DD has decided that she would like to live off campus next year. Any input on apartments? I’m looking at the new Calloway House and the Millennium Apartments. I’m looking for a place without a history of bedbugs, individual leases, furnished and first floor apartments or an elevator a must. Option of covered parking is a plus. Any other places to consider?
Millennium is good, if pricey. If price isn’t too high of a concern, Millennium is maybe one of the nicest places.
Haven’t heard of Calloway House.
I’ve lived at two places. University Greens (sophomore) and the Edge (junior and senior year). I really enjoy living in the Edge and I think most others do too. Did not have a great experience at University Greens. Other places you may want to consider are Crimson Park and the Reserve, which are both fairly nice and clean.
Thanks @WoolScarves, Does the Edge have an elevator? From the picture’s it it didn’t seem like it. If she can get a first floor apartment or park in a garage that she can get from her car to her apartment without steps, that would work too.
The Calloway House is under construction but I think we have ruled it out due to the parking fees and small size of bedrooms (bedrooms have raised beds with drawers underneath because of lack of space for dressers).
D plays a large instrument and will need enough space to keep it in her bedroom so a big bedroom is really important.
Given that the Millennium is not currently fully occupied, the Calloway House is opening next Fall and the new upper class residential colleges will be opening next year I think there may be a glut of higher end housing available. D is also is position that she can sign a full year’s lease so that may be helpful.
Any thoughts on the best way to approach this to get the best deal?
I was also looking at the Cottages at Norman thinking a cottage with a first floor bedroom would work well but, man some of the on-line reviews were very, very bad!
There’s been a glut of upperclassmen apartments for a while now and as a result, a number of places heavily discount around April - June. They’ll send emails about these discounts as they come. The Ave, Cottages, Reserves, and one or two others are notorious for essentially spamming inboxes.
I live in the Reserves and based on what your daughter has told me about the harp’s dimensions (we have two classes together), she’ll easily be able to fit it either in the larger rooms that the Reserves offers or in one of the hallway nooks. I keep a kayak, three bikes, and enough camping supplies to partially stock an REI in my room, and still have plenty of space.
As someone for whom price was not a concern, I chose to live in the Reserves because they offered the combination of great management, a relatively quiet apartment complex, fully furnished units, individual bathrooms, five and ten month leases, along with optional summer storage. I go out of state for the summer so not having to pay for an extra two months of rent is a massive benefit. My only gripe about the complex is that the living room area is much smaller than what places like Crimson Park and the Edge offer. My roommate bought a small, cheap folding table but we only use it if we have guests over.
If distance isn’t a big issue for your daughter, the Ave, Cottages, and Aspen Heights are all great and frankly will make you amazed that they are marketed towards college students. However, parking on campus sucks so not having to deal with finding a spot on campus or taking a shuttle from the LNC is a major benefit of apartments that are closer to campus. As @WoolScarves essentially said, I would choose between the Edge (not sure if they offer covered parking, no elevators), Millennium (great complex with a parking garage and elevators), and the Reserves (offers covered parking, no elevators).
Oh it’s so hard to compare apple to apples when looking at apartments! I just shot off an email with a bunch of questions to the Millennium. For now I’m going to go with my assumptions.
The Edge is very attractive because it is so reasonably priced! 4bed/4 bath 1429 sq ft. 10 months $500 lease or 12 months $450 lease, no application fee or deposit and that includes everything all utilities, cable, furniture, parking. It also strikes me as less of a party place (I could be way off that but it’s the impression I got from the photos) which is another big plus. Unfortunately because my DD needs to move her instrument from the apartment to the car without steps, she would be limited to first floor living there. After much thought and reading some crime states in Norman, I’d really rather she not be in a first floor apartment but she my over rule me on that thought.
The Reserve, the Ave, the Cottages and the Aspen Heights are also attractively priced but they all have the same issue of no elevators so first floor would be the only option. I know Norman is not Miami or Chicago but I’d still really rather DD not live in a first floor apartment. Covered parking is also a big plus especial in the event of hail or ice storms. The Reserve charges $30 extra for covered parking.
