Housing near berkeley

undecided
Sun, 07 Jan 2007 15:37:02 +0000

Of course. The prices go down the more you’re willing to concede.

Don’t need a kitchen? Don’t mind sharing a bathroom? Carleton (on Telegraph, just a block or two down from campus, but only offered once or twice a year, first-come, first-served) and Evans Manor (a bit further off but somewhat more available) are good cheap options, as low as $381 a month.

Don’t mind sharing the room (a double)? Then those nice one bedroom apartments that cost from $900-$1200 are suddenly $450-$600.

The best bet is to find a room in a big house – some of the frats sometimes rent out spare rooms (especially if they’re separate from the main building), and sometimes there are student houses that have a vacancy or two, meaning your $400-$600 a month suddenly goes a lot farther and covers utilities and a twice monthly cleaning service.

Basic run-down based on my experiences:

1. One bedroom apartments, no utilities included, average around $1000/mo. The closer you are to campus, the more frequently the average is hit or exceeded. There are always exceptions, but you have to look for them.

2) Studio apartments, no utilities included, average around $850/mo. Same caveat about the price range.

3) Rooms in apartments (which have no more than 3 bedrooms), sometimes with and sometimes without utilities, average around $650. These vary greatly: sometimes they offer rooms with private bathrooms, private entrances, no kitchen privileges, made from converted living room spaces (not as weird as it sounds considering the age of some of the places here). The more concessions you make here – such as taking the converted living space – the lower the average price, I would say closer to $500.

4) Rooms in houses varies greatly, depending on the situation. If it’s an in-law unit, you’re looking at closer to the one bedroom apartment average (say $900). If it’s a room in a family house (like the kid went away to college, and now they’re renting the spare bedroom to make mortgage), probably around $650 with varying privileges. If it’s a room in a student-run house (not affiliated with the university), probably closer to $550 with various perqs – but you’re also sharing a multi-bedroom house, so it’s a lot like living in the dorms.

5) There are a couple hotels near campus that rent their rooms to students, some with contracts and some on a month-to-month basis. They range between $750 and $1000 a month, include all utilities and cable and internet and also twice monthly cleaning/linens. Obviously comes furnished.

Things that change the price/deposit (it’s usually 3x rent to move in unless you’re in a shared situation): whether pets are allowed; what, if any, utilities are included; whether it’s furnished; if there’s laundry in-house, in the building, or you have to use the laundromat; whether you share a room; whether you share a bathroom; whether you have kitchen privileges; how close you are to campus (do remember that you get to use the buses for “free,” since you pay for it in your student fees); whether parking is included; how new the building is (newer = pricier); which neighborhood it’s in (the close ones in order of increasing distance: Telegraph (S), Asian Ghetto (S), Gourmet Ghetto (N), College Ave./Elmwood/Ashby (S), Solano (N)); which side of Berkeley it’s on (north or south – north tends to be more expensive, but also less urban)…

Can anyone tell I spent way too much time looking for housing?