Apartment hunting in New York is like trying to playing space invader. There are plenty of apartments out there, and you can see them available, but by the time you get to them they are either taken, or you get hit with the unexpected when you actually locate one you are invited to look at. If you don’t have a huge chunk of change to throw at a broker then using Craigslist is probably the best option you have aside from local papers, classifieds, and online agency listings that are not updated in real time like Craigslist.