San Francisco: home of the Golden Gate Bridge, Karl the Fog, and the nation’s worst housing shortage. The sudden influx of capital and people makes for some serious growing pains, most acutely felt in the rising housing costs due to the constrained supply. Classic supply and demand.

All that is to say that San Francisco is a tricky place to find an apartment to rent. With a vacancy rate of only 3.6% and the second highest rent in the country, San Francisco was recently ranked by Forbes as the worst city for renters. That said, apartment hunting is competitive. Units are often rented the very day they become available, sometimes at 10% or more than the listed price.

After weeks of commuting from Richmond (the city, not the neighborhood) to the Financial District — and losing about 4 hours a day in the process — I decided I needed to join the thousands of apartment hunters who were all probably looking for the same thing: an affordable and relatively updated place in a relatively safe neighborhood with relatively normal roommates.

“In order to stand apart…take a radically different approach”

Competition was stiff and my options were limited: I had neither a large network nor budget to lean on. That left me with, well, me. In order to stand apart from the hundreds of people vying for the same units, I decided to take a radically different approach from everyone else. I wanted to convey my personality in such a way that I jumped off the paper and compelled others to want to meet and rent to me.

Enter the personal infographic.

Instead of relying on an email full of text to convey a sense of who I am and what I was looking for, I created an infographic to tell my story in a more digestible (and unique) format. I replied by email to a few posts for rentals I was interested in with the infographic below as an inline image, lessening the work required on my readers’ end. Less than 24 hours later, I had secured a spacious room in an apartment that met all my requirements in Nob Hill — my top neighborhood choice.

If you’re looking to rent in a competitive market like San Francisco, here are a few tips to help you cut through the clutter and get noticed.

Think Outside the Box

Be creative and unafraid to take a relaxed, open and playful approach. It might look like a brilliantly composed email, an infographic of your own or something completely different. Try coming up with a solution that lies somewhere between the first idea that comes to mind and its polar opposite. My natural inclination was to write an email, but I realized:

1. Everyone sends an email.
2. Most of them all say the same thing — #Boring.
3. I wanted to share more to stand out without overwhelming the reader.

I thought about what would catch my eye and make me want to meet someone over all other choices, ultimately deciding that a visual representation would best achieve my objectives. Think about what you want to convey, then come up with a creative solution that differs from what the crowd is doing. There are tons of resources at your disposal; you just need to be creative in how you use them.

Leverage Your Uniqueness

Differentiate yourself from other applicants and eliminate potential competition by leveraging your unique story and qualities. While it goes without saying that landlords are looking for tenants who can pay rent consistently, will treat their units with care, and will be trouble-free neighbors, the first step to landing the apartment of your dreams is getting past the initial screening. Do that by sharing a range of stories to convey your background and personality. People like interesting people, so be interesting, funny, different — anything but boring. Have you done or are you doing something fascinating or exciting? What can you share to demonstrate responsibility, integrity, and respect?

“People like interesting people, so be interesting”

Be Honest

What are the critical factors that will affect your happiness in an apartment? Be specific about what you’re looking for and what living with you may look like. Set and manage expectations by being honest so that you don’t waste your own or anyone else’s time. Mention anything important to you. For instance, sunlight has a big impact on my sleep and energy levels, so I made sure to include it on my list of what I’m looking for.

For those looking to share an apartment, don’t make claims you can’t live up to. Unhappy roommate situations arise when expectations aren’t met, say if someone claims on paper to be neat but turns out to be a slob in reality. Establish your future roommates’ expectations through open, honest communication. Keep an open mind but remember, you can’t put a square peg in a round hole; if you aren’t compatible, don’t push it.

These suggestions will help you present yourself in a unique, fun way that helps you stand out, so you’ll only have to send a few emails before you find an amazing apartment and/or roommate in real life. Happy hunting!