Renters need heat maps too

Who says home buyers and sellers should have all the online geek fun? Renters are getting their share of nerdy tools too. For those San Francisco residents priced out of the housing market (or just too confused to buy right now), a self-described bored coder who's been apartment hunting created CraigStats, a rental data/Google mashup extravaganza. (Hat tip to CurbedSF for the find.)

The creator warns that some of the Google map overlays only work in Firefox. The database comes solely from craigslist.

Why do this? After dealing with a shady landlord whose house was going into foreclosure, CraigStat's creator broke the lease and went hunting - only to find that "everything that used to be for rent was now for sale due to the same foreclosure effect that happened to my landlord…It also appeared that the rents were going up …. but …were they really? Or am I just paranoid and bitter?"

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