Off-Campus Housing Hunt Begins - MacInsiders - Student-run McMaster University Help Forum

**Chad**

Off-Campus Housing Hunt Begins
By Chad Fullerton

As school is now only a few weeks away, the housing hunt is in full effect and students (mainly upper year students) are scrambling to find that perfect off-campus housing room. If you're an upper year student looking for a place to spend the 8-12 months, there are many options and helpful resources to make your renting experience run much smoother.

Renting has been a popular discussion topic for upper year students as we head out into the world of living on our own. Unlike residence, there are a lot more responsibilities and a difference experience when living off-campus and having to manage rent as well as housemates. Living at home is not uncommon, and is usually the choice for students in second and third year who live nearby either in Hamilton or surrounding area and want to save money. While living at home leaves you in your comfort zone (and usually gets you a free laundry wash or dinner), living on your own has many benefits such as learning time and financial management as well as being completely independent. Whether you're looking into off-campus housing for a way to be able to party harder and have a place closeby to crash, or if you're doing it for the experience of being independent, here are a few services to look at:

Resource Centre
Most important, the OCRC which is the Off-Campus Resource Centre. It is a McMaster service, completely free and very helpful. Located in the basement of the McMaster Student Centre, the OCRC has an office where you to walk in and see a staff member who can review leases for you. So when you are touring houses and think you've found the location that is right for you, ask the landlord for a copy of the lease and bring it to the OCRC who will point out loop holes or parts in the contract you should look out for before signing. Another nice thing about the OCRC is you can go to their office and look outside their door for a huge listing of rental housing availabilities. However, most of them go so quickly that by the time they are up on that wall they are already taken!

Classifieds
The OCRC runs a service that displays a classifieds directory for local housing around the McMaster campus. It has been completely renovated and upgraded to have a nicer interface and run much quicker. Simply type in a location and it will find nearby houses you can look at. Or, put in your specifications to narrow your search such as price or type of rooming availability.

Student Condos
There are new student condos being built that are said to be ready for September. They were open for booking earlier this year and are now completely full (rooms filled quite quickly!). At $500/mo, they offer a residence-style building but without the restrictions from a McMaster residence, since the Condo's are run completely idependent of McMaster University (privately owned). You can read more at http://www.mainwestvillage.c a/

Facebook Marketplace
This has become one of my favourite places to search for housing simply because Facebook is so popular and you can very easily communicate with the landlord since the ads are usually posted by Mac students who you can message over Facebook for a fast response. It also has a nice photo feature where people like to upload photos of the house and rooms. The disadvantage to the Facebook marketplace is you can't filter the search results like the OCRC classifieds, so you are at a disadvantage if you're wanting to narrow down houses by room availability, what the rent includes, etc. Instead, you'll need to open every single classified marketplace ad in Facebook and read them before knowing what the details are. Still, it is one of the best since landlords don't have to pay to list their house on the marketplace... which means more housing options for you to see than the other paid services. http://mcmaster.facebook.com /marketplace/

lucc · 08-22-2007 at 12:06 AM

Wow... Are people seriously holding off on getting a place to live up until now? My friends and I signed our lease in February. Although I'm sure we definitely worked ahead of schedule on that, it turned out for us because we got one of the nicest student houses I've ever seen (not that I want to brag or anything...

) I wouldn't feel comfortable waiting until a month or less left in the summer to make sure I had a place to live.

As a sidenote: has anyone heard about the new apartments they've been building on Main St... They aren't going to be ready in time for the start of school! I'm taking in a couple of "homeless" friends for about a week as a result... has anyone been affected by this?

**lorend** · 08-22-2007 at 09:04 AM

lucc, a lot of people start looking for a house in about January, or Febuary like you did. However, you forget that not all first year students will live in res. Thus, some of them still need to find places to live now. And, some people are just really slow/procrastinate when it comes to finding a place. Others may have had their plans change, so they now need to find a place where they didn't before.

Yes, the condos were orginally supposed to be finished on the 1st, and now it's being moved to the 6th. I've actually got someone staying in my house for a few days because he's got nowhere else to go.

**Chad** · 08-22-2007 at 09:13 AM

Hey, you bring up good points lucc.

