Getting an apartment in Beijing, like the locals do it

Anyone have experience renting an apartment from a pure Chinese website like 58.com, baixing.com, or soufun.com? I speak, read, and write a little Chinese so I'm attempting to do this for my 2-month-long stay in the summer time. However I quickly realized its still too early make anything happen for the summer. My instinct was to plan ahead but nobody wants to rent a place that far in advance.

I suppose I could arrive with no place to stay and try and go through this process then.  I've actually been in touch with an agent in Beijing and that's what he told me to do. That could be interesting, makes me wonder how is the apartment scene different in the summertime? Is it harder to find a place, easier, or about the same? Or maybe I could try and do this 2 weeks before I'm scheduled to arrive. But I'm still not sure if it's even possible for a foreigner to rent or reserve an apartment over the internet without being in the city yet. Anyone know?