Berkeley Class of 2012 Forum

[alleycat3]

Oh, and also-- I, and I imagine most of us, don't want to live anywhere near where undergrads live. So we won't be competing with them for apartments anyway. Does this change things?

[dueprocess14]

Has anyone heard back yet from the Manville/Jackson application process? They said they'd let us know in May but I got the sense that not everyone who applies gets housing??

[Go_Cardinals]

I got the opposite impression - that its kinda a guarantee u'll get one or the other. As to the value of that impression...

[Go_Cardinals]

what is the root of this fear people have of undergrads?

[feeblemiles]

what is the root of this fear people have of undergrads?

lol

[alleycat3]

Jawsome: then how-- and when-- do you find an apartment? Everyone I've talked to who lives there says that nothing is posted until a week or so before you can move in, and I haven't seen a single thing on Craigslist past June 1, let alone August 1. Everyone told me that if I came out at the beginning of July to get an apartment for August 1, there wouldn't be anything to look at.

I'm scared

Most people sign yearly leases that start in May. Undergrads usually start looking between March and May. As for not living around undergrads - that might be impossible. Undergrads dominate the area, especially South Side (where cheap housing is located). You can try looking at North Side apartments (NS has more graduate students), but those are across campus and farther away from Boalt than South Side apartments.

I dunno, all the grad students I've talked to (seven or eight law students and five or six other grad students) say they don't live anywhere near undergrads, nor do they live more than a mile from Boalt, nor did they have any trouble arriving in mid to late July to sign a year-long lease that begins August 1. Everyone said you just have to avoid the area half a mile or less from Boalt on the southside and the quality of the apartment skyrockets, there are no undergrads, and the area is very safe and nice. And the north side is nice, too, of course.

I don't know, it's interesting. I keep hearing horror stories from people who went to Cal undergrad but all the grad students who came here from somewhere else had no problem. I guess we just have different priorities? Maybe it would be different for me if I were looking for a bunch of roommates and to live right next to campus, like msot undergrads, but I just want a one-bedroom for my boyfriend and me. I think we'll be competing with a different market.

[alleycat3]

what is the root of this fear people have of undergrads?

lol

Haha. Good question. I think it is mostly my fear of frats. Plus, I'm older, and my boyfriend is really older, and I want to live in a real neighborhood. Also, the apartments where undergrads live in are in much worse shape, as a general rule. I've been on my own for a while and don't want to live somewhere gross.

[alleycat3]

I dunno, all the grad students I've talked to (seven or eight law students and five or six other grad students) say they don't live anywhere near undergrads, nor do they live more than a mile from Boalt, nor did they have any trouble arriving in mid to late July to sign a year-long lease that begins August 1.

I've heard the same. I am also pretty adverse to paying rent in two expensive cities simutaneously (LA and Berkeley) for a place I am not going to live in until August.

I am actually fortunate because the people I am living with may have already found a house, with a lease that begins in August. But I have heard that typically stuff pops up on craiglist a week or so before it is available, according to friends who live there currently who are grad students as well as law students I met while I was there.

Haha I was hoping you would show up soon and back me up, Amy! (And reassure me, too!)

[trojans09]

Just got back from Berk, took me three full days of constant searching to find a place. Here is what I learned:

It is insanely hard to find a place unless:
1. You are willing to drop over a K for your room
2. Are willing to live well over a mile away from Boalt and basically be a commuter, don't be deceived by craigslist 90% of the Berkeley stuff is not ANYWHERE near the law school, meaning way further than a mile walk.
3. You do not mind living in an absolute piece of crap.

I would highly advise using Shattuck as a barrier. Shattuck is a mile away and already pushing it, any further and I'd be completely unmotivated to walk over a mile to class. Manville for instance is a full mile from the school, I personally would not be down to live that far away.

My Advice:
Use craigslist and check constantly for open houses. First thing is to check the location, once again most of the stuff on there is commuter material and not walking distance from Boalt.

BE AGGRESSIVE: when you go to open houses have your checkbook in hand and be ready to commit to the place on the spot. Housing is rare and anything with a half decent location and setup will get consumed immediatley.

I wish everyone the best of luck in their housing search, but please do not take it lightly, it is not an easy task for anyone unless you meet one of those three conditions.

