<p>Mom2…rents in Boston are very high. This $1300 a person per month is excessively high. But the reality is that if college students are looking for something as NICE as what their parents own, they will pay a premium price. With utilities, my kid paid $800 a month. Believe me when I say, the location was premium, but the apartment itself was not. That was over five years ago.</p>
<p>Re: costs…DD shares a house in the bay area…7 people…each paid $750 a month rent…and they shared bedrooms. That is over $5000 a month for the place. When my kid graduated, FOUR girls moved in. Do
the math…I will say, it was a very convenient and nice place. It is VERY believable to me that the total rent would be in excess of $5000 a month.</p>
<p>To the OP…the BEST way to find an apartment is to find graduating seniors who are living in one. Contact their rental agent or landlord. Usually those grads also don’t want their furniture and you can work out a deal for that with the renters.</p>
<p>I agree with Thumper. Those rates are realistic for Boston – and luxury apartments can run much higher. But there’s no reason that a college student needs to pay that much, as apartments are available for much less in the vicinity. This might mean that you don’t have every amenity or your building isn’t the newest, but that’s okay.</p>
A similar apartment in Brighton will be MUCH cheaper. In Brookline you’re paying for the K-12 public school system whether you own or rent … and that is a premium that seems uneeded for a college student.</p>
<p>Do you have experience with the Boston apartment market, in particular the neighborhoods the OP’s daughter is looking at?</p>
<p>I don’t know the prices of that neighborhood. My nephew attends a top univ in Boston and my sister isn’t paying those prices for him. lol She’s paying less than a 1000 per month, including utilities. The OP’s D would be paying 1300 per month plus utilities (which means the cost is really about 1450+/month - depending whether the student must also pay for internet, cable, etc, in addition to elec, gas, water, sewer, etc.). </p>
<p>What I’ve seen is this: There are pricey places and there are less-pricey places in most high-priced areas. A person just has to look a bit harder to find the less pricey places. </p>
<p>Also…find out if the univ owns any off-campus apts. If so, those can be less expensive than the going rates as well.</p>
<p>@thumper, the graduating senior is a good idea. I will ask her to check that out. @mom2, if we keep aside the priciest places, we should be able to find something close to school, decent but not pricey.
She is going to spend the entire break looking at the classifieds!!</p>
<p>Actually, encourage her to live in the Student Village apartments. They are expensive on campus housing…but they are nice, convenient, and you don’t have to worry about utility bills, subletting, or security, or buying furniture.For the life of me…why wouldnt all upperclassmen at BU want to liventhere? I personally think these student apartments are nicer than any off campus option.</p>
If someone attends BU they have lots of choices … they can easily live in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Boston (the Back Bay) or in one of the more economical (Alston/Brighton). Alston/Brighton is a neighborhood where many recent college grads new to Boston live because it is close to town, public transportation, and relatively cheap … some of the housing may not be the spiffiest … but generations of young people have survived an had great experiences there.</p>
<p>@3togo, I think she is trying tos do the off campus living while at the same time be within walking distance. Hopefully will find something that satisfies all of us</p>
<p>My kid’s Allston apartment was very close (across a parking lot) to the BU campus. My guess is that it would be $800 or more a month now…and it was NOT spiffy at all.</p>
<p>This particular apartment was a three family house that literally got handed down to others in DS’s major. All three floors were occupied by upperclass or grad students in the same major. When one moved out, someone else was always eager to move in. That is why I suggested the student start talking to senior friends.</p>
Not sure were the $1300 apartment is but BU has a long east-west campus … living off either end can be a long way from some classes and really close to others. Going to Allston/Brighton might be a little further but it certainly walkable and $500 a month saved will buy a lot more than a T pass. But I come in with a big bias … we will give our kids the cost of on-campus housing and food … if they want to go for the $1300 option they certainly can but the increment is on their dime. My main point was there is ton of cheap BU/BC student off-campus housing in the area … in fact, dealing with all the students is one of the main topics for the neighborhoods.</p>
<p>When my kid was at BU, the Student Village apartments cost MORE for 9 months by a lot…than his off campus apartment did for 12 months. BUT every summer he had to sublet, he had to get his own furniture, and he had to pay his own utilities. We were very willing to pay the bill for the Student Village…but he wanted to live off campus in substandard student housing. At least his was very convenient.</p>
<p>@thumper talking to other seniors is something that I will push for. Having slept over it she does realize the yes it was pricey. I am glad we are not stuck on that. Will speak to her in detail tomorrow or so.</p>
<p>@3togo, we will give her the dorm costs. She knows that and I think she knows what she needs to do. I am too far away to actively help. But I can point out some directions based on what all you lovely people have told me. So I am hopeful.</p>
<p>…interesting discussion, but the thing that resonates with me is that she called home at the home time of 3 a.m. (know there is a huge time difference…but I think the student would, too…) and had such a short deadline, with a “Guess what, folks? I’m moving off campus next year with some other folks!” My d is looking to find an apartment for next year (she was hoping for an opening at semester break, but couldn’t find anything that fit her standards and her budget), and thankfully, she started the conversation with “How would you and dad feel about me getting an apartment?” This gave us time to wrap our heads around the idea before suddenly having leases and prices and such being hurled our way. Sounds like you are at that point now – you know that she is actively looking, you’ve given her some financial parameters, etc. I could just hear the mental head snap from your initial post (and to be so far away, too…).</p>
<p>@mamafrog, in fairness, I do think she did not expect this turn of events. The first call was at a decent hour and she started off by saying, " I did not mean to do this but…"
She said she had mentioned this in the summer. We asked her to call back after her last exam before break and that was the reason for the 3 am call. In hindsight as you have read, we did the right thing, she understands that too.</p>
<p>Hiya all,
Thank you for helping me the last time around and I wanted to post this update and a question.</p>
<p>It does appear that d1 is almost finalizing an apartment. this time, i was involved (via email, photos :)) on all the prospects that were seen and consdered. </p>
<p>now my question: I am dying to ask to be introduced to the other girls’ parents, over email or such. Is that the done thing? too elementary school type? horrendous thought?
please let me know. Value ALL your opinions!!!</p>
<p>Glad things are working out with you & your D. </p>
<p>I have NOT been introduced to the other kids (or the parents of said kids) that my kids were living with unless and until I was on campus and the room mate/suite mate and/or parent showed up. When we moved S into the dorm as a freshman, his room mate and that person’s mom showed up and we all introduced ourselves. The mom & I traded phone numbers but never called one another. </p>
<p>With D, we only met her room mates when we were in town and took all of them on a grocery store trip in our rented car since they didn’t have a car among themselves and we were in town to move D into her campus dorm/apartment. Did not meet or contact the parents of D’s room mates.</p>
<p>After the initial move in for each child, only met the kid and sometimes the room mate if we were in town and visited campus. I don’t know how other families handle it but do not think it common for the parents of the room mates to communicate unless they have to settle finances. Somewhat it may depend on the rental terms. </p>
<p>Where our kids rented, each was only responsible for THEIR SHARE of the total rent. When each and every kid is responsible for ALL the rent, I have heard of other parents speaking with one another to reach an agreement, especially about what happens if one of the students chooses to move out or stop paying his/her share. We left all other communication to our children.</p>
<p>Both my S’s moved off campus after freshman year. Never had any interaction w/ the parents other than one parent who had the utility bill put in his name for S2’s off campus house. That Dad sent each set of parents the names/phone numbers of the others in case any financial issues arose that all parents needed to know about.
There were never any issues. The boys handled it all on their own.</p>