need help finding cross-country housing for move

fightinfilipino

i'm starting school in San Diego at the end of August. problem is, i currently live in Massachusetts, and there's no on campus housing available (it's for grad school). it'll have to be off-campus. (the school is the University of San Diego, for reference.)

until now i've just used Craigslist to search for apartments on my own, since my moves have all been within the northeast. but i have no real clue how to reasonably search for a place on the other side of the country. Craigslist is only as useful as much as you can see the places in person, and flying out there just to look for housing is a bit difficult, financially and logistically.

i've heard of people engaging local real estate agents to look for places, but i'm not even sure how to begin with that, finding a reputable agent, retaining their services and all that.

does anyone have a similar experience they might be able to share? or know how to do this sort of thing?

Thanatos

I will tell you that I, personally, wouldn't ever move into a place sight unseen.

Here's what I did in order to find a place in Seattle (it wasn't quite across the country, but was a 14-hour drive/2-hour flight, so largely the same issues):

I and my roommate talked to people we knew in the area, and figured out where we wanted to live (like, what neighborhood). Then, we started searching Craigslist, along with other rental sites, looking for places that fit our requirements in our selected neighborhoods. Then, I started making appointments; we were only going to be up here for a weekend, so I made 14 appointments for the first day, and 8 more the next day. Always over-book rather than under-book; it's easier to cancel than make new appointments.

EggyToast

We did the same when my wife and I moved to Baltimore -- craigslist and local papers -- and scheduled 10 different places within 1 week, and then drove 20 hours to see them.

It's expensive, especially paying for hotels, but it's either that or get lucky w/ a good place.

RUNN1NGMAN

Does the admissions office provide any help? Even if all they have is a message board with apartment recommendations and people looking for roommates, that's a start. If your school is anything like most other major universities in the country, there should be plenty of houses for rent around campus. Your easiest option would be to find someone attending grad school as well who has an empty bedroom for rent and has already done all the work for you. I'm starting law school this fall and a lot of my classmates have been looking for roommates within the class via facebook and my school's message boards.

For rentals, you can usually just call up a real estate agent and tell him or her what you want. Agents get paid a commission by the leasor in most cities, you don't have to pay anything. Just do a search for "Remax San Diego" or whatever and start cold-calling.

On the other hand, you can use a website like apartments.com to find rentals and apartment buildings.

I'd recommend flying out there for a weekend and meeting up with a real estate agent for one day to look at privately owned rental properties, and one day to look at managed buildings. They both have their own advantages and disadvantages, but if you have no idea what you're looking for you should look at both. Between those two days, you should be able to find something adequate.

The most important thing to remember is that the place doesn't need to be perfect. You only have to live there for a year, so make a list of your priorities and choose something based on them.

Again, easiest option is to find someone living near campus who needs a roommate.

witch_ie

I had a similar situation when moving to graduate school - except that I was moving from San Diego to Massachusetts. I also had no money and I mean absolutely no money to check out places ahead of time. What I ended up doing was checking all the roommate, sublet, and rental websites, including craigslist until I found a place that suited my needs (safe and cheap). Then I took the gamble of moving across the country to a place I wasn't sure would even be there. It worked out for me, but I did have the address of the nearest and cheapest hotel handy just in case.

This is a big risk though, and if there's anyway you can visit to look for places ahead of time, do it. Also, if you're friends with anyone in the area and there's a place you're seriously considering moving to, ask them to have a look for you.

Gdiguy

Honestly, depending on how risky you don't want to be (i.e., having a small but very very significant chance of winding up in a dump / horrible roommates for a year), you may have to just bite the bullet and fly out for a few days. If you can look with someone else in your program (i'm guessing grad school?) then maybe you can get them to look for both of you, but speaking from experience finding a decent apartment in the area around UCSD is a rediculous pain in the ass, and not something easily accomplished in an afternoon with all of your stuff in a rented moving van. I may just be more picky (answer: almost definitely yes), and depending how far away you're willing to live (re: do you have a car) may change it slightly, but especially in La Jolla I'd very very highly suggest going to look in person (I still think the housing market there was on par in insane-ness with where I am in the bay area now)

Sentry

http://www.isc.sdsu.edu/prospective/res_housing_off.html

witch_ie

Correct me on this if I'm wrong OP, but you're going to USD, different from UCSD or SDSU, right? (It is pretty close to SDSU though).

fightinfilipino

witch_ie wrote: »

Correct me on this if I'm wrong OP, but you're going to USD, different from UCSD or SDSU, right? (It is pretty close to SDSU though).

yes, that's right. going to USD law.

generally i know the areas where USD students prefer, so i at least can narrow things down that much. it's just the next step after that :P

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

Does the admissions office provide any help? Even if all they have is a message board with apartment recommendations and people looking for roommates, that's a start. If your school is anything like most other major universities in the country, there should be plenty of houses for rent around campus. Your easiest option would be to find someone attending grad school as well who has an empty bedroom for rent and has already done all the work for you. I'm starting law school this fall and a lot of my classmates have been looking for roommates within the class via facebook and my school's message boards.

i'd ideally like this. i've been working my friend network and all that. the school also had us fill in a roommate questionnaire which i've returned a while ago. supposedly roommate lists are going out this week, but i don't want to wait considering how close things are.

facebook's a good idea; i'll try being more active on the facebook searching. i've been also trying my undergrad's alumni network, but they've been pretty useless.

For rentals, you can usually just call up a real estate agent and tell him or her what you want. Agents get paid a commission by the leasor in most cities, you don't have to pay anything. Just do a search for "Remax San Diego" or whatever and start cold-calling.

I'd recommend flying out there for a weekend and meeting up with a real estate agent for one day to look at privately owned rental properties, and one day to look at managed buildings. They both have their own advantages and disadvantages, but if you have no idea what you're looking for you should look at both. Between those two days, you should be able to find something adequate.

so i don't really have to worry about agents' track records and such? i guess that was a main worry.

The most important thing to remember is that the place doesn't need to be perfect. You only have to live there for a year, so make a list of your priorities and choose something based on them.

yeah i'm definitely not looking for anything perfect. but i would like a place that is comfortable off the bat, doesn't have any issues like pests, structural problems, or wiring/utility issues. i want to know that i can focus on studying and not worry about all that. and i have an already pretty low opinion of landlords in general