I'm Failing Apartment Hunting 101

How does one shop for an apartment a half a world away? Any good ideas? We've been scouring Craigslist for the past week and it seems that we're either sketchy prospective tenants because we're in Africa, too late to catch the good deal, or we're the perfect candidates for the generic 2 bd/2 ba and we just need to send in credit reports, social security numbers, and money....

We're getting a little trigger happy with our apartment hunting as well, which doesn't mix well with scamming attempts. Even after we confirmed our latest apartment love was a scam, Rob returned the scammers email asking for a picture of the back yard. It was a really beautiful apartment. Almost worth the scam.

Since these run-ins with scammers, I've assumed the role of vigilante and have been flagging apartment listings left and right on Craigslist. If we were in Atlanta (or anywhere in the States) I'd give Clark Howard a call and he would sound the alarm. By the way, my apologies if your apartment listing wasn't actually a scam....

If any one knows of a good way to shop for an apartment (a legitamate apartment) in a city to which they are not "local". I'm all ears to hear suggestions.

Or, if anyone knows of an apartment on the upper east or west side of Lancaster on Orange, Walnut, Lemon, Chestnut or James; we'd definitely be interested, as those are my favorite streets. -- Please no inticing scams or outrageously expensive apartments as my fragile heart can't withstand it.