Padmapper alternatives?

July 3, 2012 10:30 AM

Now that Padmapper can't pull in Craigslist listings, are there any alternatives that help you wade through Craigslist apartment ads?

This search for an alternative is probably a pipe dream, but... Padmapper isn't very useful in locating apartments now that it can't pull in Craigslist results, but Craigslist apartment ads are terrible to wade through for my large city.

I'm pretty confident there isn't anything as great at mapping and filtering apartment ads from Craigslist as Padmapper used to be out there, but are there any sites or methods that would make slogging through the 100+ daily ads for the same apartment complexes less painful? I use pretty specific Boolean searches but am still hitting a lot of those repeat posts for the same few apartment complexes, and I really miss the ability to visualize the ads (on a map of their locations) and find apartments in specific areas that aren't necessarily searchable via one zip code.

I'm not interested in other apartment-search sites that don't use Craigslist's ads, since the type of buildings I'm looking for (smaller, owner-handled) tend to only post to CL. Thanks!

posted by pavane to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

I search CL ads frequently for friends when they are looking for places, and I generally use the search filter at the top for the neighborhood, and the prices. That narrows it down quite a bit. I.e. "Midtown" and "up to 700/ month"
posted by Quincy at 10:35 AM on July 3, 2012

Best answer: Quincy: Not to put words into the OP's mouth, but sometimes that really isn't enough. In the areas I'm looking at in my own city, for whatever reason, neighborhood names often aren't included at all in listings, or if they are, they're useless - "Close to X" and "Easy access to Y" abound, regardless of whether that's reasonable.

pavane: It may or may not actually be useful for you, but I've had some luck shifting to major landmarks/transit/shopping corridors - There's more consistency about saying "Close to Major Transit Station" than usefully identifying the neighborhood itself.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:44 AM on July 3, 2012

Best answer: Livelovely uses Craigslist (for now!)

I can also recommend Hotpads.
posted by theraflu at 10:45 AM on July 3, 2012

Best answer: HousingMaps.com, if you're in one of the 25 or so cities they cover.
posted by desjardins at 10:49 AM on July 3, 2012

From this site on the Padmapper/Craigslist debacle:

"Apparently Craigslist allows mobile apps that pay the licensing fee to use and display their listings, but websites are a no go."

So, might be that mobile apps are the place to look. Padmapper has a mobile app, but I bet they pulled listings there, too.
posted by nat at 11:11 AM on July 3, 2012

Zillow.com... doesn't draw from Craigslist that I know of, but has some owner-handled rentals in the city I live in.
posted by ramenopres at 10:40 PM on July 3, 2012

Placeofmine.com has cool things like crime heatmaps, and filtering by neighborhood
posted by AceRock at 9:57 AM on May 21, 2013