Last year when I moved across the country I started out by having apartments for lease sent to me in the mail so that I would have an idea of what was available before I moved.  I looked through the offerings in narrowed it down to about ten or fifteen places.  A friend of mine who lives in the city told me the best places to look so I crossed out any apartments that were not in those areas and by the time I flew out I had narrowed my list to six places.  I went to the hotel and waited for my household goods to be shipped and went looking at the apartments, and I found the perfect place just in time to move in.