1

I am a young adult looking for a room near the college I'll be attending. I am not experienced or good at looking for housing, and I don't really have the time to shop around because I work full time. Is there any way I can delegate this task to a realtor or someone else?

EDIT

I did find a service for helping me find a room to rent. I found it by trolling realtors on yelp and sending them messages asking if they could help me find a room. Only one said yes out of about ten. Her business called it an "apartment concierge service", but it cost around $1500, so I didn't do it. I ended up finding a place to live with craigslist.

Improve this question
7
  • Of course there is. You need to pay them, and they'll look for places for you. What's the confusion?
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 6:36
  • @littleadv Would an ordinary realtor do this? I just don't know where to find the person. I will of course pay them.
    – michaelsnowden
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 6:57
  • Most real estate agents offer this service when you ask them. For a price, of course.
    – Philipp
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 9:06
  • 1
    An agent that is listing an apartment may be paid by the building owner. Similar to when you buy a home, the buyer doesn't pay the commission, the seller does. Rentals vary, depending on the state.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 11:34
  • 1
    Clarified the question from "can I" to "how".
    – keshlam
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 22:19

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

Many colleges have offices that can help students find off campus housing. They will have information about rooms being let by families, and about houses being shared by groups of students.

The biggest issue is that many of the best places were filled months ago. With only a month to go before classes start time is tight.

You can also look for electronic listings organized through a campus newspaper.

The advantage of going through university resources is that they will have more information regarding the types of students they are looking for. A house full of undergrads is different than a family house that rents only to young professors.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    There is also this thing called Craigslist :-)
    – jamesqf
    Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 18:30
1

There are services, usually associated with real estate agents, that provide apartment search services for relocating professionals. I was very underimpressed when I was offered the use of such a service and did better on my own, but I did have the company paying for a hotel room while I searched so I had time to investigate alternative channels -- and in fact found and took a place being offered by a co-worker's father.

But if you're really looking for "a room" in a shared living situation, and you aren't already on campus talking to other students, I agree that the school's housing office, or the dorms and/or fraternity houses and/or independent living groups are your best bet.

In a college town most roommate openings get snapped up pretty quickly and are more likely to go to someone who is a known or vouched-for quantity.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .