How do you find a house to rent?

[Anonymous]

My family is looking to rent a single family home in NOVA (Falls Church, Mclean, Fairfax). We are looking to spend about $3K/month. I have been looking at all the sites, including Craigslist, but wondering if this is the best way to go about it. Specifically, do agents help with finding rentals? And if so is there a cost involved? Does anyone have any good tips or advice? TIA

(I vaguely recall a topic on this before but couldn't find it so apologize if a repeat.)

[Anonymous]

Craigslist, hands down. Most people will try to list there first, and if they have no luck, they'll turn to a realtor to list their rental (for a higher price). You can get an agent to look for you, but they're not really doing anything you couldn't do yourself unless you get one in the neighborhood you've targeted and he/she knows of someone who hasn't listed yet and plugs you in.

Realtor.com, militarybyowner.com, etc all have rentals listed too. I found my rental on CL for about $400 below market value

[Anonymous]

Speak with a real estate agent