While renters looking for a home in some West Coast markets got a breather from escalating rents, some rental housing hunters in the East Coast and South were digging deeper into their wallets to cover the cost of housing.

Price inflation outpaced apartment rent growth in much of the nation last year but that didn’t keep some households from spending more than they'd planned, according to M/PF Research.

In either case, apartment hunters who take time to prepare for the apartment hunt can maximize their chances of finding the best apartment at a rent they can afford.

Carrollton, TX-based M/PF Research surveyed more than 3 million apartments nationwide and revealed rents fell by an average of 0.5 percent overall. In comparison, the U.S. Labor Department's Consumer Price Index -- a measure of inflation -- registered a 1.6 percent increase from December 2000 to December 2001.

The greatest declines in rent came from the San Francisco Bay Area where rents plummeted more than 20 percent in 2001 in some markets after rising by as much as 33.8 percent in 2000. The declines were largely due to young workers and others with little time in the technology industry's work force suddenly finding themselves out of work facing record high rents and a general price inflation rate of 5.4 percent that was among the highest in the nation last year. Many of them either left town for a cheaper home or returned to school to retool their skills, in both cases pushing up rental vacancy rates. Other renters decided enough was enough and purchased a home to escape the often unrewarding cost of renting.

Rent growth in both the Northeast and South was another story. The Northeast posted an inflation rate of 1.6 percent compared to rent increases that averaged 2.2 percent. In the South a 1.1 percent inflation rate was less than the 2.1 percent increase in rents, M/PF reported.

It was worse in the East. Washington D.C.'s rents, up 4.9 percent, more than doubled that area's 2.2 percent rate of inflation. Houston registered a 4.7 percent increase in rents, compared to a 3.0 overall price inflation rate. Philadelphia's rents rose 4.4 percent as inflation jumped only 2.7 percent, M/PF said.

San Jose, CA's Tri-County Apartment Association prepared a list of rental home hunting tips at the peak of the Silicon Valley market when it wasn't easy finding a home and rents were at record highs.

The same list is applicable for other markets facing high occupancy rates as well as cooler markets.