<p>At East Edge, signing the lease is what guarantees you a spot, not the payment of the application fee. The app fee gets you in line to for the opportunity to sign a lease once they know they have an apartment open. If you don’t sign when your lease is ready, they can move on down the list (not sure how long of a time they give you, but it’s not months). </p>
<p>If you sign lease and they can find someone to take your spot, there is a $200 re-leasing fee you can pay to get out of lease (once someone takes your spot).</p>
<p>513 Rock Point was asking for a check to hold a spot. They stated this check would not be cashed, they would hold on to it, but they wanted a check to put your student in line for a spot for next year.</p>
<p>kind of crazy (<strong>especially</strong> for freshmen who have only been there for a few months) to have to sign a lease almost a year in advance!</p>
<p>honestly, while the top few apartments may lease this far in advance, i am sure there are <em>many</em> acceptable options that would not require you to commit this early.</p>
<p>i don’t know why parents and students feel the need to consider only the newest of the new places. sure, it is nice, but it is typically more costly. </p>
<p>the place my other daughter lives in this year is maybe 5 years old. last year she lived in a place that was <gasp> 15 or more years old. there were brand new places being built this year, but we didn’t even look at them. i am sure they were not within the budget.</gasp></p>
<p>I think most the the newest places (EE, The Lofts, whatever complexes will open in 2014) fill up EARLY and if you don’t put money down before the holidays you most likely won’t get a spot unless there are cancellations.</p>
<p>For any of the ‘older’ complexes, there are spots available much longer. At the Woodlands (which is only 5 or 6 years old) where my son is they wound up with full occupancy, but were still leasing into the summer months to fill their final spots. Most of those complexes do offer specials for students that sign their leases early. I assume they also offer bonuses for those that sign very late to make sure they fill their remaining units.</p>
<p>I don’t mind older at all. DH and I spent all of Sunday afternoon on Parents Weekend driving up and down every street in the MX-5 zone (that is the zoning area around UA that Tuscaloosa uses for planning purposes) looking at everything, writing down every name of every complex that had a name out, phone numbers, etc. Then came home and looked them all up, called them, etc. We were only trying to stay within walking distance being that she is in a sorority and she would not have to worry about parking anywhere on campus for sorority events, game days, etc. She would like to live in the house, but who knows on that. She was able to find 3 roommates and that brings the cost down at EE. Some places it is lower per person the more bedrooms there are in the unit. We did comparisons based on $ only for the places off campus like Woodlands and all and it seemed that EE was the best fit. That and based on reviews online there is one property mangagement company that I want NOTHING to do with. DH and I don’t take kindly to those that play games and try to rip people off knowing that it is young people and parents are most likely out of town/state and may not have the means to fight it.</p>
<p>How can one find information on all the “bare bones” small/older complexes walking distance to campus (thinking cheap)? Unfurnished/shared bathrooms/no amenities/not individual leases is fine. Would like to have own bedroom, air conditioning, and reasonable maintenance and safety.</p>
<p>If you happen to be in town, drive around and get every name of every little teeny complex, any phone numbers posted, etc. Then probably have to google them. Also, use Google Earth and look around for anything that resembles anything larger than a single family house and see if it has a name label on it. Use the map feature on your smart phone or ipad as well to look for any type of complex labels. There are several very small complexes that are like one building with 10-20 units. </p>
<p>If you can’t get to T-Town then tell your S/D that they have to do the leg work by walking, driving around the area and finding these units and getting names and/phone numbers that may even be on a small sign attached to the building. Some of the names/phone numbers are not obvious.</p>
<p>You can also try to just use google for unis close to campus and see what comes up.</p>
<p>Have them talk to all upper classman that they know about where they live and such.</p>
<p>Problem solved for next year! DD just found out she will be able to live in the sorority house next year! Stress level just went down tremendously.</p>
<p>Other than East Edge, does anyone know of other properties within walking distance to campus that are FURNISHED?</p>
<p>(On a side note, I cannot believe how bad the reviews are for most of the apartments near campus. Has anyone found a particularly good property management company for the older complexes?)</p>
<p>I am also interested in apartments within walking distance to campus for DS. If you have suggestions on which ones to avoid, I would really appreciate a private message. Thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>If you are looking to buy and new is an option I recommend Big Lots. They have some pretty decent stuff for a very reasonable price. </p>
<p>EE is furnished, but I would not mind if she had an unfurnished option as we are getting new family room furniture and have our current stuff to give her. Oh well.</p>
<p>haedwards was one management compay we saw signs for on small complexes and individual units close to campus. Google every management company and you will find reviews. Of course, try to throw out the worst and the best of each one and find the one or few things that seem to be a common trend in all of the reviews. ;)</p>
<p>I will vouch for H.A. Edwards. We have been pleased with the service they provide as a locally owned company. H.A. Edwards has a variety of apartments, houses, condominiums, etc. for rent and for sale. I think they are doing an excellent job restoring, rebuilding, and redeveloping the Cedar Crest area in particular.</p>
<p>I’ll be happy to provide contact/referral information for anyone who is interested.</p>
<p>After renting a furnished apartment, we decided to change course and go with an unfurnished property. It worked well for us.</p>
<p>Use the map to click on each dot and bubble location marker for names of complexes in the area around the campus. There are TONS of very small complexes that might have 6-20 units.
Then google each name and the management company. Some of these have reviews and some do not.</p>
<p>This past week has been one of doubts for my daughter and this was one issues she had with our rare hour long phone call.
I just wish that sorority housing AND campus housing could be known earlier. She would rather have these two options and it is a better fit for her versus off campus housing. I would prefer it as well (security, convenance, on time class attendance).
She has not formed any strong friendships that she would want to go into a rental agreement with anyone yet.</p>