I found these sites most helpful
-Zipskinny
-Trulia (lot of people like Zillow, I much preferred Trulia, but Zillow is popular)
-City data forums
I also found a lot of houses through my realtor that I'd have never seen otherwise.
But the best way to find an area you like, honestly, is to just drive around. I spent WEEKS doing mostly driving, taking notes about cities and neighborhoods. When you're narrowing down to a neighborhood, drive it when kids are getting out of school. Visit the Walmart at noon, six in the evening and ten at night. Go into the grocery store. Get a feel for that neighborhood.
When you are serious about buying and not just looking around, I can recommend an excellent, honest realtor...If you want. She is truly a good person and actually will sell people a house they will love rather than push a house that will give her the higher commission. She works full time for a well-known national realty company. But I wouldn't want her to do a bunch of work for free for people who are just dreaming and looking and not actually going to buy, KWIM?
If you want to live near the parks and not have to drive 30-45 minutes in traffic to get there, pick a place near the parks. If you don't want to be riding around with the tourists and all that busyness all the time, pick a place further away. Once that decision is made, it gets easier.
I chose a place that many people make fun of. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get into a park, depending on traffic and which park I'm visiting. But I am far from the tourist stuff and that's. what I wanted.
I probably spent five weeks driving around and a full five days looking at houses, but I found a house I love in an area I like very much and I'm very happy. I know people who spent much less time who are happy, but I know some who say they wished they'd have spent more time looking their first time around.
