INTERNET APARTMENT LISTINGS
SERVING
BALTIMORE COUNTY & MARYLAND
(INCLUDING ACCESSIBLE APARTMENTS)
Prepared by the GBCHRB in January, 2011
P. O. Box 66180, Baltimore, Maryland
21239-6180
http://www.gbchrb.org 410-453-9500 mailto:wkladky@gbchrb.org
This "guide to guides" has been prepared by the
GBCHRB as a public service. The GBCHRB
does not endorse or recommend any of the websites listed here. The GBCHRB provides these website listings so
that the user can pick and choose for him/herself. We urge the user to be alert and careful in
looking for housing, whether online or in person. There is a section at the end of this guide for contacts if you have any problems or experience discrimination in the
process of looking for housing. We wish
you the best of luck!
Governmental
If you are looking for housing, government sources are not the place to go - unless you are attempting to get into government-provided housing. There are three governmental sources:
The Baltimore County Public Library has an online page that deals with finding housing: http://www.bcpl.info/info/comm/comm_realestate.html. While it has helpful links for finding a
home, subsidies, foreclosure, seniors, etc., it has no information about
accessibility.
The Enoch Pratt Free Library has a section on real estate - "Real Estate: A Guide for Homebuyers and Renters" - that has information about neighborhoods to live in, financing, loans, finding real estate, and a section for renters. For finding apartments, the Pratt solely has a link to http://baltimore.craigslist.org/.
The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has http://www.hud.gov/apps/section8/step2.cfm?state=MD,Maryland - where the user may search for "affordable housing" in Maryland. A search for Baltimore County yielded 132
listings, of which 42 were in the
County. There was no additional
information about the listing. In 2011, therefore, these are the primary non-governmental sources for online
listings of available rental housing in the Baltimore area and Maryland:
Government-Affiliated Websites
A brief description of each follows.
GOVERNMENT-AFFILIATED WEBSITES
GoSection
8.com
This website specializes in listings of private apartments
that accept Section 8 subsidized rentals.
It currently is utilized by the Mayor's Commission on
Disabilities to direct clients.
According to the website's self-description: "GoSection
8.com is the largest rental listing service for Section 8
housing program tenants, landlords and public housing agencies in the United
States. We have connected hundreds of thousands of tenants and landlords
nationwide, and we work with more local and government housing agencies than
any other listing service provider in the country. The company’s core mission is to help
Americans living in poverty by providing them with free information about all
of their current housing options under the Federal Government’s Section 8
Housing Voucher Program in every market in the country. Our comprehensive
database enables Section 8 program tenants to find and compare the rentals that
are currently available in their area. There is never a charge for tenants to
access the rental listings, and the listings are available to them online as
well as through our bi-lingual call center at 1-866-466-SEC8 (7328). We also provide landlords with a section 8
compliant listing service for their units and connect them with prospective
tenants. GoSection8.com always offers a free listing option for landlords &
property managers as well as cost effective options for enhanced exposure and
ongoing tenant placement services."
The website has a search feature allowing the user to look
for apartments. This includes a checkbox
for "Accessible Housing Only" to filter the results. Unfortunately, no additional information
regarding accessibility is given in the detailed description of the
apartment. A photo is often given,
allowing some perspective. A search for accessible housing on GoSection 8.com on January 12,
2011, found 19 apartments, with the following cost averages:
Bedrooms Number Rent Average
1 2 $825.00
2 12 1085.17
3 4 1323.75
4 1 1396.00
Mdhousingsearch.org
Run by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community
Development (MDHCD) under contract with SocialServe.com, this website has the
most extensive accessibility information about each listing. Unfortunately, its listings constitute a
small percentage of available apartments.
The GBCHRB currently is working with MDHCD to expand the listings.
COMMERCIAL WEBSITES
Affordablehousingonline.com and
Apartmentsmart.com.
"Launched in 2001, Affordablehousingonline.com is
the first online directory created to help low income renters find affordable
housing. We showcase all types of
housing, from market rate to affordable housing property types such as family
housing, senior housing, Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), Project-Based
Section 8, rural rental housing, and handicap accessible housing." The website has a helpful coding for the
search results, indicating whether the listing accepts Section 8, permits pets,
or is "handicap." A search of
Perry Hall found over 200 apartments, but most were not in Baltimore
County. The only three of these listings
indicating "handicap" were senior facilities: Park View at Rosedale, Kirkwood
House (6401 Loch Raven Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21239), Evergreen Senior Apartments (1600 Evergreen
Way, Essex, MD 21221). The Shelter
Group's Park View at Rosedale (1315 Chesaco Avenue 21237-1526) included "Our apartments are spacious
and handicap accessible and adaptable" as part of the lead
description. There was no additional
accessibility information. The apartment
calls itself "Apartment homes for seniors."
