How to find an apartment?

Bob and Susan are going to get married soon, and they want to find a flat where they can start their life together. They began to look at flats last week. Now they are at their friends’ place, and talking about their plans to find a nice place.

Susan: Bob and I looked at several flats last week.
Bob: We looked nearly everywhere: in the city, in the suburbs … and we can’t decide. If we rent a house in the suburbs we’ll have to drive, which is quite expensive nowadays with these petrol prices.
Susan: We looked at every kind of flats: one bedroom, two bedrooms. I can’t even remember all the places we saw. I’m also quite confused, I don’t really understand terms like security deposit, leases, and utilities.
Tim: Wait a minute! Before you start looking at flats, you should decide what kind of property you’d like to rent, and where you’d like to live. If you know what you want, it’ll be much easier to find a place!
Susan: I’d like a small house in the suburbs, three bedrooms, with a dishwasher, air-conditioning, and a swimming pool nearby.
Bob: Sure! And I would like a villa by the seaside. Susan you know that we can’t afford such a big house.
Tim: Did you make a budget? Do you know how much you can afford?
Bob: Well, actually, we didn’t.
Tim: First of all, you have to decide how much you can afford. The rent of a flat and the utilities should cost less than one third of your monthly budget. Then you should decide what kind of flat you want, how many rooms you want, you want it furnished or unfurnished. After you decided everything, you can start looking at places.
Bob: Do you have any idea where we can find out about properties for rent?
Tim: First you should decide where you want to live – in the city or in the suburbs, which neighbourhood you like. Then surf the internet as there are plenty of websites that deal with property rentals and sales. Susan: Is the internet the only way to get information about flats for rent?
Eve: There are other ways to find out about properties. Drive or walk around the neighbourhood you like and look for ’rent signs’. Pop in the local estate agent’s, they generally have a bulletin board with notices about flats for rent. But be careful, if you use rental services, the agency may charge a fee!
Peter: At last, but not least talk to your friends and people at work. They may know about places for rent.