Moving off campus is a big step. It’s the first opportunity most students have to live in a fully unsupervised environment, and it’s a great way to learn the basics of living as an adult.
The quality of your off-campus experience will largely depend on the apartment and roommates you end up with – so it’s important to choose wisely. We’ll walk you through that process below.
How to Find an Apartment
Finding your first apartment or house can be more stressful than having three finals in one day. Read below for ideas on where to find an apartment.
Start by Asking Around
When it comes to finding an apartment, word-of-mouth is often better than any ad you’ll see online. Ask everyone in your social circle if they know of any apartments or houses available to rent. You never know who has the inside scoop on a great house close to campus that needs an extra roommate.
Don’t be afraid to ask people you don’t know well, like classmates you haven’t spoken to much. You never know who has an open room in their house next year. Start asking people as soon as possible, because places tend to fill up fast – especially those close to campus.
Utilize Social Media
Many colleges have special housing groups on Facebook where people post available apartments or roommate requests. There may be multiple groups, so join as many as possible. You’ll likely see some overlap, but it will ensure that you get a wide variety of options.
You can also post a direct request on your social media profiles or message people to ask if they have any suggestions.
Search online
Sites like Craigslist and Apartments.com are good spots to find an apartment. No matter where you search, make sure to watch out for scams like places that ask for a wire transfer security deposit or that don’t let you tour the apartment.
You can also find listings through your college, which may have its own housing site. Ask friends and classmates how they found their apartment or house.
Other Tips on Finding an Apartment
Pick responsible roommates
Who you live with is just as important as where you live – and the friend you party with on a Friday night might not be the person you want to live with on a Monday morning. Choose someone you trust to pay the rent on time, pick up after themselves and not have friends over at 3 a.m. during finals week.
You should also make sure that your roommates can comfortably afford the rent. You don’t want to be stuck paying someone else’s share for months at a time.
Vet the landlord
If you’re renting from a property management company, you can look up reviews online to see what current and past tenants have to say. Ask friends who already rent from them about the experience. You can also read their Google reviews and see if there are any articles written about them online.
College landlords are notoriously unreliable, but you should try to avoid ones that take weeks to fix basic problems or that ignore tenant requests.
Create a mock budget
If you’re transitioning from a dorm to an apartment, you need to calculate how much you’ll actually be spending on housing. Create a spreadsheet and write down the monthly rent and what utilities you’ll be responsible for. Do this for every apartment you’re interested in.
Using a spreadsheet can help you see that a $1,100 apartment with all utilities included is a better deal than a $900 apartment with no utilities included. Ask the landlord how much utilities will approximately cost and ask friends how much they’ve paid for utilities. Getting a range of opinions should give you a good estimate of how much you’ll pay.
You should also compare security deposit requirements from landlords. Some may only require a month’s rent, while others will ask for two months’ rent. If you have a pet, ask about their pet deposit and pet fees.
If you’ve never lived off campus, your budget should also factor in extras like internet, streaming services and more. You should also figure out what your income will be and how much you’ll need to spend on groceries, transportation and other expenses.
Factor in transportation
Even with gas prices starting to dip, students should still consider the cost of transportation when choosing an apartment. Use the GasBuddy trip calculator to calculate how much you’ll spend on gas every day and multiply that by 30. Make sure to factor in whether or not you’ll need to pay for parking on campus.
If you’ll have to take the bus to campus, make sure to consider how this will impact your schedule. Will it be harder to come home for meals so you’ll spend more money eating out? Will you have to get up much earlier to make it on time for morning classes? Does the bus run late enough after evening classes? If taking the bus will be a problem, try to find an apartment closer to campus.
Consider the extras
When choosing an apartment, you should consider any amenities it has like access to a washer or dryer, a gym in the building and more. Make a list of what you want most in an apartment or house and rank your priorities from most important to least important.
When you’re picking between different spots, you can reference the list to ensure that you choose the situation that’s best for you.
Disclaimers
