What Websites to Use to Find a House to Rent
Are you looking for the best site to search for rental homes? You’re probably looking for houses to rent nearby.
When looking for a rental house for your next move, it can be challenging to know where to start.
While there seem to be countless options to help people find rental apartments, houses can be more challenging.
The best way to find houses for rent, and probably the easiest, is to search online using a rental listing website that helps you narrow your search.
Online tools are the top way renters shop for a house to rent. Ninety percent of Millennial renters, 88% of Generation Z, 79 percent of Generation X, and 70% of Baby Boomers use rental listing websites. That’s a lot of people!
But what are the best rental home sites to help you find your perfect house?
When you decide to rent a house and not an apartment, you’ll want to know the best rental websites.
We will help you choose the best site for homes and show you how to narrow your search. Searching for the ideal property will be more challenging when availability and vacancies are low. There has been high demand and low inventories in most areas.
You’ll know how to find home rentals when you’re done reading.
The Best Home Rental Sites
Rental sites give you many options to look for for your ideal home. The top sites allow you to narrow your search to the exact ZIP code and the number of bedrooms, facilities, and amenities you require.
Some of the best rental listing websites will offer floor plans or a virtual tour so you can visually see property listings before visiting them in person.
Let’s dive into some of the best houses for rent-sites.
Multiple Listing Services
One of the top places to find your next rental home is the Multiple Listing Service. While the MLS is one of the best websites to find a property for sale, it’s also a good destination for houses to rent.
What initially began as a way for real estate agents to network is now an online database that links up with more than 700 local services. You want to search for the listing service serving the local area you want to live in. You can access this through a local real estate agent or the city’s website.
Real Estate professionals will typically offer prospective renters access to their website if they’re actively participating in finding rental homes. Some agents choose to strictly work in the home sale end of the business and not rentals.
Other agents may work with property owners only and not prospective tenants.
Zillow
One of the best house rental sites is Zillow. Zillow has been in business since 2004 and is one of the best-known real estate marketplaces. Visitors consistently report the site is user-friendly.
Landlords can list their property to rent through Zillow Rental Manager.
Zillow uses a map-based system to help you better narrow down your search to the area you want to live in.
Zoom in on a particular area to see all the available homes, then narrow your search further. The map view is one of the fantastic features for finding a new rental property.
You can also search using a ZIP code or city name and filter out properties that do not meet your criteria, like price range, the number of bedrooms, baths, or the home size.
They also have a mobile app that you can use to look for new listings right from your phone. The site has one of the largest databases, making it one of the most highly rated sites to search for homes. Given their quality, it’s no wonder they have one of the highest traffic volumes from potential applicants.
If your long-term plan is to own a house, you might also be able to find a rent-to-own home. When you can get a mortgage, check back here. Buyers find it one of the best sites for house postings for sale.
Trulia
Trulia is one of Zillow’s partner sites and is considered one of the best websites for finding house rentals. It is also one of the most popular real estate sites in general.
Trulia can be an excellent tool when you need help finding a house to rent. It isn’t specifically a rental search website but has numerous units to comb through, similar to Zillow.
Users like Trulia because of how they display their search results. You can find townhouses to rent, condo, and single-family homes. It is easy to use with terrific reviews.
It is one of the rental listing sites that provides useful demographical data.
Apartments.com
Apartments.com should be on your list when looking for home rental websites.
Apartments.com has been around for a long time, starting in 1992. Given the site’s name, you may think it is exclusively for apartment listings, but that’s false.
The site charges $29, allowing renters to apply for up to 10 homes each month. While this might seem expensive compared to no fees to use other websites, the charge includes comprehensive screening reports, including credit, and a background check through TransUnion.
You only need to complete an application form once, with your details saved and used for additional applications. The site has more than 1.4 million listings, including all types of single-family homes.
It lets you view your property type to find the best deals in your price range.
This home rental website also streamlines signing your lease and paying your rent, removing much of the hassle of finding a property.
For landlords, Apartments.com allows owners to manage all their properties. The application process, tenant screening, collection of payments, expenses, rents, maintenance tracking, and tenancy management can be done from the site.
It’s worth checking out when you are looking for a home to rent by the owner.
Craigslist
Craigslist is the best site to find a rental home for properties not associated with a real estate company. Homeowners looking to rent their property will use Craigslist to get the word out about their house rental.
The site is one of the pinnacle places to find private landlords.
Using Craigslist to hunt for a property can be an excellent place to start, but it has risks. Unlike many other options, listings aren’t checked, which could be exploited to scam renters.
When you meet the landlord, meet them in public and bring someone else. Ask plenty of questions to know exactly what you are getting, and ensure you have a written lease that sets out the lease terms.
But even with his risks, you could find a good deal on your next rental through Craigslist. If you are looking for a privately owned home for rent, your chances will increase on Craiglist.
Facebook Marketplace
You may not have considered Facebook Marketplace when looking for where to find house rentals. Like Craigslist, there will be homes for rent from owners who choose not to work with a real estate agent or property managers for their rentals.
It is the perfect place to try if you want to work directly with a homeowner.