Apartmentguide.com
This website is an online version of the Apartment
Shoppers Guide. It permits searching by
"Disability Access" under special amenities. One can only search by 5 miles from
"center." A subsequent search
of Essex had 4 results, one in Pikesville.
The description for that apartment, Canterbury Apartments (9206 Oswald Way 21207),
repeated the Disability Access phrase, but did not have additional
information. This was the same for Hamilton
Springs Apartments (4808-2D Hamilton Avenue 21206) and Southfield Apartments
(4335 Bedrock Circle, Nottingham 21236).
Burnam Woods Apartments (2-E Beeson Court, Nottingham 21236) also stated that it had "Handicapped
units available."
Apartments.com
This site has perhaps the largest number of individual
apartments. It partners with Rentalhomesplus.com and others. This website offers "FREE Apartment
Search – Find and Rent Apartments, Condos, Townhomes and Houses Today!" It is allied with The Baltimore Sun, which directs all rental inquiries
to it. The user can search by Maryland, and then by Baltimore & Annapolis,
and finally by Baltimore County. On
their website baltimore.apartments.com,
these areas are available: Cockeysville,
Northeastern Baltimore County,
Northwest Baltimore County,
Owings Mills Area,
Pikesville Area,
Towson Area,
West Baltimore County, and
White Marsh/Dundalk/Essex.
To search within the neighborhood, the user can check
"Wheelchair Access" as an
apartment amenity. A search on January
13, 2011 of the Cockeysville area yielded 29 apartments indicating
"wheelchair access." However,
a review of the descriptions and pictures greatly reduced this number. Six of the apartments were located in Anne
Arundel, Harford, or Howard Counties. The
remaining 23 had no information about accessibility, and often were plainly
inaccessible. 1607 Ingleside Drive in
Woodlawn 21207, for example, has two steps up to a landing and then two more
steps to the front door. The apartments
available at Lakecrest at the Lakes in Cockeysville 21030 were located on a
sloping ground with many steps between parking space and door. For the others, such as Cranbrook Hills
21030, no other information was available.
The managed units description often included a floor plan. Unfortunately, none of the listings contained
any additional information about accessibility.
Apartmentcities.com
Described as "Free apartment search service for
apartment rentals with specials in Baltimore," this website permits
searching in 17 subareas (e.g., Towson) in 3 County sections. A search of Owings Mills yielded 16 available
apartments. The listing for Watermill Apartments (4 Enchanted Hill
Road 21117), for example, did not have any information regarding accessibility.
Apartmentsearch.com
This website permits searching by individual
community. A search of Dundalk yielded
132 apartments, including Portside Apartments 21222, which had no information
about accessibility. Of those listed for
Dundalk, 21 were in Baltimore City, and 28 in Anne Arundel, Harford, and Howard
Counties. A typical entry, The Village
of Chartleytowne (Reisterstown 21136) contained no information about
accessibility.
Apartmentservices.com
According to their description, Apartment Services owns
and manages 40 apartment and townhome communities in Maryland and Pennsylvania
totaling 7,800 units, including 26 in the County. The website has a nice, comprehensive
Amenities page (e.g., tennis court, playground, etc.), but does not list
accessibility. A search of Lutherville
found 1 listing - Seminary Roundtop
Apartments (803 Roundtop Court 21093), which did not have accessiblity
information.
Apt-locators.com
|
This website contains apartments managed by the Southern
Management Corporation. A search of
Baltimore County found 5 apartments.
The listing for Liberty Place (1 Liberty Place Road, Woodlawn 21244)
did not have any accessibility information.
|
Baltimore.sublet.com
In this website's "Outside of Baltimore Area
Rentals," one can search on 13 areas with sublets or rentals as of January
12, 2011. Rnadallstown had 10
listings. The listing "Randallstown (Gray Fox Rd/Old Ct Rd) - Rental ID 1358440" had
much information about the apartment and rental terms, but nothing regarding
accessibility.
Citypaper.com
The newspaper's website has rental listings - http://www2.citypaper.com/rent/default.asp?p=map. Clicking on a listing, of which 12 are in the
County, solely brings up a popup directing the user to the apartment's website,
manager, or contact info.
Craigslist.com
The Craigslist.com website
offers the user a variety of things for sale, rent, etc. Regarding rental housing, the user can search
in Maryland by Baltimore but not Baltimore County. A search of the first 300 listings on January
12-14 found 32 in Baltimore County, but none accessible. Listings included Edmondson Park, Fellowship
Court, Colony at Kenilworth, 20 Lambourne, Melvin Park, Fairways at
Towson, Oakview Apartments, and Woodlawn Village Apartments.
Everyaptmapped.com
This website appears to be directed at students looking
for housing, but has listings for all.
