With the fall semester coming to a close, the time for apartment hunting is approaching.
“[Students] mostly start looking in January,” said Joey Cleven, a landlord of multiple apartment buildings in Fredericton.
The nicest and best priced apartments are sought out first, and if you start looking in July or August, you’ll get the worst ones in terms of pricing and aesthetic.
Joel St. Peters, a second year student at St. Thomas University, began to search for an apartment at the beginning of August and secured one halfway through the month.
“It was stressful,” St. Peters said.
He and his mother had a difficult time finding an apartment that had a month-to-month lease. After a few places, he was able to acquire an apartment on Saint Mary’s street on the north side of Fredericton, which is a 34-minute bus ride to campus.
Vincenzo MatusDíaz, a student at STU, started his search for an apartment in January. Using Kijiji, a website used to sell and buy new or used items, he found a few apartments before settling on the one he lives in now. When he went to the open house, the apartment seemed clean, nice and had a good price. The on-site manager said that FibreOP was going to be installed in each apartment by next year.
MatusDíaz was shocked when he moved in.
“It wasn’t the same building they showed us, and the Internet is horrible,” he said.
He learned that it is important to be skeptical by asking specific questions and to be weary of signing a multiple building lease.
Kate Clews, a rental agent, said they place ads for their available apartments on Kijiji. On the site, you can view hundreds of apartments, and each ad has details of the location, price, whether utilities are offered, pictures of the apartments and contact information. The majority of the time, it is the first stop students make in their search for an apartment.
Cleven said he hardly receives complaints from his tenants because he separates his student and adult buildings. This is done because the two groups run on different schedules. A student is less likely to get a complaint from another student.
Students may want to look for a lease that best fits their plans. You can decide whether you want a yearly lease and work in town over the summer. Going home or travelling during breaks, you may prefer a month-to-month lease option.
Another item to look at is what payment option the landlord wants. Most will ask for checks instead of direct deposits.
“The reason is that parents pay for it … they don’t like giving out their banking information,” said Cleven when asked why he only accepts checks.
However, there are still plenty of apartments that accept direct deposits as a form of payment. It is all about your choice and what best suits your needs.