With Facebook Marketplace, you can shop by category, such as if you are specifically looking for a three-bedroom or a four-bedroom house.
You can also use the search tools to filter by price on what you can afford for rent.
Facebook Marketplace may not be the most effective place to scavenge for rentals, but you may get lucky finding something in your area, especially homes for rent by private owners.
If you need a no-credit-check property, Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist will probably increase your odds of finding a landlord who may consider it. There are also higher odds that background checks won’t be done.
Look at the advice for increasing your odds of landing a home when you don’t have excellent credit.
Whether renting a house or buying one, it makes sense to work on increasing your credit score. You’ll find that Credit Karma can be beneficial.
Zumper.com
Without a doubt, Zumper is one of the best rental homesites. Millions of potential renters use Zumper. As far as rental search engines go, Zumper is top-notch.
Zumper allows you to set real-time alerts to get notified when a new home for rent is listed. Their online tools will quickly enable you to view your price range, location, bedroom count, whether it needs to be pet-friendly, and more.
When looking for an excellent website for rentals, you’re bound to come across Zumper. It is a platform that has become extremely popular.
RentCafe.com
RentCafe is a nationwide apartment search platform with plenty of features that make renting smoother.
They feature various filter options, including the cost of rent, size of the apartment, pet-friendliness, and your choice of amenities options; video and 3D tours; calculators for your rent budget and cost of living; and comparison tools to make your choice between similar properties easier.
Plus, most properties on the website are reviewed by residents, so you can read about the experience of living there before committing.
Their blog also offers valuable information to the reader, including tips for apartment living, expert advice on various topics, and city guides for those looking to change scenery.
For people researching their options, RentCafe also features rent trend pages and demographic information for many cities to help you make an informed choice.
Certainly, RentCafe should be on your list of top websites to rent houses.
Rent.com
Rent.com has been designed to target millennials and first-time renters, guiding them and connecting them with suitable properties. To achieve this, Rent.com has first-time renter guides to educate millennial renters. Rent.com also has a good set of options to narrow down the search.
If, for example, you want a home with hardwood floors, you can filter your pursuit to just properties that offer that. While this site may not have as many properties as others we’ve looked at, it might be just the sort of thing you are looking for.
It may be a helpful place to look if you have specific needs for your next house to rent.
Realtor.com
While the main focus of Realtor.com is homes for sale, you can find rentals listed as well. Though you probably don’t want to make this your only source of listings, it can be a great additional place to check.
It is considered one of the highest-rated websites for rentals because it has a feed from every MLS listing service in the country.
When a real estate agent lists a property to rent in the local MLS, it will appear on Realtor.com. You will see a wide variety of listing inventory.
The site offers a lot of detail with its listings, allowing you to pinpoint clearly if this is the sort of home you want to rent.
For example, if you are looking specifically for pet-friendly rentals, real estate agents can delineate that when listing a house rental. You’re also able to see property history, including prices. There is also the ability to schedule showings by contacting a Realtor.
Rentals.com
Through rentals.com, you can find houses for rent as well as condos and townhouses. The site carries listings in some of the most famous cities in the United States.
You can quickly narrow your house rummaging by choosing the most essential.
Search by price range, the number of bedrooms, pet policy, and other crucial criteria isn’t challenging.
HotPads
Even though HotPads has more apartments than houses, it could be worthwhile.
However, The website has other excellent features, like quickly checking how long your commute to work will take using different transportation methods.
PadMapper
Like Hotpads, Padmapper focuses more on finding the best apartment to rent. There is a large selection of apartment complexes to rent. However, there are houses to rent as well.
Like Zillow, PadMapper also uses a map-based interface to make searching easier. Their map features are excellent, making it a great way to look for homes near other amenities you might be interested in.
Maybe you’re interested in discovering how close public transit is or the top grocery stores.
They also have a slider to set the range you are looking for and other options to cut out the homes unsuitable in your chosen area.
Airbnb
While Airbnb is known for vacation rentals, it also allows long-term stays. Also, if you only need a residence for a short time, it makes sense to choose this site for more flexible landlords.
When looking specifically for short-term rentals, Airbnb is where you will want to look. It has a significant amount of monthly visits for a good reason.
Many properties are listed, making finding a property where you need it easier. Booking the accommodations you want is straightforward. Most users report the website is reliable and trustworthy.
They have excellent ratings for customer support. Most users consider them among the best short-term rental websites.
Search Rental Homes Near Me
Another method of finding house rentals is doing a Google search for them.
When pinpointing where you want to live, you can also try an online search before hitting some of the most popular websites for rentals. A good search term to plug into Google is rental homes near me.
You might also try houses for renting near me.
There should be some results for local property rentals. If you are looking for private landlords, try rental homes near me by owner. Another good choice is rental single-family homes near me.
How to Find Your Ideal Rental House
To take the stress out of searching for your next rental home, follow our steps:
1. Pinpoint The Are You Want to Live In
Most featured sites will let you narrow your search using ZIP codes, so you don’t waste your time searching for homes too far away from where you want to live.