According to its stated description: "Most importantly, we are a FREE informational resource and display any
apartment community information no matter whether a specific community pays a
referral commission or not." On
this website, the user can search for 15 areas in Baltimore County. Towson had 25 listings. Cromwell
Valley (15 Treeway Court 21286) did
not have accessibility information.
Forrent.com
This site allows searching by the five subareas of the
County, e.g., Baltimore County North. A
search of Baltimore County East found 82 available apartments. The listing for Sawyer Realty's Harbor
Point Estates (913 S Marlyn Ave Essex 21221-5844) and Park East Apartments(2022
Kelbourne Rd 201 Rosedale 21237-1983) each found many pictures, floor plans,
and much data about the apartments - but no accessibility information. One of the pictures of each apartment,
however, did show there were several steps up to a landing and then two more to
the front door.
4Wallsinbaltimore.com
This website has 18 areas in the County to search from,
including Towson, Catonsville, etc. A
search of "Whitemarsh" found 1 listing, Cambridge Court (386 Attenborough Drive
White Marsh 21237). There was no
accessibility information, nor pictures permitting access evaluation. A search of Reisterstown found 3 listings, of
which Butler Ridge (215 Caraway Road,
Reisterstown 21136) had no information about accessibility. One of the photos indicated three steps up to
the front door.
Homes.com
A search of
Parkville discovered 4 apartments.
A&G Management's Northbrooke Township Apartments (1 Solar Circle,
Parkville 21234) listing did not have any accessibility information, and the
photos were too small to indicate specifics.
A click on More information was directed to Forrent.com, where the
listing did indicate "Disability access."
Homes.longandfoster.com
This website has a large number of rental apartments
listed. The user can search by
individual city in Maryland, but not by accessibility. A search of townhouse/condo/duplex in
Baltimore County found 150 apartments, all in the County. The listings for 23 Sunnyvale Court, Cockeysville
21030 had information on utilities, dimensions, photos, levels, etc. - but no
accessibility data per se.
Lowincomeapartmentfinder.com
This website,
catering to Section 8 and other subsidized customers, permits searching by
city, and there are 15 Baltimore County areas listed. A search of Randallstown found five
apartments. The listing for Woodridge
Apartments (3901 Noyes Circle, Randallstown 21133) had no accessibility
information, but directed the user to Apartmentservices.com. That website had floor plans, photos, etc.,
but no accessibility data.
Mynewplace.com
This website permits the searching of a town (e.g.,
Catonsville) by "Disability Access."
A search of Randallstown found 25 apartments, 19 in Baltimore County. The website requires a sign-in to get more
information about any apartment. A
subsequent search of The Reserves at
Stonegate (7610 Reserve Cir, Baltimore, Windsor Mill 21244) and Stratton Meadows Townhomes (4
Heatherton Court, Baltimore 21244) yielded much additional data, floor plans,
etc., but no information about accessibility.
The photo/video showed one entrance inaccessible and the other
accessible, but it was impossible to tell if this was of the same apartment or
several.
Peoplewithpets.com
A search for "Pet Friendly
Apartment Rentals in Baltimore, Maryland," found 47 apartments in metro
Baltimore. The listing for Reserve at
Stonegate (7610 Reserve Circle 21244) did indicate that the apartment
had "Wheelchair Access," though the photo showed two steps up to the
front entrance. The listing for the Westerlee
Apartments (8 Poolside Court, Catonsville 21228) did not indicate
accessibility.
Rentals.com
This website also allows search by location and price range. A search of Catonsville found 66 apartments, but many
were not in Baltimore County. The
listing for Hendersen-Webb's White Oaks
at the Timbers (9 Rambling Oaks Way 21228) had various data but nothing regarding
accessibility.
Rentjungle.com
"With over 600,000 active listings, Rent Jungle
has the largest inventory of apartments and rental housing in the United
States." In fact, this website aspires to be the
one-stop housing rental search engine, and thus allows the user to search
supposedly 7,219 websites for available apartments. Truly, a search found apartments listed in several other services mentioned in this study. A search for "21117 accessible" of
this website found 90 apartments, with 60 not in 21117, perhaps using a 3-mile
radius.
IN CASE OF PROBLEMS
In Maryland, someone who has problems with their landlord, their tenant, or with discrimination has several options for complaint and problem resolution:
Tenant-Landlord Problems
Call Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. - 410-243-6007 / 800-487-6007 / http://www.bni-maryland.org/
Housing Discrimination
Call the Maryland Commission on Human Relations - 410-767-8600 / 800-637-6247 / http://www.mchr.state.md.us/complaint_intro.html
Foreclosure Affecting Renters
The Maryland Department of Housing & Community Development has a very helpful page of information and links to assist the renter who is affected by a foreclosure: http://www.mdhope.org/HelpforRenters.aspx
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