The early bird puts down a safety deposit

The hunt is on — for off-campus housing, that is. Although students may feel as though they've just moved into their current rooms, many of those planning to live off campus for the next academic year are already searching for their future accommodations. In some cases, students have even signed contracts and put down deposits

"I think students have started [looking for off-campus housing] early," Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) Director Yolanda King said, adding that it seems to be part of Tufts' culture that students start the housing search earlier every year.

Tufts guarantees housing only to first- and second-year students. According to King, only 392 senior and 368 juniors are living on campus this fall (seniors are given priority in the housing lottery). Thus, many students that would like to live on campus aren't able to and must brave the Boston-area rental market.       

Roy Seidenberg, who is an employee of Boston Rental Exchange, a rental agency focused on offering apartments located along the Red Line, said the phenomenon of looking for housing months in advance is not common in the normal rental market. Seidenberg said that the primary renting season is from May to September, as that is often when most leases expire.

Most landlords do not start advertising until 30 to 60 days before a lease is scheduled for termination, according Seidenberg.

"Somerville and Cambridge have a large student population, but they also have a large number of professionals as well," Seidenberg said. "I suppose [signing a lease this early] makes sense if you're very close to the Tufts campus." He added that with so many students graduating each year, landlords might prefer to line up tenants as early as possible, even if most leases for houses around campus do not begin until June 1.
    One fear among students looking for an ideal off-campus apartment is that if they don't sign a lease sooner rather than later, someone else will. Sophomore Jonathan Hendrickson is one of the individuals who rented an off-campus house early in order to secure an ideal location. Hendrickson and friends put down a deposit for a 10-person house on College Avenue last week.

"It was less of a decision of, ‘We want to know where we're living now,' as it was, ‘Houses start disappearing if we don't do it now,'" Hendrickson said.   

"[The landlord] informed me that there were people that were going to take the house later in the afternoon if we didn't take it," said sophomore Ian Donovan, a friend of Hendrickson.   

This is a common problem, according to the Boston Rental exchange Web site. "There is always a limited supply of quality housing available. What that means to you is that you do not have the luxury of ‘shopping around.' If you like something, TAKE IT," the site advises.

However, students that have gone so far as to put a deposit on a house seem to be the exception, rather than the rule. Sophomore Rebecca Wang is one of those who have just begun their housing search. "We were looking at the links on TuftsLife.com and Craigslist.org, but we haven't got that far yet," Wang said.   

Other students who are planning on studying abroad, such as sophomore Tim Lesinski, are also more likely to wait to decide on housing. Lesinski is planning on participating in the Tufts-in-Washington program in the spring of 2011 and is letting his current roommate do most of the house searching. Lesinski plans to sublet, which he said seems simpler.

"You don't have to sign a lease or anything," he said. "You can sign a lot later because I know that if I were to sign a lease, it would have to be this month, and if I sublet, I can sort of make a commitment, but I don't have to get any money together or anything for a while."

Lesinski added that he would rather sublet than take his chances with the housing lottery. "I'm sort of being steered by my parents to live on campus, but I'm going to try and fight back and live off campus, because I don't want to get stuck in a single in a bad dorm," Lesinski said.   

One thing is for certain: The Boston-area rental market can be expensive. According to a 2008 report by Forbes, Boston is the nation's third most expensive rental market, behind only New York City and San Francisco. King said that in order to avoid paying more than they should, studentsshould check the prices of similar housing in the area and attempt to negotiate their rent.

ResLife strives to make the house-hunting process as easy as possible, according to King. She recommended the Off-Campus Housing Resource Center Web site (ase.tufts.edu/och). The site contains a house listing blog, sample leases, common questions and a list of things that students should investigate, such as the presence of smoke detectors and the cost of utilities.

King also stressed that students should consult their parents throughout the housing search. In order to aid students who are not sure if their housing lottery numbers are good enough to live on campus, the ResLife office will send out a survey to rising seniors this month asking if they plan to seek on-campus housing for next year. Although the responses are not binding, they will give a rough idea of which students have good enough lottery numbers to live on campus.

To help students in the search for off-campus apartments, the Sophomore Class Council will host an Off-Campus Housing Information Session on Monday, Nov. 9. According to Dan Halpert, the vice president of Academic Programming for the Sophomore Class Council, the event is being held because of the success of an on-campus housing information session the then-Freshman Class Council held at this time last year.

The event will feature a presentation by King as well as a panel of students currently living off campus who will talk about their neighborhoods and give out landlord information.

Even though some have already largely finished their housing search, Halpert believes the event can still be a valuable one.

"While some sophomores have signed leases for next year, there is still an overwhelming majority of people who haven't even started the process," Halpert said in an e-mail. "Regardless of whether or not you've looked at houses yet, this event is very useful since it gives you a very detailed overview of the entire process, which seems daunting at first. We think it's going to be a very helpful program for the Class of 2012."