Chicago Apartments for Rent:

I was looking for a place with some friends in NYC in the summer of 2008, and it ended up taking us 6 months. This was our first time, so we got scammed more than once by brokers and shady landlords.

In between scams, I sifted through thousands of Craigslist listings, and it was getting to the point where I was losing hope. It was like wading through my spam folder trying to find real emails. I'd click and read each listing, only to find out that it was in a bad location, or it looked like a slum, or there was a toilet in the kitchen, or it was too "cozy" to fit a double bed.

So, I ended up writing what became the first version of PadMapper to do most of the sifting for me and generally make the hunt better. I've used it and the iPhone app in 3 apartment hunts since then, and it has found me a place quickly each time.

I hope it helps you and your friends find a great place to live. Good luck with your hunt!

• The number of markers that can be displayed onscreen at once is limited to roughly 200. Zoom in or use the filters to make sure just the ones that fit your needs are displayed.


• Great apartment deals can be gone within a matter of hours. Set your filters and map area, then choose the "Get Email Alerts for this Search" option to get alerts on new listings that match.


• Keyword search is a powerful tool. Put a minus sign in front of a word to exclude listings that contain it. For example, "-female" should help filter out female-only sublets. Others: -cozy, -basement


• If you zoom in far enough, a bar at the bottom of the screen will let you map out the nearby grocery stores, gyms, bars, restaurants, and more. Even comes with Yelp reviews!

If there's anything that confuses you, or you see any bugs, please email me at padmapper@gmail.com. Feedback really helps - user feedback is the reason PadMapper is what it is today.

If you'd like more information, check out the blog. Here's a text-based browsing alternative (though it's more cumbersome): Sitemap