Off-Campus living is a big deal to most students on campus. You spend a year in a freshman dorm and then another in a sophomore dorm or maybe in the same corridor with all of your sorority sisters. And then year three rolls around. Where do I live? Who do I live with? Which parts of town do I live in? What do I look for? When do I look? All of those are good questions, and you’ve found the place for answers.
Where do I live? Which parts of town?
Option A: “I like living closer to campus, in the winter and or when it’s raining, it makes life way easier.”
Option B: “I like living closer to uptown, it makes weekends great and when I’m hungry with no time, I can grab something quick.”
These are two popular answers when contemplating where to live. Different parts of town represent different experiences. Living close to campus is nice, but that also means living closer to fraternity houses. Do you want that? Do you care?
Living close to uptown is super nice but that always means inflated prices. Can you afford that? You might consider making a compromise, close to uptown, but maybe the far end. Think the West oriented streets past Main or Beech and farther away from Uptown than Walnut or Church. West Withrow is nice, so is North College. Farther down South Main is quaint and some of the offshoots like Wooster or Rose can provide a nice area too. Don’t underestimate how far you’re willing to walk for a quieter and less pricey place to live.
When do I look & What do I look for?
Option A: “I couldn’t find anything when I looked one semester before–you have to look soooo far in advance.”
Option B: “I had no idea what to look for and my dad couldn’t come in so, I brought a friend that knows that kind of stuff, it helped.”
You should look as soon as possible, that’s a given. Some people plan two years in advance for houses, but especially uptown apartments. The downside? You generally have to choose who you live with farther in advance than you actually care to. Living with people you don’t like anymore can make for a long semester. Leases can be sublet though if problems arise.
You should already be looking for a place for the 13-14 school year. Houses go slower than close to uptown apartments but not much slower. Some of the nicest houses are pass down houses. Learn to recognize those so you don’t get your heart set on them.
If you miss out on a house, apartments aren’t bad. They’re easier to clean and keep, they’re usually cheaper unless they’re on High St., but it’s harder to host if you’re the kind to throw a rager. Always a compromise. Hawk’s Landing is a good fall back. It seems far, but you get used to it, it’s cheap, and it has a hot tub.
Nobody expects you to know what to look for when checking out a place. When looking at an apartment, you generally don’t have to worry about this stuff. But with houses, look for cracks in the walls and ceilings, look at the foundation and make sure the basement won’t leak. Are the floors warped? Is the kitchen in working condition? In Oxford, house owners can get away with not updating some of their properties because they know the demand is so high that it doesn’t matter. You have to give a deposit when you sign a lease, so make sure you talk to the owner or agent about all pre-existing problems. This will prevent being charged for a problem you didn’t cause.
In short, house/apartment finding is hard. It’s super competitive, super expensive, but always worth it. South of uptown has smaller outdoor space but is closer to campus. North of Uptown is quieter and has bigger yards but requires more walking. Most apartment complexes are a bit of a walk from campus but are cheaper, sometimes furnished, and usually have things like pools or lots of parking. Get together with the girlfriends you intend to live with, then think about location, type of place, and price range BEFORE you go looking. Searching with no goals leads to living in someone’s shed with no closet space (the most important thing).