If you have a laptop and a cell phone, you can do what these guys do. The guy who helped me had only been living in Chicago for 3 months, knew next to NOTHING about the places he was showing me, and told me that I wouldn't find anything under $1300/mo (I have since found a gorgeous blvd apartment for $1150 - and I didn't have to pay a fee to a guy for driving me around)
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