If you don’t already know the area well, you want to do your research in advance by visiting the area at different times of the day. Doing so should show you if it has the amenities you want and if the area is the neighborhood you want to live in.
You might also want to try Walk Score, a fantastic site that will give you the distance to your favorite amenities.
2. Select Your Best Website For Rentals
Please visit one of the best websites to find houses for rent we’ve listed that meet your requirements. Enter the zip code of the area you want to explore, and make sure you search for rentals instead of houses for sale.
3. Narrow Down The Search
Use the filters the site has available to reduce the number of results. Even if you aren’t entirely sure about everything you want to filter out, you can narrow your hunt by the number of bedrooms and possibly the cost.
If the site allows you to filter the criteria by the amenities available, do so.
The more filters you can use to narrow your exploration will make it simple to hunt listings for the right home for you.
4. Review The Listings
Now that you have fewer results, go through the listings you like the most. Check the photographs to see if the house looks like where you want to live, but also pay attention to the description.
While many house rental listings do not provide a floor plan, reading the description should indicate what the property is like.
The description could also reveal some other information the photographs don’t show. It could tell you something that differentiates your next home and one utterly wrong for you.
5. Explore Other Websites
Even if you’ve found a good selection of properties, check other websites. Not every website will have every rental property in the area you want to live in, and studying different sites could pay off in finding a property that fits your expectations.
You may think you’ve found the top website for rentals but could miss out on your dream home and not do a broader exploration.
Even if you find the exact house listed on another website, check that listing as well. You might find additional information not shown when you first saw the house on the previous website.
6. Touring The Rentals You Like
When you have your shortlist of properties that fit your requirements, you can request a tour of your favorites. Your job during a house tour is to try and decide if the home is right for you, but as well as that, you have to check the home is in good working order.
You can point it out if you find issues like broken windows, locks, electrical switches, etc. If the problem requires severe improvement, including it in the lease agreement is a good idea to ensure it gets completed.
You can complete the application and pay fees online when you have found the house you want to move into.
8. Do a Comparative Market Analysis
Once you have found a house to rent, it will be wise to see if the asking price makes sense. You’ll undoubtedly have to pay what the landlord is asking for rent in a hot seller’s market.
However, if the market is not crazy, you might ask your real estate agent to do a competitive market analysis to ensure you’re not overpaying the rent.
9. Find Out The Requirements For Renting The House
Find the specific rental requirements once you’ve identified the property you want. Speak to either the owner, property manager or real estate agent.
Get a list of things required to complete the lease signing. Understand the agreements before signing them. Most importantly, find out when rent collection will occur.
Questions to Ask Before Renting a House
Before renting a house, these are some of the questions you’ll want to get answered by the owner or property manager.
- What utilities, if any, are included in the monthly rent?
- How much security deposit will I need to pay?
- How quickly will the security deposit be released to me when I am done renting?
- When is the rent due each month?
- How will I need to pay the rent?
- Is there any grace period for late rental payments?</li>
- What is your pet policy?
- Is there a homeowners association and specific rules I should be familiar with?
- Do I need renter’s insurance? Is there a minimum coverage amount?
- Is there anything I can’t do, such as painting various rooms?
- How much notice will you give me when entering the property?
- Am I able to rent a room to a friend?
- How quickly will you respond when there is some problem?
- What is considered an emergency?
- Will you consider extending the lease if needed?
- What is the procedure when I decide to move out?
These questions should be answered to your satisfaction before renting a house.
Interesting Statistics on House Rental Websites
1. More than 90% of travelers prefer using home renting sites for their accommodation needs.
2. Based on customer reviews, The average rating of the top house leasing sites is 4.8 out of 5.
3. Home renting sites have seen a 25% increase in bookings worldwide over the past year.
4. Approximately 80% of travelers choose sites for affordability compared to hotels.
5. The most popular home rental site has over 30 million active listings globally.
6. House rental sites offer an average savings of 35% compared to traditional hotels.
7. Around 70% of frequent business travelers use property leasing sites for their accommodations.
8. On average, more than 100 new bookings are made through these sites every minute.
9. Over 95% of customers feel that house rental sites provide better privacy and comfort than hotels.
10. House rental website users have reported an average satisfaction rate of 92%, highlighting the popularity and convenience they offer.
Helpful Moving Resources
- One of the most vital tasks when moving is to forward your mail and have a change of address checklist. You want to ensure you get all your critical mail, especially bills, so your credit score doesn’t get dinged.
- Hiring movers: another critical task is to find one of the best moving companies. See our guide for some highly-rated movers moving locally or long distance.
Final Thoughts
While finding an apartment is more straightforward than searching for houses to rent, many options remain. Use our list of websites to help you find the one that you find easiest to use.
Narrow your search to create a list of potential properties in your desired neighborhood. Then, with your shortlist, you can visit them to make your final choice. You now should have a much better understanding of how to find rental houses.
About the Author: The above Real Estate information on the best websites to find houses for rent was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill has expertise in mortgages, financing, moving, home improvement, and general real estate.
Learn more about Bill Gassett and the publications he has been featured in. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest towns for the last 37+ years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
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