How to Use the Internet to Help Your Apartment or House Hunting

So you are looking for an apartment to rent or a house to purchase. One of the most important steps is researching the neighborhood to decide if you really like to live in that area. The best way to do this is driving around that area to see if you really like that neighborhood. You should pay attention to traffic, available stores, available transportation, noise level etc. Also, you should try visiting the neighborhood during different times of the day.

Do you know you can get help from the Internet for your apartment or house hunting?

You can view interactive maps on the Internet. The best tools I've seen so far are Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) and MSN Virtual Earth (http://virtualearth.msn.com). With these online tools, you type in the address of the place you are interested in and a map centered at that address will show up. You can zoom in, zoom out and drag around the map to see what other streets are close and how close this place is to the highway, etc.

You can view satellite images on the Internet. This new service is available at Google Maps and MSN Virtual Earth. After you type in an address, you can choose to view a satellite image of that place. Just like maps, you can zoom to different levels and move around using your mouse. This might give you a more direct feeling on what this neighborhood look like than looking at the map alone.

You can find out what business/services are available around a place on the Internet. With Google Maps, MSN Virtual Earth and Yahoo! Maps (http://maps.yahoo.com), after you get a map or satellite image of an address, you can do a local search in that neighborhood. For example, you can search for "Pizza" and all nearby pizza restaurants will show up on the map. This way you can get a feeling if it'd be convenient for dining, shopping or entertainment in that area.

You can get driving directions on the Internet. Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps and other online map sites provide driving direction services. You type in the starting and destination addresses and they will show you a detailed driving direction with map, total mileage and estimated driving time. This way you can estimate how easy would be for you to drive to other places (such as to work or school) from that neighborhood.

Although this Internet tools are pretty cool, it's still important to go check out the neighborhood in person by yourself. Happy hunting!

Brian Walker is a freelance writer who has written many self-help articles, including apartment rental and apartment living guide and mortgage and home loan resources etc.

MORE RESOURCES:

Leading Real Estate Company Announces Over $1 Billion in New ... - MarketWatch

Realtors Say Foreigners Hold Key to Real Estate Revival - FOXNews

Real Estate Market Slumps, Showhomes Soars - MarketWatch

Investment Regimes for Indian Real Estate Sector Explored - MarketWatch

Moody#39;s: Commercial real estate prices rise - CNNMoney.com

Winston amp; Strawn Continues Growth; Adds 19 Litigation, Corporate ... - MarketWatch

Architects see drop in real estate design contracts - Los Angeles Times

Target shareholder revises real estate proposal - The Associated Press

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE4AI5MH20081119cid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNF7X99gnIO2bH3zYa-7kGZNZrL3AAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=XVuA8yiQ2LIJimgurl=www.reuters.com/resources/r/%3Fm%3D02%26d%3D20081119%26t%3D2%26i%3D6876351%26w%3D192%26r%3D2008-11-19T193234Z_01_BTRE4AI1BTF00_RTROPTP_0_TARGET width=80 height=50 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Reuters/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5izZJX0Q9xiHBM5Mg3-Ee1B6sI8wQD94I9R8O0cid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNFNuV3-bowsdNrKdzrLA9IGdKFTUgTarget shareholder revises breal estate/b proposal/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Associated Pressnbsp;-/font nobr12 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Ackman unveiled a plan last month that involves creating a breal estate/b investment trust that would take ownership of the land Target owns underneath its b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-1fd=Rurl=http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2008/11/17/daily25.htmlcid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNFEhUVMWQ3ZdbDjGmvOEEoomtlmOwPershing revises Target land spin-off proposal/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBizjournals.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-2fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/americasDealsNews/idUSTRE4AH7PD20081118cid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNGjgvjnFMd25eqd96OLDU9NCWIqYAPershing#39;s revised Target proposal out Wednesday/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-3fd=Rurl=http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-dealzone/2008/11/19/troubled-retailerackman-5-bln-reit-ipo/cid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNGqZ2jnJzltDqiYhDSzDxZ7BEqjIATroubled retailer+Ackman= $5 bln REIT IPO?/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters UK/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-4fd=Rurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8044333cid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNHq5CtKcmk0K4dRp0nxJ5HCizNSHwnobrguardian.co.uk/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-5fd=Rurl=http://leapsinvestor.com/market-news/ackman-target-shares-worth-37share-726/cid=1271977767ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNGhkoAlgGx7hOab6AmGR4hqDhlNwQnobrLEAPSInvestor.com/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1271977767hl=ennobrall 131 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Real Estate Journalists Award NAREE Bivins Fellowships and ... - MarketWatch

Commercial Real Estate Debt Index Plummets - Wall Street Journal

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122703851606838297.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=1271977795ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNGBxM-Tev8bP3Xsgisi9HFZsJACkQCommercial bReal Estate/b Debt Index Plummets/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWall Street Journalnbsp;-/font nobrNov 18, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By PRABHA NATARAJAN WASHINGTON -- A commercial breal estate/b debt index plummeted Tuesday after a Credit Suisse research report warned that two loans included b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-1fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1933428520081119cid=1271977795ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNGC69rkaEoZoyP_DLppVQL2zHn_kwUPDATE 1-Economy, TARP conspire against commercial mortgages/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-2fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601087%26sid%3Da7v3wNC8x9WA%26refer%3Dhomecid=1271977795ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNFBLCze2J0HfFHiqOrjv0IDBxsRagWestin, Promenade Commercial Mortgages Near Default (Update2)/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBloomberg/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-3fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1826572220081118cid=1271977795ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNGm7LKLwhCjsYV84CPbbtA3UR-lEQUPDATE 1-Big CMBS loans seen near default, index yields soar/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-4fd=Rurl=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122703851606838297.html%3Fmod%3Dspecial_page_campaign2008_mostpopcid=1271977795ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNHKEPkJ5eSQ8zKGgAMuQod3xZjZ8QnobrWall Street Journal/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-5fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601087%26sid%3Da0GR3cE_UyEE%26refer%3Dhomecid=1271977795ei=KUslSd-kHZnU9QSv6sjBAQusg=AFQjCNFubHHUi3Y0NBYLO0gSxihNX6uBtgnobrBloomberg/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1271977795hl=ennobrall 31 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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