Yes, the people who are smart get their houses early lol... I was house hunting months ago. But some people wait until they get accepted into Mac before they start looking... which means they hold off until July/August before thinking about house hunting, and then when they actually start... they need to learn about everything and do research before they start their hunting... and by the time they do that it's very late in the game. Landlords have told me that August is the busiest time for house tours.

That said, I'm sure the OCRC have very little good listings left

babyxtc · 08-23-2007 at 01:52 PM

some people put off looking f or housing till now bc there res didnt work out like depending which res u live in and which meal plan u buy. living on res can be more expensive then off campus. it all depends it not always the case.

also some ppl are on wait list on res and just wanted to wait it out to see if they could get res.

but yeah definately LOOKING EARLY is smart. u have more choices : ] ! and possibly move from res rite into ur new place! there are more responsibilities like laundry ... coooking..etc. but i rather have free laundry then pay for it in res ! also i rather cook my own food then eat on campus (i get sick of it and it makes me feel gross if i eat it too much) !!!

look for places w/ all utlities covered so u dont need to worry about paying bills, just ur rent ! it takes off a load !

**lorend** · 08-23-2007 at 02:02 PM

Ohhh indeed does it ever.

I can't even imagine what our water bill costs.

Kevin · 08-23-2007 at 02:54 PM

how much would an average 2 bedroom apartment cost?

**lorend** · 08-23-2007 at 04:26 PM

I was looking at one bedrooms for around $600 a month...I'm not really sure about two bedrooms though. You can look that up on the internet, if you wish.

lucc · 08-24-2007 at 11:05 AM

I'm sharing a house with 7 other people and we're paying just under $400/month in rent, and utilities are extra. But because there are so many people splitting the bills, it's definitely manageable.

Shothri · 06-03-2009 at 03:37 PM

Hey guys
I am looking to rent out a room. The house is located in westdale and it is a large room on the main floor.(lots of light) The rent is $400/month and the utilities are included. It does come fully furnished. The landlord is very nice and he does shovel the snow and mow the lawn so you are not responsible for this. Email me or message me if you are interested.

_Luu_ · 07-01-2009 at 12:10 PM

I just started the hunt for a room, but it's quite hard to do that when I'm not in the province.

feonateresa · 07-01-2009 at 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Luu_

I just started the hunt for a room, but it's quite hard to do that when I'm not in the province.

:/ Even if it seems sort of impossible, it's probably better that you see the place yourself. Any landlord can say nice things about their place. Look for ads with lots of pictures and don't get ripped off. Prepare a list of questions too.

_Luu_ · 07-01-2009 at 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feonateresa

:/ Even if it seems sort of impossible, it's probably better that you see the place yourself. Any landlord can say nice things about their place. Look for ads with lots of pictures and don't get ripped off. Prepare a list of questions too.

I'm planning a week-long trip to Toronto in 3 weeks time with occasional trips to Hamilton to look around. Hopefully I'll be able to snap up a room.

feonateresa · 07-01-2009 at 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Luu_

I'm planning a week-long trip to Toronto in 3 weeks time with occasional trips to Hamilton to look around. Hopefully I'll be able to snap up a room.

Ooh Toronto! Hopefully the City strike will be over by then, the garbage is... getting interesting. It's really quick to get to Hamilton. If you didn't know already, just hop on the QEW Express bus from Union Station in Toronto, and you'll be there in an hour. You can take local buses after that to get to the areas around McMaster.

There's also this site, I don't know if it's posted already... http://macoffcampus.mcmaster .ca/classifieds/index.php -- With listings for rooms.

jhan523 · 07-01-2009 at 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feonateresa

Ooh Toronto! Hopefully the City strike will be over by then, the garbage is... getting interesting. It's really quick to get to Hamilton. If you didn't know already, just hop on the QEW Express bus from Union Station in Toronto, and you'll be there in an hour. You can take local buses after that to get to the areas around McMaster.

There's also this site, I don't know if it's posted already... http://macoffcampus.mcmaster .ca/classifieds/index.php -- With listings for rooms.

The garbage is getting out of control! It's so ironic how they put "Please do not litter" on the garbage bins and ALL around the bin there is garbage EVERYWHERE. But atleast it's all in one place.