Moving Off Campus and Renting a House

After the ease, comfort, and safety of living in the dorms and sorority house the first 2 years of college, Chelsea has graduated up to renting an off campus house with 9 girls for her junior year. This process was quite an ordeal that gave me a few grey hairs. It started mid-year during her sophomore year that the housing for the following year starts to be negotiated. If we could afford it, I would invest purchasing a house to rent out because these landlords have all the power with housing in demand and I am shocked at the prices they can charge for what they are offering.

Chelsea was thrilled when her group found a house big enough for 10 girls in a good location and they needed to act on it fast. I saw the lease before I saw the house and the lease literally kept me up at night. 10 girls names are on the lease, basically holding everyone responsible for each other should someone drop out, or cannot pay for some reason. No utilities included, landlord has all the power and the lease is for a full year, so there will time (May-Aug) that most girls will not be in school but paying rent. I hoped when I saw the house I would feel better. Not the case. I made a visit in February and the landlord took us on a tour of the house where 10 boys were currently living. The outside looked good, but once I walked through the threshhold I tucked my camera back in my purse not wanting a photographic memory of what I saw. It was the filthiest house I had ever seen. Of the 10 boys it seemed not 1 took charge of clean-up (or they gave up). The trash everywhere was amazing. You couldn't see the coffee table because it was covered in trash. The built in cabinets by the fireplace were adorned with every imaginable empty alochol bottle and 2 kegs nearby. The kitchen was piled high with dishes, the bathrooms- well I could hardly look.

We went upstairs to where Chelsea's attic type room was and it was hard to imagine someone lived in that room. It appeared the bed had fallen apart against a wall and the mattress dragged across the room where it was slept on. Clothes, trash, and everything else was strewn about. I really could not imagine living in that room. The other bedrooms were similar, some not as bad, but I wondered if parents ever visited this house as I would be mortified if my son lived like that. It taught me that when my son is in college that off campus housing will not have so many roommates. More roommates seems like it could get more out of control and even a boy with clean habits might give up on doing the dishes if he is the only one.

The landlord tried to assure me that with girls in the house it will be a whole different story and he would be doing some repair and major cleanup when the boys moved out. Chelsea remained optimistic and felt confident they would make the house nice.

This summer I took a week off work and Chelsea and I drove from California to Colorado for the big move-in. We had a lot of fun spending special one on one time together and the drive was beautiful. She had sorority duties while I shopped around trying to figure out the most economical way to furnish her empty room along with how they would supply common room furniture. On move-in day we worked along with 9 other families like busy bees getting our daughters settled in. The house had been improved alot and cleaned thoroughly.

Her room before

After with a fresh coat of paint, and many target and ikea runs. Chandelier from Urban Outfitters. The house is not recognizable from when the boys lived there. I am so proud at how cute the girls have made it. The houses all around them are college students and it is sure to be a fun year.

The girls sent this photo to us after a few weeks as someone learned about not using dish soap in the dishwasher. All I could see in the photo was a clean kitchen!


It is hard to believe her junior year is in full swing and I am entrenched in the application process with my high school senior son. Time is flying too fast!