ads section includes listings for apartments in various areas. The Chicago Trib Online will also display a bunch of classified ads that aren't included in the printed version. We suggest going the online route, since it's free.

THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES - Another Chicago newspaper. Perhaps not as extensive as the Chicago Tribune, but it will still have listings worth a glance. And it also has that adorable Roger Ebert.

THE DAILY HERALD - Yet another Chicago newspaper. Check this one out for a really fantastic listing of available real estate in the Chicagoland area. The site is user-friendly and logically organized for maximum usefulness.

Bulletin boards, postings

Aside from letting you know what the area is like, driving around the areas in which you would like to live can be helpful in uncovering leads. People often post flyers offering nearby apartment sublets and rentals at churches, gyms, recreation centers, bus stop shelters, schools, and telephone booths in the neighborhood. Go. Look.

Walking around

A lot of landlords are too lazy, cheap, and illiterate to place ads anywhere at all, so all they do is dust off the old "For Rent" sign, write a barely legible phone number on it in lime green crayon, and set it up somewhere near their building. In order to see these advertisements, you have to walk by them. It's really handy to have a cell phone when you're on these excursions, but if you're not into brain cancer or you can't afford one, you can use pay phones or write down the info and worry about it later. It's hard to tell you exactly where to search for these signs. They're not usually in the fancier areas (such as the Gold Coast), so don't bother to try this technique there. Heading a little further away from yuppie towns may yield results, though.

Also, if you don't mind commuting by train and/or bus, consider looking for apartments in Oak Park. It's a large town right outside the city proper with easy access to local transportation, and the neighborhood is not only safe, it's pretty too. It's particularly good for car owners. For information, check out http://www.apartmentsoakpark.org.