Advice on college apartments?

jaysparent
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:29:11 +0000

Hi all - I’ve been lurking on the board for awhile but I really wanted to post and get advice on this topic. (I apologize in advance for the long post, and also if it is not in the right place).

I’m the mom of a current college sophomore who is moving off campus next year. It’s cheaper that way and son is excited about it. We’re leaving once my H finishes getting ready to start the drive up to see our son and to go see the apartment he and his roommates like. I’m not worried about him moving off campus, but I am worried about the apartment and the company that deals with it.

Son found this apartment via Craigslist…It’s in a fairly small, quiet apartment complex about 5 minutes away from campus. An alum of the school owns it and pays to have it cleaned/renovated and for trash, water, sewer, and heat. But for signing the lease and the deposit and maintenance, the owner leaves it up to a local realty/property management company. I did some research on the company and it does not have the best reputation. After further research, NONE of the big rental companies have good reputations. I guess it’s because it’s a college town, these people are just out to get money from college kids. There are only one or two small real estate agents who are good.

Anyway…I’m somewhat afraid of this rental company since its reputation is so bad. The owner seems to be trustworthy, as he is a recent graduate of the school and lived in the apartment himself; however, this rental company is known for being rude, unhelpful, impatient when needed. There are also rumors that they try keeping the security deposit and try to make students pay for things unnecessarily at move out (but apparently so do all the other apartments…looks like a lose-lose situation). I’m not sure how I feel about this. If the apartment is nice, I doubt that son will need them anyway unless there’s a major issue. He really likes the neighborhood the apartment is in, the buses for that apartment is the best for getting to campus, and since it’s owned by an alumni, the rent is phenomenal compared to others in the area and in the complex.

Any advice on how to handle this? Should I be wary during our appointment or try to hope for the best? Am I just being a paranoid parent? Anyone’s input is greatly appreciated, especially if you’ve been through this!