There is only one thing I despise as much as moving, and that is moving in the summer. We had to do it last July and now, due to unforeseen circumstances and greedy property management companies, we might be looking at moving AGAIN this July.

After scouring craigslist and finding very little of interest, I had to wonder, isn’t there a better way to do this?

Well, yes. There is!  Live Lovely – a darling site a friend passed along to me to help aid in my apartment search. And that is what Live Lovely promises to do, “help renters save time, stay organized and get the edge in their apartment rental search.”

The brilliant concept allows you to plug in your desired neighborhood address and search criteria, # of bedrooms, price range, pets, etc. and then returns all of the listings in your area. The interface shows the listings on a map, so you can view them geographically which, let’s face it, is always where a housing search starts – location, location, location!

Live Lovely distinguishes new listings from old ones and let’s the searcher know how long something has been on the market. Users can create a profile, save and organize properties, print property information and even create a Renter’s Resume to help get the leg up on the property.

The site is beyond user-friendly, it is user-focused, which is refreshing when dealing with the stresses of finding a new apartment in a competitive market such as DC. Open houses draw more people than Local 16’s rooftop and listings go faster than you can say Obama. Seriously, the place is gone before I have time to hit send my craigslist inquiry.

Take a look at the site yourself and I promise it will be your go-to for your all of your apartment searching needs.  Spend five minutes on the site and you’ll never visit craigslist again. Lovely pulls all of the data from there anyways, so you won’t miss a thing!

Here is a screenshot of a search for 2 bedrooms in DC:

Blue pins are older listings and orange pins are new listings I haven’t viewed yet.

Check out the site and let me know what you think! Maybe they can post some recommendations on movers or how to negotiate with property managers!