We moved here 3 days ago from the UK, so some other random tips (more family oriented than single person)

1) In addition to Craigslist, Livelovely.com seems to be a great amalgamator site for finding houses.

2) Be careful when about booking a place without seeing it (we booked a 1 month Airbnb while we searched for places) There are lots of INSANE hills that are totally impossible with a stroller. Even driving up and down them was daunting.

3) Credit score seems to be important for everything. We had to put an additional $400 down on each phone because we didn't have credit.

4) Saying that - so far every landlord who we've spoken to has been open to some other kind of deal - normally an extra months rent as a deposit, or paying a month or 2 in advance.