Hello, I’ve recently been admitted to Northeastern as a Transfer student and I was wondering how difficult is it to get a decent housing on off-campus. Since the housing for transfer students are already full(?!), I have no option but to choose off-campus housing. I’ve never been to Boston so it is very difficult for me to figure out the atmosphere around the area and the transportation to school. Northeastern is one of my top choice, so I really don’t want the housing to be a main problem. Any tips would be helpful!!
@RussianRoulette i dont know if you have full access to the myneu board just yet, their is an community tab, there you can find apartments and roomates in the area. Apartments cost around 1000-1250 per room, studios are more expensive. Leases start august so you have some time but your cutting it close, worst case scenario is having the off campus service connect you with a realtor but those apartments are more expensive. Let me know if this helps.
Also make sure to answer the questions honestly so they match you up with students similar to you. In the search ive had students from BU mostly and some suffolk students as well. Be honest as a 1 year lease is a 1 year lease, also when you or if you get a lease the off campus service department will review it for you to make sure you are protected as a student.
Although I may not be able to help much in terms of housing information, as someone who commutes in the area every day, I can tell you this:
Getting to/from Northeastern using the green/orange line is very easy. If you look at a map of the area, you’ll see that the area is very accessible.
Wherever you look at potentially living, check the Google Maps walk and bus/train route. Northeastern is located in a very nice location it terms of transportation, so I wouldn’t be too worried if I were you.
There’s also a very large subletting market, so finding a 4-6 month sublet per semester/co-op is often better than dealing with a lease. Lots of Facebook groups have sublet posts for Northeastern and Boston generally. The groups within Northeastern (require a NEU email to get in) are often plenty busy with options.
@raulhumber2 @DoronG @PengsPhils Thank you for your response!!
I’ve been trying to figure out how to use off-campus housing service website all day and I’m still confused lol (It is where they usually get roommates & housing information right?). Also is there any neighborhood you guys recommend or should avoid?
Yeah, you have to sign up using your myneu Id and email for it to work. Ummm neighborhoods id avoid would be mattapan,dorchester, as the 2 big ones, The other areas are doable especially since college apartments is such a huge market in boston and around NE. You’ll be with other college students, mission hill is common, some students are in roxbury which can go either way depending on the area. Beacon hill is kinda the top one area in Boston, kinda depends on your budget all these cities which are walking distance to NE vary in prices. @RussianRoulette , id start with what your budget area is first then work from there, and subleases are also available but they are usually in 6 month cycles here by NE.
Symphony / Hemmingway area is really close to campus but a bit pricier, if you can afford it, well worth it in my opinion. $1500 or so for a private room in an apartment, will have to sublet likely. Fenway would be similar.
Mission Hill is probably the most common cheap neighborhood. Jamaica Plain is farther but off the Orange line so easy access.
The off-campus housing website isn’t amazing - I think you’ll find more help in the Facebook groups.
My daughter is an incoming transfer student and we too are facing the issue of housing. When you say $1500 a room, does that mean a person or by the room? Where are the FB sublet groups? Thanks for your help.
1500 a room for fenway area. So a two bedroom would cost 3k, a 3 bedroon could go up to 3.5-4k really depends on the area. Utilities are usually not including except for the water. A studio for a single would cost around 2k or 2200, in that fenway area. FB groups are like northeastern off campus housing, I would check the off campus site for apartments to see if you get any hits so you can pair up maybe 3 students or so its easier to find an apartment @ballarders
Here is the supergroup for all NEU groups - it requires a NEU email to join. Replace the censored part with Facebook etc
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Deleted link - not allowed
There’s a large housing group in there, and then there are other non-NEU specific ones as well. If your daughter asks about other groups there she should get a response quickly.
As mentioned, $1500 a room is on the high end for the best options, you’ll find as low as $1000 still in a decently close location to campus.
@raulhumber2 @PengsPhils Thanks. Does anyone split a room?
@ballarders that’s hard to say boston apartments are tiny for the most part, also they have boston housing codes that i believe say that no more than 4 undergraduate students to a 2 bedroom apartment, ive done the math and NE cost 15k with a meal plan, which is roughly what off housing cost alone if its a one year lease. I have personally never shared a room i don’t know of others.
^15k is for 9 months only. Apartments rent for 12 months.
Not even 9 months - 8 months really. Rent in most housing on campus ends up ranging from 1K to 1.5K+ a month, so it’s more or less similar on and off campus.
I should have been clearer if the student occupies the apartment for the 12 months then yes the 15k at the school only covers 8-9 months, but if the student is only there for lets say fall and spring with no summer classes and still has a 1 year lease the cost are the same. But yeah i agree with the 1-1.5k apartment cost range, dont forget the brokers fee sadly.
I shared a 3 bed apartment with 5 people in Longwood (less than a mile from campus) and paid ~$800/month. Areas like mission hill are also cheaper than back bay/fenway.
Before we did it, it seemed like a crazy idea, but we actually bought a one-bedroom condo for our daughter. We worked and reworked the numbers, and even using conservative growth for property values, it will be a much better deal for us than renting.
Our D just finished her freshman year. She was able to get out of the requirement to live on-campus next year. We are subletting it this summer to other NU students. We actually bought it from the parents of a NU student who just graduated. We won’t know for sure until we sell, but we think our out-of-the-box thinking is going to work for us.
Aside from the monetary benefit, it’s been a huge relief for our D to not worry about housing lotteries, landlords, roommates, deposits, moving, storage, etc.
@palm715 thats pretty awesome! I hope you make a profit since the market is constantly going up in Boston, great idea and the hazzle free worry is definetly an awesome perk.
Buying a house only works for some people, of course. Most people aren’t going to be able to afford a one-bed condo, or have the down payment for a place, even if the monthly mortgage is reasonable.