Good off-campus apartments

Colleges and Universities A-Z Ohio State University
1

<p>I am a freshman at OSU at the moment and for next year I am considering moving off-campus into an apartment. However I am not from Columbus nor even Ohio so I don’t really know the surrounding areas well. So I have a few questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What areas are the best/most tolerable that aren’t super expensive? I’d prefer to live really close but if I need to be like a mile or two away from campus that is fine. I’m not really into partying or things like that, but I can tolerate it if it’s not excessive, so are there areas where this doesn’t really happen much?</p></li>
<li><p>What areas should I avoid?</p></li>
<li><p>If I can’t move out into an apartment what are some good dorms for sophomores? I know Jones Tower is primarily an upperclassman dorm but I don’t know about any others. Currently I live in Taylor and I don’t see too many sophomores+ here.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you if anyone can answer these!</p>

2

<p>I have 2 sons at OSU (well, one graduated in March) and they usually stayed within the boundaries of High St and Indianola and between 11th ave and 18th ave. I think the properties around 17th and that area seem to be the nicest. If you go as far as Summit Ave, it can be quite a hike to classes.</p>

<p>There are also places to rent near South campus dorms (to the south) and near North campus dorms (to the north). They are really working to clean up the areas around campus as much as they can. I graduated back in 1983 and you wouldn’t even go near the area of the current South Campus Gateway.</p>

<p>It would be a good idea to explore the areas now -most places will have a sign indicating the rental company and a number to call. You will need to jump on this right away in Jan - the best places go quickly. Figure out how many people you want to live with and what you feel comfortable spending. My son (currently a sophomore) is renting from OSU Property Mgmt and older son ended up at Buckeye Real Estate most times. He did have 1 nasty landlord and we made sure to avoid him in the future. I won’t post his name here but you can PM me if you want details. Some places include utilities. The parties are everywhere, but if you choose your roommates carefully, you can avoid most of the craziness.</p>

<p>Oldest son lived alone on 16th last year (1-bedroom apt) and paid $590/month. Other son lives near So Campus Gateway this year with 2 other guys and pays $400/month, just to give you an idea. Oldest son has also lived in houses with 7 other guys - way too many IMO!</p>

<p>HTH -not sure if that’s what you’re looking for.</p>

3

<p>This might give you some insight about the different rental companies
<a href=“http://www.osuproperties.com/docs/2011%20USG%20Renting%20Guide.pdf[/url]”>http://www.osuproperties.com/docs/2011%20USG%20Renting%20Guide.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“This publication has been provided by the Undergraduate Student
Government’s Student Life Committee to hopefully make your search for housing in
the off campus area easier and to help you make informed decisions in the leasing
process. The following pages will provide you with data and comments on landlords
in the off campus area. These results were compiled by a survey administered by
the Office of Student Life Research and Assessment and commissioned by the
Undergraduate Student Government.”</p>

<p>Some of these companies are not right on campus, so check the addresses.</p>

4

<p>You probably won’t need to live a mile away from campus to find a good apartment with low rent- but the further you do live away from the center of campus, the cheaper the rent gets. The houses and apartments with the highest rent are around 14th to Woodruff, where a lot of the big party houses are, and the average rent there may be around $500 per person, per month, usually not including utilities. That area tends to be a little loud at night because of party music, so people who prefer quiet should look elsewhere.</p>

<p>I live in the south campus area east of High Street, and the average rent where I live is maybe $350. If I had to choose an apartment all over again, however (I’ve lived in mine for three years, but I like my roommates and don’t want to move), I would consider the area north of Lane, on the west side of High. I have a friend who lived on West Northwood last year, and the houses and apartments are fairly nice, and fairly cheap as well. For students in the Engineering or Business colleges, living on north campus really isn’t much of a far walk to classes at all, maybe 15-20 minutes. </p>

<p>There is also student housing on south campus that is west of High, and that area, by the med school, is fairly residential and quiet, and moderately priced. I would recommend looking there too.</p>

<p>I would avoid living too far East of High, like past Summit, or living past the south campus gateway area. Just as a thing to note, if you live really, really close to High Street, you can have bums or random drunk people hang out in your yard, or in my case, try to sleep on your porch. I would also recommend walking by the place you are intending to rent a few times, and just taking notice of how loud things are, or how the parking situation is. You can always knock on doors and ask the current tenants or their neighbors what the area/ apartment/ house is like. </p>

<p>My apartment is run by Oxford Realty, and I highly recommend them to new renters. Over three years I’ve never had a problem they didn’t fix quickly, and most of their apartments come semi-furnished, which is pretty great. My boyfriend rents from Hometeam, and I would avoid them, for both being overpriced, and for doing really, really inadequate repairs.</p>

5

<p>Thank you to you both! This gives me a pretty good start on where to begin looking and which companies to look into. Maybell, how did you find your roommates? Did you already know them from living in a dorm/met through classes or did you do something else? I ask because I’m trying to see how many people I would be living with next year and I potentially have two other girls at the moment. What’s the maximum amount of people you would recommend living together?</p>

6

<p>I live with two girls I met in the dorms, and I would recommend this only because you get a chance to see what they are like in terms of both personality and living styles. I would not live with people you don’t know very well, even if they seem nice, because signing a lease for a whole year with those people is a pretty significant decision. I chose girls who were smart and responsible, with no discernible money problems. I was initially looking to live with more of my friends, in a house or large apartment, but we as a group ended up in two nearby apartments rather than one house. </p>

<p>I think it is easier to live with fewer people, but I’ve never experienced living with many roommates other than in the dorms. My roommates and I share small expenses and food items like milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and toilet paper, and we don’t really feel the need to keep track of who is spending more or less because we ultimately trust each other to pitch in. At my boyfriend’s house of twice as many people, for comparison, no one is willing to share any food items beyond spices, no one takes responsibility for cleaning, and they frequently run out of supplies like toilet paper and dish detergent because no one wants to pay more than their share. It is hard to pinpoint who is not doing their share when there are many roommates, whereas I can gently remind one of my roommates that they haven’t done the dishes lately, if necessary. I’m sure that more than three or four people could happily live together if they were all willing to do their fair share, and no one felt slighted, but that can be hard to achieve.</p>

<p>When you are picking out a place to live, and people to live with, the most important thing is to make sure everyone wants the same thing. If you want a quiet apartment, and your friend wants to throw frequent parties, you are best remaining friends, and not roommates. Same goes for people who want to live “family-style” with a lot of sharing, vs. people who just want to handle their own things, and only pay for what they use. Make sure everyone knows how they are going to pay the rent and utilities, and don’t lend money to your roommates. Plan ahead, and several weeks before moving in together, figure out who can bring what, and what is left that needs to be purchased, and by who. There is no point in moving in, and realizing that while you have two microwaves, you have no dishes. </p>

<p>Also, while I did not mention this before, somehow a lot of students don’t realize that leases are for 12 months, not the 9 we are in school. Make sure your potential roommates know that you will all still have to pay rent and utilities during the summer, even if no one is living in the apartment. You can plan to look for subletters if you will not be using your apartment for the summer, but I wouldn’t count on finding one, since the supply of available rooms to sublet is always much higher than the demand.</p>

7

<p>Maybe this link will help: [url=&lt;a href=“http://offcampus.osu.edu/]offcampus.osu.edu[/url”&gt;http://offcampus.osu.edu/]offcampus.osu.edu[/url</a>]</p>