With the competive rental market of a college town, students looking to live away from the busy Cal Poly atmosphere often have to start searching now to have the best options to choose from.
That’s especially true if you have a larger group of people all looking to live together.
“I’m looking for a three bedroom place, and there are not a lot of options with finding a house right now,” said child development sophomore Molly Roach.
Those who do start the search early often strike it lucky it, though.
“I looked around February or March for a place to live, and applied early for anything that was being offered,” said liberal studies senior Kerry Mills. “The process was easy for me and my roommates because we took the first thing we saw, and ended up liking it.”
These different searching tools act as a guide in looking for off-campus housing around San Luis Obispo County:
Craigslist
Craigslist is a great way to start searching for housing. The Web site, which is essentially the free online equivalent of newspaper classifieds, offers an easy way to browse houses, apartments and rooms in the area. Those needing a room or roommate can easily make a free listing.
“I started looking for housing three to four weeks into winter quarter because I heard from my friends that I should start looking as soon as possible,” said psychology sophomore Carolyn Boosalis. “I usually use the housing link on the Cal Poly Web site and Craigslist.”
housing.calpoly.edu
Under the housing section of Cal Poly’s Web site, students can navigate houses or apartments under the Off-campus Housing tab in the upper right hand corner. A list of privately owned apartments are available, along with the link to the apartment complex or property management company’s Web site.
The site also offers useful advice and resources for student renters.
The Tribune
San Luis Obispo’s local newspaper lists houses, apartments and rooms for rent in its classifieds section, which are categorized by town within the area. This is a great start to compare prices and see other rentals that are available outside of San Luis Obispo.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook’s marketplace, which lists everything from jobs to free stuff, adds the advantages of social networking to the rental search. The marketplace is easy to navigate based on the user’s network or another network and can be searched via its navigation bar.
SLO-offcampushousing.com
The Web site of the San Luis Obispo Off Campus Student Housing Association, slo-offcampushousing.com hosts a brief directory with summaries of its eight member apartment complexes: Valencia Apartments, Mustang Village I, Mustang Village II, Murray Station, Brazil Heights, El Dorado Apartments and Garfield Arms. The site also has maps and some information on tenant rights, budgeting and the basics of living off campus.
Rent.com, ForRent.com and Apartments.com
These nationwide rental search engines can be helpful ways to search for housing based on very specific criteria, including city, minimum and maximum rent amounts, number of rooms, etc. Rent.com and Apartments.com require you to register with an e-mail address before you can search their listings, ForRent.com does not.
– information compiled by Genevieve Loggins