Question: This question may be interpreted as "too localized", but it is not.

I'm interested in what you find to be the best sites for this type of operation, regardless of where they are located. For instance, I want to learn about how do these sites do the following:

* How do they work with geographic information?
* What search parameters do they use?
* Can you personalize your search? How?

and so on...

Answer: 
The ones I've had most sucess with is:

* [Rightmove](http://www.rightmove.co.uk/)
[RateMyStudentRental.com](http://www.ratemystudentrental.com/) has housing for colleges and universities. It focuses on ratings and reviews, rather than just listing properties (and it's still pretty new), so it doesn't have a ton of housing listed yet.

You can do a personalized search here: www.ratemystudentrental.com/search

What do you mean, how does it handle geographic data? Do you mean what's the UI like, or how does it handle it on the back end?

Also, HelloRent.com has an amazing interface for browsing/searching/filtering rental properties on Craigslist, but it's still in private beta for now.

DISCLAIMER: I built RateMyStudentRental.com, so I'm a bit biased ;-)