Millennium has both a parking garage with access to each floor and elevators so stairs won’t be an issue. 4bed/4bath 1607 sq ft is $540 plus furniture $35 a month and parking in the garage is $10 a month. Electric is not included but estimated at $20 a month per person. They are also having an early signing special where they are offering an additional two months in the summer rent free/ $500 visa gift card - these promos are listed on their web page as current but the fine print says for leases beginning 8/2016. Here’s were my assumptions come in while I wait to hear back from them. I’m going to assume that they will have a similar promos for next year and it’s two months free summer rent OR the $500 Visa gift card and the you’ll still need to pay for the furniture fee and parking fee and of course electricity during those “free months” ignoring potential application fee and deposit, that equals $472 a month for 14 months). The Millennium has some extra perks that dd would actually use, free printing, free shuttle to campus every 30 minutes and garage parking and it’s bigger and newer. Those could be worth the extra $22 a month. Of course there are perks she’ll never use, who knew that a stand up tanning bed was even a thing? The biggest negative is that it looks like a party place and I’m really concerned about the noise. I’m also concerned with “hidden fees” and hope to learn more about that soon. If she ends up there I’ll push for an apartment that doesn’t face the pool because I think that would cut down a lot of the noise.
The Reserve, the Ave, the Cottages and the Aspen Heights all have the same issue of no elevators so first floor would be the only option. I know Norman is not Miami or Chicago but I’d still really rather DD not live in a first floor apartment. The parking garage is also a big plus especial in the event of hail or ice storms. The Reserve charges $30 extra for covered parking.
I’m truly, but most pleasantly, surprised how low the cost of off campus housing is in Norman! If there’s already a glut of upperclassman off campus housing it’s only going to increase when the Calloway House and the residential on campus upper class housing opens in the the Fall, which is good news for us! I think I’ll plan a trip up in April so we can go apartment hunting, it’s really hard to get a feel for an apartment on line!
That’s my understanding as well although really @WoolScarves is the best one to answer that. The big party apartment complexes from my experience are the Millennium, Crimson Park, and the Cottages although the layout of the Cottages makes it easy to ignore. Realistically, the biggest parties occur in off campus houses, especially near Greek row.
Frankly those perks are the norm in Norman. The Reserves, Crimson Park, Aspen Heights, etc all offer those things. I would check where the Millennium shuttle drops off because many apartments pick up from the Lloyd Noble Center rather than campus which means your daughter would have to wait in line to take the often full bus to the LNC and then take the shuttle home. The Reserves’ shuttle picks up near Sarkey’s, an arrangement that is vastly more convenient. Since I have a number of friends who live in the Millennium I can ask them about any additional fees.
Yup, Norman is very much overbuilt for the more expensive student apartments. There is still considerable competition for the less expensive, fully furnished options including Crimson Park (at most a 3% vacancy) and the Commons, but the most expensive places have to give considerable discounts to attract students.
This is just an aside, but I suspect that the residential college and the future Cross apartment (an OU owned apartment complex which is currently in the planning stages) will not compete with the majority of off campus apartments. Some of their demand models appear to use college towns with 95%+ occupancy rates as a basis of comparison. The residential colleges appear to lack a number of key features that make off campus living so attractive to students (really, no kitchen?) and as a result will likely attract primarily internationals and students who only need to live somewhere for one semester. Obviously I could very well be wrong, and in five years I would love to read about the occupancy rates by complex, but the forecasts that the developers discussed with me appear to have serious methodological problems.
Yup, the no kitchen was the kicker for DD, seriously I would have paid more to have her stay on campus for the “experience” of the residential college but she’s already done with campus food and it’s not even the end of the first semester! I think it’s going to boil down to elevator access so that she doesn’t have to live on the first floor (my issue not her’s), square footage of the apartment and the availability of covered garage parking.
Do you know when the Cross apartment will open? I hadn’t heard of that one yet, I’ll have to look into it. Personally I think the best time to occupy an apartment is the second year or so. I the first year they are still working out the kinks after that it still pretty new with out the first year problems. They built an apartment complex in our subdivision recently, pretty high end. A tenant signed a one bed/one bath lease, after the movers dropped of his stuff he went to bathroom and realized he had double sinks and bathtub with shower but no toilet!! They had installed to double sink instead of a single sink over where the toilet should have been! Same complex had several first floor apartments flood after the first rain (it doesn’t rain often here but when it does it really rains!)
I think students in Norman are really going to have to crunch some numbers because the way it’s looking, larger, newer “Luxury” apartments really aren’t going for much more than traditional apartments.
@whenhen unless you think the party scene at the Millennium is a HUGE problem please don’t discourage it to DD. With the info I have now, I really think it may end up being the best deal for her especial if she can get a 4bedroom/4bath MAX that faces the street not the pool. I’m really interested in hearing what your friends that live there have to say about it.
