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| housing [2017/01/03 19:28] – ishivvers | housing [2019/05/06 17:37] – tzick |
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| The best place for apartment listings is [[http://www.craigslist.org/|craigslist]]. You can use this to find apartments and potential roommates. Apartments are generally listed as available immediately, or on the 1st of the next month. So, if you're looking for an August 1st move in, the best time to look is the last two weeks of July. | The best place for apartment listings is [[http://www.craigslist.org/|craigslist]]. You can use this to find apartments and potential roommates. Apartments are generally listed as available immediately, or on the 1st of the next month. So, if you're looking for an August 1st move in, the best time to look is the last two weeks of July. |
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| The university also runs the [[https://calrentals.housing.berkeley.edu/|Cal Rentals]] office, which will let you access its listings for a small fee, but almost everything that shows up on that site shows up on Craigslist too. There is also the more full-service (and more expensive) [[http://www.bayrentals.com/|Bay Area Rentals]]. Most students opt to work entirely via Craigslist, though. | The university also runs the [[https://calrentals.housing.berkeley.edu/|Cal Rentals]] office, which will let you access its listings for free (it costs money to post, but you can look for free). There is also the more full-service (and more expensive) [[http://www.bayrentals.com/|Bay Area Rentals]]. Most students opt to work entirely via Craigslist, though. |
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| ===Leases=== | ===Leases=== |
| ===Advanced Strategy=== | ===Advanced Strategy=== |
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| | CAUTION: This is about a decade out of date |
| So I hesitate to bring this up... but the rent that an apartment is listed for is not set in stone. It is possible, but risky, to bargain with landlords. It's most effective when there aren't many prospective tenants for an apartment; i.e. there aren't many people looking for 5 bedroom houses in March. I once found myself in this situation looking at a 5 bedroom in the Berkeley Hills that was asking $5500. We submitted an application, but offered only $3500. Two weeks passed, and the house was advertised on craigslist for $4500. I contacted the agent and reminded him about our offer, but they weren't interested. I continued calling the agent a couple times a week to see if they responded to our offer, but I didn't hear anything for about a month. Then I offered $3600 to see if that got any response; they came back with $3500, which made no sense. We split the difference with $3550; we've been living in the house now for more than a year. If you're a BADgrad, you'll probably come to a party here at some point. | So I hesitate to bring this up... but the rent that an apartment is listed for is not set in stone. It is possible, but risky, to bargain with landlords. It's most effective when there aren't many prospective tenants for an apartment; i.e. there aren't many people looking for 5 bedroom houses in March. I once found myself in this situation looking at a 5 bedroom in the Berkeley Hills that was asking $5500. We submitted an application, but offered only $3500. Two weeks passed, and the house was advertised on craigslist for $4500. I contacted the agent and reminded him about our offer, but they weren't interested. I continued calling the agent a couple times a week to see if they responded to our offer, but I didn't hear anything for about a month. Then I offered $3600 to see if that got any response; they came back with $3500, which made no sense. We split the difference with $3550; we've been living in the house now for more than a year. If you're a BADgrad, you'll probably come to a party here at some point. |
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