<p>Cal Housing offered me a triple in Unit 2 and I plan on declining today and trying to find an apartment off-campus. It is too expensive to live in a extremely cramped room with possibly freshmen. HOWEVER, I am in an inconvenient disposition to be making this decision. I live on the East coast and I will not be able to go apartment-hunting in Berkeley until mid-August, about a week before people start moving in and such. </p>
<p>How risky is this? Will it still be easy enough to find a place about a week before classes?</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like a good idea. My friend at Berkeley had to look for over a month for an apartment, and it is twenty minutes away from campus by car. I’d suggest looking on Craigslist ahead of time and getting into contact with some options soon.</p>
<p>I am looking on craigslist now and there are plenty of places just a few blocks from campus…easily walk-able.</p>
<p>It could be possible for you to find a place in short time period, but there’s also a good chance that you won’t. I would go through CalRentals, because these are landlords that have to be honest to the Cal system or they won’t be listed again. Craig’s List people don’t necessarily be honest and there are instances of people getting ripped off.</p>
<p>A tip that the Cal Rentals people gave to out of town students was: Line up several appointments over a weekend and then just fly out to the Bay Area for the weekend. I know it might be expensive, but that way you can get somewhat of a head start.</p>
<p>The other option would be to arrange for a place to live for the first month of your time at Cal and look for a place while you are starting out at Cal. It might be really stressful to move while in the semester, but might also save you some money if you really, really can not be in CA before mid August. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>^^I agree with the Cal Rentals option. I contacted about 15 people on a Wednesday, heard back from one woman on Thursday, called her on Friday, flew up and gave her a deposit on Saturday. Start now and expect to have to fly there.</p>