Both you and @WoolScarves are such invaluable sources of information! I can’t thank you both enough!
S1 is at Campus Lodge and I think the 4 bed 4 bath setup is around $400. It seems clean and safe. He has not complained about it in the year and a half he has lived there.
I am a little late to the thread, but can also vouch for the Reserve. The rooms here are much larger than any I have seen, and the overhead storage in each bedroom is incredibly convenient. The proximity to campus is also helpful when shuttles aren’t running. It is in a low traffic area, and safety has never been a concern for me (I live on the first floor) Good luck with your search!
My DD is a NMF freshman at OU. She is an engineering major. Are their apartments that are close to the engineering area of campus? My husband loves the idea of the res college but my DD’s roommate really wants an apartment. Would love suggestions for an engineering major. She is studious and would not want to be in apartments that are loud. Thank you for any suggestions or thoughts you may have.
Callaway House is probably the apartment closest to the engineering area of campus. It’s one of the more luxury style apartments though, so it’s on the higher-end price wise. Otherwise, none of the major apartment complexes are up there. Most are on the south-side of campus. There are a lot of houses that students rent up by the engineering area though.
Thank you WoolScarves! I think I read here that The Reserves drops off at Sarkeys. Does anyone know if that still happens? Isn’t that near the engineering area?
Sarkey’s is right in the engineering area, yes. Roommate’s girlfriend lives there, so next time I see her I’ll ask if she knows anything about it. Shuttles from all of the complexes used to drop off right in the middle of campus which was great, but they stopped that about a year and a half ago, so I kind of doubt it’s allowed. I’ll double check though.
The Reserves no longer drops off next to Sarkey’s thanks to inane rules from OU Parking. However, it’s a 7 minute bike ride to Sarkey’s, so it’s pretty easy to get to campus.
whenhen, you’re saying that from The Reserves to Sarkey’s it’s only 7 minutes on a bike? My DD loves her bike and rides it everywhere.
Yes, around 7 minute. I used to live there and biked to and from Sarkey’s almost every day.
Thank you whenhen! I’m sure I’ll have more questions soon! We are OOS and are planning to visit DD in February. I am sure there will be questions that pop up!
Let us know. I’ve lived at two complexes and have had friends that have lived at many more, so I’m sure between whenhen and me, we can give solid feedback about any options.
Just a wild thought. Is it even worth to consider buying a house in Norman? Appreciate if students and parents can give their perspective and input. Since my D has to take public transportation, need to restrict choices if plan to buy, with not going beyond 2 or 3 miles and having access to bus.
- In general, do students prefer to live in apartments than living in a house?
- Where do students prefer, the east side of the campus or west side of the campus?
- Is public transportation good? Is there any consideration for this aspect? Is it good from east or west side of living or buses are there only from east side of the campus (get a feel more development or crowded on east side than west side, by looking at maps and real estate sites)
- Anything else students think and prefer (which parents does not realize)
Since there is so much apartments and residential colleges starting this year, will there be interest from students to rent and live in a detached house? Thanks.
@GoldenRock I do know two different people whose families have purchased homes in Norman for their kids. Both have siblings that went through OU, so for example, one of the houses was in use by the family for 8-10 years.
- Houses are probably slightly preferred, but it very much depends on the people. Some like the ease of apartments, where things are usually furnished and utilities are more easily taken care of. Then there are those that like the generally slightly cheaper prices of houses, the ability to furnish everything themselves, and the benefits of houses like yards, space from neighbors, etc.
- Probably west side. West side is near all the Greek Houses and so a lot of upper-classmen leave their sorority/fraternity house (where they live sophomore years) and then want to live nearby. However, there is still a market for east side.
- Public transport is meh. I don't really know many people that use public transport from houses. If anyone uses public transport for their daily commute, it's usually from apartments.
- I would be cautious about purchasing with the intent to rent for exactly the reasons you describe below. There is constant construction of apartments and increased competition. I think the hassles of renting a house (finding people to occupy, paying taxes, maintaining it after college kids put wear and tear on it) would outweigh the income.
That being said, I haven’t tried to look at the math much. Maybe it is worth it if you have a child go there, use it for several years, and then rent it until such time as you’re ready to sell it. If it’s something you’re interested in doing, I would definitely make sure you spend the time to look at what it’s going to look like financially.