Renting a new place

Moving out is really stressful. my current lease will expire in three months. I just got a note from the landlord that I should start making arrangements to move out ( it is temp residence and the rule is to stay for two years only). Now, I have to look for a new place and I need to ask a few questions.

1-  are there any good websites for rentals ( other than Craigslist)? I have called a few brokers but I couldn't find anything suitable till now. 

2- Since I came to this city, I have shared my current place with lovely ladies and we are good friends and I feel like we are a family. I don't really know  how it looks like to live alone. I am a bit hesitant to live alone but I am assuming it is much better than sharing with others. I am in a big city and most of my friends are gone, travelling or working outside the country. 

sometimes, i think it is good to share with new people, make new friends and have new experiences but on the other hand I feel like it is time for me to settle in my own place.

can you share your experience/s with me? do you prefer to share with other people or to live alone ? and why? 

Thanks :) 

Apartments.com was my best friend when Alex and I were looking for a place to live together rather than apart at our parents houses.  You can search by budget and ammenities, bedrooms and areas.  We found an apartment within our price range that allowed pets for as many bedrooms as we needed at the time in an area we liked. 

Even now with the possibility of us moving (our landlord *may* be foreclosed on, but he's not entirely sure) within the next year, we've been browsing that same websites.  This time we need more rooms and have a better budget.  We found a beautiful little townhouse I'd love to rent if we were forced to go that direction.  I'm hoping we can stay where we are long enough to save up a down payment on a house and just buy one.

There is an option so search for roommates on there, too.  I've never really been fond of living with people I don't know or hell, even people I do know.  I like living with Alex but that's about it. :)

Beyond that, local newspapers. 

I love rent.com.  When we moved into our current place, all we had to do was tell Rent.com that we did and they got in touch with your apartment complex (we actually rent a condo) and confirmed the lease and sent us a $100 Visa gift card.  It was a fun surprise and we were able to go out to a really nice celebration dinner with that gift card after the move.

Also, you should look up apartmentratings.com.  We moved into a gorgeous complex in 2008 and were stuck there for an entire year.  The management was horrid and things fell apart all the time even though it was literally brand new and gorgeous.. it didn't look so gorgeous when we left and everything had fallen apart and maintenance had never gotten up to fix it after literally 100's of phone calls.

thanks so much. these are great websites. I am on GL the whole day but I want to try other websites.

 I have found two places. Both of them are in a good neighborhood. one is cheaper than the other but it is not rent stabilized. the other is more expensive and it is rent stabilized. I am wondering about the rent increase every year. does anyone have info on this? I am trying to google to find out.