Now that I am not a freshmen, housing on-campus has become limited. Emerson sent out an email last semester stating that they only had enough beds for two hundred rising juniors. This means that most likely my three roommates and I will not all get selected for on-campus housing. Our solution to this problem, as I am sure most of you came to the same solution, is to move off campus. So let the apartment hunting begin!
For me, apartment hunting has not been hard. What it has been is stressful and time consuming. Between my roommates and I we have probably talked to over fifteen real estate agents; that number excludes the ones that did not respond to our questions. So far we have been to one showing and plan to see a few more apartments this upcoming weekend. Just as a tip in case you were unaware, real estate gents do cost money but only when you pick your apartment. They will show you as many apartments as you want but when you finally pick the one you will live in they usually cost about the first month’s rent.
Not wanting to travel far to get to school everyday my roommates and I originally limited ourselves to the Theatre District, Beacon Hill, and part of Back Bay. When only two apartments were available in these three areas in our price range we knew, as did our brokers, that we needed to expand our horizons. Living within walking distance of Emerson was just too expensive an area. Broadening our choices turns out to have been the best decision we could make.
Living off the T means cheaper rent and more space. The apartments we are looking at off of the Green and Red lines are hundreds to a thousand dollars cheaper than the apartment within walking distance of Emerson. These places include areas such as Allston, Fenway, and Brookline. Living farther away also means more space. What I mean by this is that instead of having a closet sized room you can have a living room sized bedroom.
Hopefully by this weekend we will have picked a wonderful apartment in our new favorite location. But if not, our real estate agents will continue to work hard and keep giving us new apartment listings as they come out. One agent even said that most listings for the South End do not come out until mid February to June. So if you are thinking of living off campus next year just as I am, don’t worry about finding a place right now. You still have lots of time. Happy apartment hunting!