When to start looking for apartments/roomates?

[ontothenextone]

I will probably be out of the country from end of may till mid July. I know orientation starts first week of august, and I won't have time to look for houses/roommates when I get back. What do you think I should do? The other things is that, if I do find an apartment now I would have to put down 3 months worth of rent, and I won't have the money until my loans start kicking in. So my other question is..when will we have access to loan money? Thanks

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[armybound]

why couldn't you find a place that lets you sign a contract starting in August/end of July?

 

[flip26]

Depends on the location of the med school. You may be OK.

For people planning to attend UVA med school, it is already pretty late to find an apartment - you are competing with the undergrads, and Charlottesville has a limited supply of decent apartments within walking distance of the med school, and this is the very area where the undergrads congregate, and they have been signing leases for later this year for many months now...

 

[ontothenextone]

I will be moving to philly...planning to attend either Temple or Drexel. Don't they need me to put some money down (first/last month's rent) when I sign the contract? I don't have that kind of money; I do but I am gonna spend it on my vacation.

 

[flip26]

I will be moving to philly...planning to attend either Temple or Drexel. Don't they need me to put some money down (first/last month's rent) when I sign the contract? I don't have that kind of money; I do but I am gonna spend it on my vacation.

You should probably be looking at craigslist for shares, maybe grabbing a room in an apartment where an opening is coming up. Check all your class site possibilities, from SDN to facebook...

 

[silverhorse84]

You can at least start looking for a roommate(s).

I was gone for 5 weeks before school last summer, so when I found a roommate, he did all the paperwork for the apartment, and I signed my part when I got there in early August.

 

[ThaliaNox]

You won't get your loan money until AT LEAST during orientation week. You'll need to count on it not being available for deposits, moving expenses and rent for the first month. It sucks, but it is true. Some schools don't give it out until a couple weeks into the semester. Mine deposited on Thursday of orientation week. Wasn't available until the following Monday, of course!

As far as apartments go, you can usually negotiate a start time with large apartment buildings for a fall move in date, especially around a college town or larger city.

 

[mvenus929]

For people planning to attend UVA med school, it is already pretty late to find an apartment - you are competing with the undergrads, and Charlottesville has a limited supply of decent apartments within walking distance of the med school, and this is the very area where the undergrads congregate, and they have been signing leases for later this year for many months now...

Yes, and it's stressing me out trying to do this from across the country when I've only been to the town twice. Urgh.

 

[jlimback]

There are usually plenty of students who purchased a place and are shipping off to their internships...all wanting to rent the place/rooms. Just another suggestion.

 

[slowbutsteady]

I wanted to save money, so I got a lease starting in September, and sublet for the last two weeks of August.

Oh, and I arrived the day before classes started! Not sure what I was thinking on that one.

Starting med school in temporary housing was a mistake.

 

[brooklynblunder]

i moved/subletted my apartment on craigslist within 12 hours (and got a backup tenant that same day), you should be fine. craigslist for housing on philly is pretty sick

padmapper dot com is great

 

[Pills Of Soap]

whoa that padmapper is freakin awesome

 

[FloatOn]

i moved/subletted my apartment on craigslist within 12 hours (and got a backup tenant that same day), you should be fine. craigslist for housing on philly is pretty sick

padmapper dot com is great

This just might be more awesome than fmylife.