TopCat wrote:Thanks for the support guys. Could those of you who already have a place share approx rent (and bdrms), the type of lease (as in 6 months or month-to-month or 12 months etc) and the area (as in South of the campus or 1.5 miles North of the campus or the intersection Shattuck and X if you're OK with being more specific)? I will understand if you'd rather not disclose anything, though.
With the constraints I have (have to be near BART for SO, have to be within 4-5 mins walking distance from groceries), I can only find studios within my newly reduced budget unless I go to the Ashby area (which I really don't want to do). And the friend at Berkeley who is going to look up the neighborhoods and the apts for me insists that I find a place with a month-to-month lease (saving his bottom, I guess). This is proving near impossible.
I am living on the north side, about 1 mile from campus and 1.5 miles from Boalt. If you type "Codornices Playground" into Google maps, that is about where I'll be living. I will be paying $850/month, with about another $50 for internet, cable, utiliities, for my own bedroom in a house with a few people (none of whom I know).
It is a twelve month lease, June - June, but they took care of finding a subletter for me for June - August so I am technically on the hook for August 1 - May 31. I figure this will be ideal because if I stay in Berkeley next summer I can just renew the lease or find a place with a lease that starts in June, and if I am going to be somewhere else I won't be responsible for June and July.
My understanding is that this is a bit pricey to have a bunch of roommates, but I was willing to pay because the tenants have lived there for a while so I at least know they have had decent experiences with the landlord, they like the place, and everything will already be set up when I get there.
I spent a lot of time looking at Craigslist for apartments, and do think that finding a month-to-month lease will be difficult. Granted, this was from looking at Craigslist and not actually ever being in Berkeley, but I only saw year leases. I also only looked within about a mile radius of campus because I didn't want to live farther out.
Good luck with your search.
Edit: Want to add that my Craigslist search was limited to studios and one bedrooms - I wanted to live on my own, but couldn't pass up the ease of moving into a place with roommates where a lot of the hassle of moving was taken care of for me.
This HAS TO be some kind of weird mistake. I'm counting the seconds until 4pm EST so that I can call and find out what the deal is. Hopefully they pick up. I'll post anything I learn as soon I find out.
