Last night I went up to Kettering University to assist with the Resident Assistants at Thompson Hall in an open discussion with freshman.  Our discussion covered topics related to off-campus life, how to find the right housing, what to expect and how to have a great and safe time!  The evening was fun and informational.  Overall the presentation was very similar to our February meeting which was re-capped in this blog post.

The students asked great questions, like:

Q: Will I have to sign an individual lease or will I have to sign a group lease and be accountable for my roommates actions?

My A: Of course this will vary from landlord to landlord and each lease is different so read carefully.  Some landlords do allow for individual leases to be singed, most have one lease the entire group signs.  Ultimately do your best to pick responsible roommates and respect the property.  If you have an issue with the way a landlord is handling his or her lease speak up.  From our experience many landlords are open to suggestions and with reasonable requests they will be accommodating to your needs or concerns.

And, a small tip, as a group do your best to build a relationship with the landlord through communication and respect.  When you promptly alert the landlords of issues with the house, pay rent on time, and are friendly, it makes getting that security deposit back at the end of the term/year a lot easier.

(That was a little bit longer that my real answer last night)

Q:  When landlords make major improvements to the house because of the responses left on RateMyStudentRental.com, does the rent increase as well?

My A: We have not seen that pattern of increasing rent due to major renovations or as a response to student comments on the website.  From my observations, the landlords are in a very competitive mode right now.  The good landlords, who care about their business and the students are working hard and investing in their properties to make a students experience more enjoyable and comfortable.  If they can provide housing that all the students want and they can achieve full capacity the landlords achieve their ROI most definitely.

Other tips for students in their search for housing…utilize the Student Watch List.  The student watch list is located on your home page when you log in as a student.  Here students can fill out a pretty simple form defining their needs for housing.  After it’s submitted if a rental becomes available that meets the needs of that student, an automated message is sent out alerting the student of the available rooms.  From that message students can communicate with landlords right on RateMyStudentRental.com to inquire about the available rooms.  We’re trying to make this process as simple as possible for students, landlords, and school officials.

If you are or your group is holding a meeting with students to discuss off-campus living, or how to search for housing or any other housing related meeting, the RateMyStudentRental.com team would be happy to join forces and share our knowledge with students.

Tags: Finding Housing, freshman, Moving Off Campus, students

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 9:40 am and is filed under Campus Life, News, Tools, Tips, and Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.