We all know the disgust and horror of dorm life, and some of us lucky souls are #blessed enough to attend a school that lets us to live in an apartment. Even though the chaos of dorm life can finally be put in the past, now is the start of the madness that is leasing season. Trying to find a place to live that not only matches your ideal location, look and price but also that of your roommates is more impossible than trying to understand why Glee is still on TV. The whole process almost makes us want to give up and suffer through communal bathrooms and RAs for another year. Almost. Here’s what you have to consider.
Roommates
First, whom do you want to live with? You’ll have to tolerate this person’s messes, their eating and sleeping habits, their hair all over your bathroom, their significant others and probably their dramatic personal problems. It’s important to find future roomies whom you can put up with and who have things in common with you.
But this is terrifying. What if you sign a lease with someone but despise each other by May and have already agreed to a binding contract to share a bedroom for another 12 months?
You could choose to have your own apartment, but really, who can afford that? Rent prices are cray.
And what if you have the absolute perfect roommate in mind (great closet, frequent baker, generous), but she’s already signed a lease with someone else?
There are so many factors to consider. To top it off, you won’t know if things will turn out okay for another nine or 10 months. Awesome.
Rent
Then there’s the horrible question of, “what can I afford?” Because what college student doesn’t want to think about budgeting…
What if you find a cheap place that you’re all for, but your future roomie wants something all fancy-schmancy?
Like, c’mon. It’s college. You really don’t need a luxury apartment with granite countertops and mahogany trim. Save it for the suburbs.
Location
Next is the question of where you want to live. And if your roommate doesn’t have the same priorities as you (i.e., the apartment closest to Urban Outfitters and Starbucks), it’s time to negotiate.
The irritating back-and-forth sharing of opinions becomes tiresome when you want an apartment located across the street from classes, but your roommate wants to be downtown by the bars. Hey, rooms, you don’t need to get drunk four days a week!
Compromise comes into play here, and awkward tension is inevitable. Especially if someone refuses to change her mind.
Time
Then there’s the element of the ticking clock of doom and horror. All of the good apartments (great location and price) go really fast, and if you can’t figure the numbers out quickly, you’re probably gonna be stuck with an apartment that makes the dorms look like the Taj Mahal. Not impressed.
Leasing officers employ their fancy sales techniques to lure you in, telling you not to wait more than a week to sign a lease or the apartment you’re looking at will be gonezo.
Then you have to go on showings to view the apartments with potential. It’s an exciting time, like shopping, but for square footage and intercom systems!
But as you see more, you realize no apartment is quite perfect. As much as you’d like something roughly the size of Monica and Rachel’s place, you’ll probably have to settle for less.
Signing the lease
After going to showing upon showing and crunching the annoying numbers, you and your roomies finally decide on an apartment.
It’s time to go into the office and sign the lease. There’s nothing like multiple pages of paperwork to make you feel like a real adult. You don’t even know exactly what you’re agreeing to, and you should probably consult your parents… but it couldn’t be too bad, right? Eh, just sign.
Well, you did it. After an excessively annoying process, you found a place to live. Now you just have to wait 10 months before you can actually move in. Major eye roll. But hey, when that time comes, can you say housewarming party?