Apartment Advice

This year instead of living on campus I thought it would be a brilliant idea to live off campus to save money.

I started off working with E and her friend. We looked all over for 3 bedroom apartments that fit all the meticulous requirements E laid out for us. One week before we are supposed to go visit our short list of options, E says that she has talked it over with her parents and decided she shouldn't live off campus. That leaves me with her friend who I don't know and wasn't that into it to begin with...so we abandon that attempt.

I talk to my old roommate, A, to see what her plans are. She's been working with B. They didn't have a set plan yet, but figured they would get a house instead of an apartment. So I join the group, as do R and N. N later drops out because he has joined a frat. Since there are now 4 of us, we look at 4 bedroom apartments. Again they must meet a list of requirements. We find a good variety of apartments. However, due to A's inability to pay for anything more than 300/month, we end up at Campus View. We sign the leases without even taking a tour.

Summer starts. I try and get a hold of B to wish him happy birthday. I call back a few times over the next week, but he never answers. Finally, B calls me back. He has been kicked out of the university because his grades last semester were terrible (for various reasons: a death in the family, a two week illness and him slacking off after that). He can't live in the apartment anymore. We contact N who's been searching for a place to live. He agrees to take the place. This is where the trouble begins.

N parties and smokes. He also wanted to have a dog and a 5th person live with us. All these things violate the lease. After much drama (read: me putting my foot down) N decides to move out, along with R. Well, R doesn't move out...which causes the apartment to turn it into an all girls apartment.

Looking back, it didn't turn out that bad. R doesn't hate me anymore and K is really cool (the other girl they placed with us). A is actually the problem now since she has a cat and a lizard and two fish. Well R is a bit of a problem b/c she doesn't clean up after herself too much, but I cut her some slack b/c she works almost full time and is taking 15 credit hours.

I had a point with all this somewhere. Oh yeah. Don't try and find an apartment with people you don't know too much about. And even if you think you know them pretty well, they will mess something up. Guaranteed. I think if I live off campus next year that I will get a studio. I don't mind paying almost double the rent if it means I get to live the way I want. Tentatively I am hoping to live with L and K and a different E, but a lot of that is hinged on if K gets into law school at our university and if E is able to transfer. So we'll see. I'm keeping living alone off campus as my main choice.