Each year finding a place to live along with roommates who agree with the price, location, and even management company becomes increasingly harder. Searching for available apartments or houses used to be a gruesome task, which involved walking around campus looking at “For Rent” signs or even knocking on doors asking for the landlords phone number. Recently, UW-Madison has created a website including almost all off campus housing options, which streamlines the process exponentially. Campus Area Housing has been my one stop shop for apartment hunting. The website is very helpful and user friendly. Likewise, you are able to select how many bedrooms or bathrooms, location, and even rent to narrow down the list of possible options.
Finalizing possibly options usually ends up in arguments or one roommate being upset. Remember it is a give and take scenario when finding a place to live. Selfishly everyone wants to have all of their wishes met, but usually that is not feasible. Also, touring apartments can become tricky because each roommate has a different class schedule. Touring an apartment is a must before signing a lease so if a roommate cannot make an initial showing remember you have a cell phone. Cell phones have advanced drastically so simply record a video of the whole tour so they can see the space without finally being there. Many students or even leasing companies say it is best to sign early, but in fact that is wrong.