How to find an apartment when moving to college?
Finding an apartment for college students (even if you’re an international student and never been in the US before)
Looking for a place to live where you’re not physically in a country and cannot visit may feel scary. And yet, we all have to go through this process. Let me start by sharing my personal experience, and then I'll give you some useful tips to assist you in finding your own apartment.
When I got admitted to Clemson in 2022, I was really fortunate that I did not need to shop for an apartment. Another graduate student from my country rented a room in a 4 bedroom townhome in Central and two of the rooms were vacant. Therefore, she recommended me to the rental agency. I just had to fill an application form and pay the application fee of $50. Then when I arrive, I just went there in person with her to sign the lease and pay the deposit and first month's rent. But it’s not always as easy as that!
In 2023, I helped 4 graduate students find apartments, and that was quite a pain, but eventually, they found a 4 bedroom flat. They were coming from African countries, so they do not have money upfront to pay for deposit and rent. They will only be able to pay anything after they’ll get their first TA stipend from Clemson. Here is what we did:
- I talked to my pastor at church about them. Me and the pastor talked to many church members, and we found 2 families who accepted to host them for 1 month. This bought us some time to find apartments.
- We then went to apartments.com to find any availabilities. Apartments.com is a website where rental agencies and individuals post their listings for apartments. Beware that there are scammers posting there, so always request a physical tour before you sign any agreement. Also, apply to as many places as you can because college apartments run out very quickly.
- We went to see some of the places we found on apartments.com, but none of them really stood out to us. As my friends have no car, we wanted places that are either on the bus route or have their own bus. We also are on a budget so we did not want to pay more than $500/person per month. If you can afford more than that, you’ll have more choices. There are a lot of luxury college apartments that you can choose from if you can afford around $1300/person per month. We can’t so we needed to do more work.
- We then also went to my rental agency Foothills property management (I don’t own a house or an apart, so you know…) and they have a flat available for cheap but they only rent by the apartment, not per person. This may work for you if you are coming with roommates you trust with money or don’t mind paying for an extra space. I was not really keen on joint leases, so we went to see other rental agencies.
- Finally, they visited my former rental agency, Carolina Foothills property management (without me this time; I had other things I had to do) and found what we were looking for. A flat with 4 bedrooms on individual lease contract. The place has its own shuttle to campus, and it was $450 per month. (2023 price)
I also been on seminars and conferences outside of South Carolina and I learned a bit about how to find places. With all these experiences, here are my tips for you if you’re coming to study in the US, (or from another state):
- If you already know somebody in the city you’re coming to, talk to them. They may be looking for a roommate and that will make it really easy for you! Even if the place is available for only for a few weeks, take the opportunity. Finding an apartment is always easier when you’re available to meet in person or do an in-person visit and when you’re not in a rush.
- If you have enough money to support yourself for the first few months but did not find a roommate, book an Airbnb room for a few weeks or months. I discovered recently that there are Airbnb places that do monthly rental and they’re cheaper than paying the daily rates.
- If you don’t have money to support yourself, lookup for campus ministries near the place and send them a message. They may find someone who can host you for the first few weeks.
- If you’re an American citizen or permanent resident already, you can apply to a house sit opportunity. Anything that will give you time to find the apartment is always good.
- You may also search different international student organizations and send them messages. They may have members looking for roommates or supporters that can host you.
- Once you secure housing for the first few weeks, it’s time to find the long-term housing. Always let people around you know that you’re looking for an apartment. You will never know what opportunities are available.
You should only stop looking for an apartment after signing a lease contract.
Here are the places you can find rental places:
- Your school may have a webpage about out-of-campus housing. That’s the best place to start with.
- apartments.com
- Just search “rental agencies near me”
- Facebook marketplace (beware of scammers)
You must be careful and:
- Always do an in-person visit before signing anything,
- If a person can’t offer an in-person visit, stop talking to them,
- Don’t wire any money without meeting the person: the only money you should pay before signing a contract is an application fee. Even then, don’t send an application fee unless it’s a rental agency.