[TheNerdProject]

For those seriously considering getting scooters (like me):
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/working/scooter.html
http://www.sfscootercentre.com/
http://scooter.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/berkeley/

[jawsome]

Jawsome: then how-- and when-- do you find an apartment? Everyone I've talked to who lives there says that nothing is posted until a week or so before you can move in, and I haven't seen a single thing on Craigslist past June 1, let alone August 1. Everyone told me that if I came out at the beginning of July to get an apartment for August 1, there wouldn't be anything to look at.

I'm scared

Well, I always stayed in Berkeley during the summers for school, so I committed to stuff relatively early (end of June/beginning July), which makes the situation quite different. My best advice would be to take a trip to Berkeley, if possible, and just walk around looking for stuff. Tons of people don't post stuff online and just put for rent signs in their windows because they know they'll quickly get a bunch of responses.

Have you guys as Boalt students been granted access to UCB's housing services? They're pretty helpful with finding stuff.

And as some others have said, living a bit away from campus really isn't that bad at all. I lived a bit over a mile from campus during my last year on North Side and loved it. As a law student, I would want to live further since it'd be quieter. Not to mention so many apts. on South Side are shitty and WAY overpriced.

[TopCat]

For those seriously considering getting scooters (like me):
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/working/scooter.html
http://www.sfscootercentre.com/
http://scooter.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/berkeley/

Yeah. Seriously considering the option. Will depend on what place I get (location/rent$$/parking facilities etc.) I was talking up scooters a few pages back in the thread, fyi.

[dueprocess14]

woohoo. got a place in manville. anyone else hear back today?

[IzziesGal]

Anyone seen any movement on the loan front?? Still anxiously waiting, here.........

[legends159]

woohoo. got a place in manville. anyone else hear back today?

is zabagabe a flame? He's posted that he's going to Yale but he's also on this thread posting stuff like the above.

[dueprocess14]

woohoo. got a place in manville. anyone else hear back today?

is zabagabe a flame? He's posted that he's going to Yale but he's also on this thread posting stuff like the above.

It's complicated, but I'll be at Berkeley next year and deferred Yale.

[legends159]

woohoo. got a place in manville. anyone else hear back today?

is zabagabe a flame? He's posted that he's going to Yale but he's also on this thread posting stuff like the above.

It's complicated, but I'll be at Berkeley next year and deferred Yale.

Thanks for clearing that up. It was a real head scratcher.

[Drake014]

My fiancee and I have a deposit for a townhouse in University Village, Albany. The cost is $1850 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath (supposedly 1197 sq. ft.). No dishwasher and a laundry "hut" nearby (kinda annoying after living with a dishwasher and laundry room but oh well). All utilities and internet included in rent.

Unfortunately, the stairways are REALLY narrow and we probably won't be able to get all of our furniture upstairs. The flats are much less square footage so even if we won't have the stairway problem, we'll run into a square footage problem. My questions are as follows:

1. Is it possible to find similar housing accomodations nearby? By similar, I mean similarly safe neighborhoods as well as 2 bed, 2 bath house AND at a similar price.

2. I've heard that students get to use the buses for free anywhere in Berkeley. Is this true? Does it just extend to Berkeley?

3. Do basically all of the housing options outside of those provided by the university require a deposit about equal to a month's rent?

[feeblemiles]

1. I'm not really sure since I'm not looking for housing in Berkeley, but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me with some disappointing but acceptable concessions.

2. Yup its true.

3. Again, not really sure.

[TopCat]

Late to the party but here I am with Berkeley Law in my tar: finally sent in the commitment form. Now, onwards to loans and housing. Fun begins.

My fiancee and I have a deposit for a townhouse in University Village, Albany. The cost is $1850 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath (supposedly 1197 sq. ft.). No dishwasher and a laundry "hut" nearby (kinda annoying after living with a dishwasher and laundry room but oh well). All utilities and internet included in rent.

Drake014, I did look into University Village a while ago. I really liked the new 1 bdrm ones in the West Village. However, the reviews/opinions by Cal students seem to be mixed, especially by those who went with public transportation. Have you looked at the commuting part of it? Are you planning to drive to Boalt Hall or are you thinking of using the buses? What have you found about the public transportation to/from Boalt Hall? I would like someone to convince me that it is convenient to commute to/from University Village to Boalt Hall. Then I can just settle this issue and go with West Village.

[Drake014]

Late to the party but here I am with Berkeley Law in my tar: finally sent in the commitment form. Now, onwards to loans and housing. Fun begins.

My fiancee and I have a deposit for a townhouse in University Village, Albany. The cost is $1850 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath (supposedly 1197 sq. ft.). No dishwasher and a laundry "hut" nearby (kinda annoying after living with a dishwasher and laundry room but oh well). All utilities and internet included in rent.

