Do you know what is the worst?  Trying to rent a house in another state, falling in love with a beautiful property, and promptly finding out that you almost fell for the latest scam: the landlord lives in another country and needs you to send $XXX amount of money before you can even get the keys to the property.  Do you know what really sucks?  Seriously almost falling for this, and making up every excuse in the book to pretend that it might actually be legit.

You know what you really need to do?  Take Craigslist with a grain of salt, for one thing.  For another, call some real estate agents in your new area, and ask them to send packets on listings that meet your needs.