Saturday, June 1, 2013

House Hunters - Student Housing Style

Do any of you watch the TV show House Hunters?  It shows people looking at three different locations to live (each with pros/cons) and then having to make a decision. Well, I felt like I was living it over the past few days, helping my daughter search for a place for a place to live next year near campus.  This past year she lived in the dorms, but she's ready to move on to something else.

The first place we looked is a large apartment complex that had three different floor plans.  It wasn't as close to campus as she would like and I was a little concerned about the area.  Between the two of us, we didn't agree on which floor plan was the best (we looked at a studio and two different 1br options).   However, it did have nice amenities such as laundry on site and a few pools.  While they didn't have anything known to be available at the time she wanted, but she could be put on a wait list.  They were flexible on lease lengths, 6-12 mo options.

The second place was closer to campus and in a safe area.  It was a cute 'super studio' with a separated sleeping and living space.  After viewing it, it was my favorite and her second favorite.  One of the drawbacks was no laundry facilities on site.  The apartment was available now, although ideally she'd like to move in closer to early/mid July.  Fall semester starts beginning of August.  It would be a 1 year lease.

The third place is a small complex three blocks from campus.  I'm not sure about the safety of the area, but since the parking area is literally around the corner from what would be her door, there is  at least no long walks from the car at night if she drives. No frills, but it does have laundry.  It's available mid-June. And it's around the corner from where her best friend just moved in (we didn't realize that until later, an added bonus though). It turned out to be the one we both liked the most.  So she plans to call the guy today and drop off application and fees to reserve it.  If she gets it, she probably will spend the end of June getting set up, and will actually begin living there early July.  It's a 6 month lease, month to month after that.  If she hates it, she can move out during winter break.  If she loves it, she can stay through the end of spring semester.

We have a few more places to view if this falls through, but hopefully we're done!  The rent will be similar to what she was paying at the dorm, but no additional expensive food plan to go with it.  She will, however, need to acquire (beg/borrow/buy) some furniture and pay for internet.  And she will be gaining life experience by living more on her own.

Side note, my son just moved to Seattle for the summer for an internship.  Because he wasn't able to do a house hunt like this, he took a corporate housing option.  Very convenient!  

Have any of you recently had to search for housing for yourself or a family member?  Also, what did you do when you were in school?  I had to move every three months for three years because I was in a co-op program.  I went back and forth between cities for work and school.  Each time I needed to find some place that would let me stay for just three months.  What a pain that was!

On the fitness front:  Tour de Cure is today!  And my first 8K race distance run tomorrow!  WooHoo!!

1 comment:

  1. I remember those days! I lived in a different apartment or house every single year with anywhere from 1 - 12 (my sorority house) apartment mates. The closest I came to living alone ever was while in grad school. My roommate was a medical student and she did an internship in Jamaica for 3 months, so I had the place to myself. That's the only time in my life I lived by myself LOL.

    Sounds like your daughter found a good place. Hope she likes it.

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