Drake014, I did look into University Village a while ago. I really liked the new 1 bdrm ones in the West Village. However, the reviews/opinions by Cal students seem to be mixed, especially by those who went with public transportation. Have you looked at the commuting part of it? Are you planning to drive to Boalt Hall or are you thinking of using the buses? What have you found about the public transportation to/from Boalt Hall? I would like someone to convince me that it is convenient to commute to/from University Village to Boalt Hall. Then I can just settle this issue and go with West Village.

Earlier in this thread someone estimated the bus to take about 25 minutes on average to get to Boalt from the University Village housing. We took the testmasters class at Boalt and parking was terrible, so we'll take the bus. The lack of dishwasher and commute to the washer/dryer's kinda annoying (although the clothes washing "hut" is right behind the house) probably bothers us most next to the narrow starways.

Seeing as you're single, you have way more options than us so you might want to look for something closer. Depends on your preferences.

[TopCat]

Drake014, no, not going to be on my own. My fiancee will be there too. That's why all this fuss over housing. We want housing that is affordable, clean, close to UCB and/or one of the BART stations, close to groceries, quiet, safe and with plenty of closet space, a good full-sized kitchen (gas range preferred), with a lawn/backyard/old trees/park nearby, with at least washer and dryer hookups if not washer and dryer and the list goes on (parking space for our future scooter and pet friendliness and so on). I think we may be asking too much . We are taking a week long trip to the area come late June/early July. We're gonna need a miracle to find something that fits our needs and yet is within our budget limit ($1500/month with utilities).

Needless to say, we're in for some major misadventure. But we're in NYC right now so we're kinda used to having our high expectations of/ dreamy plans for our staggeringly beautiful home together crushed by the market forces (basically, our inability to $$$ tame the supply side of the beast).

Good luck with what you find. And I ask everyone here to keep us all posted about housing and the loans etc. We're all so supportive of each other ::group huddle::

[river85]

Got the offer for a courtyard studio in Manville. They were pretty accommodating about my request to move in earlier than their stated availability date of Aug 10 (in case anyone needs to move in before that date, as I do). Here's hoping it's not as cramped and crappy as I'm starting to fear...

[Rotor]

1. Is it possible to find similar housing accomodations nearby? By similar, I mean similarly safe neighborhoods as well as 2 bed, 2 bath house AND at a similar price.

My wife and I drove through UV while we were out there for ASD and it looked really nice-- definitely new. Unfortunately, they don't allow pets so we've been looking at craigslist pretty obsessively. I don't think you're going to find anything comparable in terms of quality, size and price. In that price range, you're probably looking at a 2 bed/1 bath ~800 sqft without utilities in an older building (and still no guarantee for a dishwasher). Go larger, and you'll be sacrificing neighborhood or price.

2. I've heard that students get to use the buses for free anywhere in Berkeley. Is this true? Does it just extend to Berkeley?

I think I read somewhere that it applies to the entire AC Transit system (Alameda and Contra Costa counties). Maybe one of the 2L/3Ls here can confirm/deny.

3. Do basically all of the housing options outside of those provided by the university require a deposit about equal to a month's rent?

I've been amazed at the variation in requirements for deposits. I've seen as high as first/last month's rents PLUS a security ~$1000 to as low as $300 (but I'm assuming you'd also need to add first month to that.

What this adds up to is that I don't think you'll get a better financial deal than University Village, but that calculus doesn't include the X factor (for commute time, etc.) Only you will be able to figure the cost/benefit there.

Best of luck. And if you decide to start looking out in town, stay away from the "affordable" pet friendly places until I have a place to live!

[TheNerdProject]

2. I've heard that students get to use the buses for free anywhere in Berkeley. Is this true? Does it just extend to Berkeley?

I found this awhile back on the main university webpage:

AC Transit Class Pass
Your Class Pass provides unlimited rides on both AC Transit (the East Bay’s bus system) and the campus’ BearTransit shuttles. You can even ride free to San Francisco using AC Transit’s transbay service! All registered students can pick up a Class Pass at the start of each semester at the Cal 1 Card office, Monday through Friday from 9am to 4:30pm. Please be sure to bring your Cal 1 Card with you (Lower Sproul Plaza; pt.berkeley.edu/transportation_alternatives/classpass; calpass@berkeley.edu; 510/643-7701).

Source: http://resource.berkeley.edu/r_html/r03_09.html#Classpass