<p>Hey so I just got a really nice 2 bedroom apartment in north berkeley for $1200. I am going to live alone for my first semester (this spring) but I was hoping to get a roomie starting in the summer. I don't care if I have to switch roommates each semester but I'm worried about not being able to get one at all. My apartment is 3.5 miles from campus which while to me that is still really close, it was just brought to me attention that apparently that is "too far" for most students. Really? The room would be completely private. It is fully furnished with brand new really nice matching furniture (bed, shelf, full closet, desk) and the apartment its self if gorgeous and nice. Also the person would only be living with one other person (me) which sounds like an advantage to me to not have to live with multiple people! I would charge around $750 for utilities and for it being fully-furnished. I live a block from the berkeley bowl and am a block from the n. berk bart station....what do you guys think?</p>
<p>What Berkeley Bowl are you talking about? There’s one on south side and one further southwest.</p>
<p>A block from North Berkeley BART is a significant distance though, and at the amount you’d charge them, it’s still a little on the high side. On the other hand, if your apartment is nice, you might be able to find some grad students willing to live with you – they tend to be much less sensitive about the distance.</p>
<p>I personally had a little difficulty with finding roommates due to distance, and I’m just 0.5mi from the northwest corner of campus (halfway to Cheeseboard). My roommate pays ~$800/mo in rent and gets his own private room in a well-maintained 2bd/1ba apartment. Most people who live this far bike, and most people are reluctant about getting started.</p>
<p>I honestly dont know the town at all enough to discuss distances. I only mentioned the berkeley bowl not as a tool of distance but as a benefit, that a grocery store was near-by. I am in north berkeley though, and literally a block from the n. berk bart station. My apartment is on Shattuck and ashby basically. I guess I just dont understand peoples gripe about distance. I wanted to live somewhere cheap and not too far from campus that was still nice, but maybe i personally am different than most students and value my quality of apartment life more than most. So, you agree, I’m going to have trouble?</p>
<p>Shattuck and Ashby is southwest Berkeley relative to campus. So you are close to Berkeley Bowl, but you are close to the Ashby BART station. 3.5 miles is really far away if you don’t have a car or a quick bus system. Everything else sounds good, but it might be a pretty tough sell. But hey, people get desperate. You just have to advertise. Good luck.</p>
<p>If you’re by Ashby, that’s pretty damn far. Why is it 750 though instead of like 650 or 700?</p>
<p>well half the rent is $625 and its $75 for half of the utilities and then I am charging $50 for it being a fully furnished room. people in berkeley are way lazy then if that is “too far” from campus. I can’t do anything about that if thats the mentality but thats pretty lame. I have friends at campuses all over the country and as long as there is a good public transportation to and from the school and its within the city limits it was always “close”. Oh well, I will just advertise and make it work, but I was just trying to get others opinions. When I was looking for housing within “walking distance” to school originally I was disgusted by the prices. The average room was $800 a month and that was normally for a shared room in some ghetto gross looking apartment, with singles being closer to $1000. So, I’m just surprised to hear all this. Well, I guess just like I said before, we all want/need different types of living situations and maybe I am just “unique” compared to others in this instance.</p>
<p>paniikd you have to put yourself in their shoes. Why pay $750 for an apartment thats 3.5 MILES away when they can pay the same amount for an apartment thats closer.</p>
<p>i pay 650 for everything included but internet, two and a half blocks from campus southside. and its very nice too.</p>
<p>you might still get interest, but more so from grad students or random berkeley residents who dont need to live close to campus.</p>
<p>you did make an ad on craigslist right? you get a lot more interest that way than through flyering on bathroom stall doors and whatnot…</p>
<p>To OP: You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself that its worth it, lol.</p>
<p>waiting4college, where do u live? That place sounds cheap and in a good location.</p>
<p>BlizzaP; I always thought it was a good deal, but when a friend said that many students wont i was shocked and was trying to explain it fully here to get others opinions. I still think its a good deal for a 2 bedroom apartment, and am glad I rented it. </p>
<p>JBreak1234: I still don’t think its far. at all. Also, its rare to find a single close to campus for that price. Someone could pay that and share rooms, true…i looked at hundreds of places before i decided to get my own place, but someone here would be paying for a private single all utilities and for the luxury of only having one other roommate. I just hate roommates and know there has to be a lot of people like me who would want to limit the number of roomies they have…and if someone could do that and pay the same (well, a little less still) then I just assumed they would. </p>
<p>waiting4college: I’m not looking for a roomie till summer but I am well versed in the advantages of CL. Thats how I found all my roomies in LA so I know that’ll work. I actually wasnt even thinking flyers or anything, I was just going to do CalRentals and CL. Also, congrats on your apartment! I looked for two months to find a single in that price range but everything was so dirty or had so many roomies. thats really rad that you managed it. (:</p>
<p>yeah but paniikd its not so much about what YOU think. It’s about what the students think. You obviously don’t think it’s far, but most would think 3.5 miles is far … thats why you haven’t been able to find a roomate yet despite the good deal (decent housing, single, not bad price)</p>
<p>^ thats true i guess. But to be honest (aka if you had actually written what I wrote before) I havent looked for a roomie yet. I dont need one until the summer semester so I’m not even going to try looking for a number of months obviouslt. I’m living alone for the Spring because I wanted my first semester to be alone, so I can get into the groove of school before I deal with roomies and what not. So, I may not have any troubles, who knows, I just, like I said was told by a friend that I WILL have trouble and that surprised and worried me. This is all just speculation at this point.</p>
<p>if you had actually <em>read</em> what i had written before lol. sometimes i think too fast while i write :P</p>
<p>newsflash: college students are lazy.</p>
<p>You should start looking now be tee dubs, especially if you’re going to CL. Gives you time to consider your choices as opposed to taking the first person that answers.
Oh and are you furnishing both rooms or something?</p>
<p>Start seriously looking for a roommate now.</p>
<p>The issue with Ashby BART is that it’s a 20min commute to school (5min BART + 15min walking, 20min biking). Yeah, you can drive, but good luck with parking and jaywalkers.</p>
<p>If I made the commute twice per day, that’s 40min. If I had lived closer, my commute would have been 10min. That’s 20min of time that I could have been using to get things done. Also, with classes spread apart, the reality is that I’d make the commute four times a day.</p>
<p>Also, I’ll be honest: when I had a summer job and lived near Ashby BART, I found the area to be quite sketchy, especially when compared to northside.</p>
<p>3.5 miles doesn’t seem that far way. But thats because I live in San Francisco and take BART to school.</p>
<p>If you apartment is that close to the North Berkeley BART station, I can’t imagine it being too hard to find a roommate. I mean the Downtown Berk BART station is the next stop so its not like getting to school is going to take forever.</p>
<p>OP, you may find a roommate, but the thing is just that you’re not offering that great of a deal. Sure, 3.5mi may not be that far, but it is not that difficult to find a pretty good apartment for about the same price 2-3 blocks from campus. If you were a Cal student which one would you choose?</p>
<p>@OP in my opinion, 3.5 mile is too far from campus and it’s a pain to make the commute daily. Also, I think 750 is reasonable price for Berkeley but take note that you’re competing with cheaper housing that’s closer to campus. I have a single room that cost around 630 a month and it’s within walking distance of campus. It’s a very nice room too and has a nice view of the bay. In my opinion, there are better options out there than your offer.</p>