Sublets Aren't Sub-Par: 6 Tips On Finding Them

By Madison White on January 26, 2016

Life changes fast and so do your living arrangements. Whether it was a disastrous roommate or a new job placement, you need a new place to stay.

Sublet leases usually range from 3-6 months, but can vary drastically. Sublets also vary from shared rooms to shared apartments to houses. However, finding temporary housing via sublets (which means a leaseholder rents you part of their lease for an amount of time) isn’t the easiest to find.

Fear not, with these six helpful tips on temporary housing, you’ll be moving in no time.

1. Friends and family

Perhaps the most obvious of places to look are with your friends and family. You might be lucky enough to score the room of your friend’s roommate they just kicked out, but if you aren’t, keep asking around.

Sometimes friends of friends, coworkers of friends, even relatives of friends can gain you a roof to sleep under. Word travels fast.

Also, if your parents live close enough to your job/university, it may not be a terrible idea to crash with them for a few months until you can grab a yearlong lease. Offer to pay rent, but they likely won’t take it. It may not be ideal, but you could save money by putting up with their antics for a little while.

Image via erakingsbay.com

2. International office

One of the many underutilized resources is your international office at your university. Many students coming and going to study abroad live in places for very strange and short amounts of time. It’s likely that lots of international students are looking to rent out the rest of their lease or score a new roommate because their previous one went abroad.

Call the office and ask about incoming and outgoing international students and whether they have any housing available. And who knows, having a housemate of a different culture could spice up your life a bit.

3. Call your company

If you work for a large company (or maybe your friends or family do) contact the human relations department. They keep track of the comings and goings of people associated with the company and know if someone is about to move soon.

They also usually keep a keen eye on the fluctuating housing market. Young people and new workers (much like yourself) get moved around a lot during their early days. This could be your opportunity to live out the rest of the quarter or term on their lease with other respectable people.

4. Check campus bulletins

Whatever your reason is for finding temporary housing, it’s likely that there is another student around in a very similar situation. Sometimes it’s best to go old school and check the bulletins in the student center, lecture halls, and posts around campus.

It may be difficult to determine what date the flyer was hung, but send an email or call anyway just in case. If you get any bites, do make sure to visit the house and the possible roommates (as you should in any housing arrangement).

Don’t forget that many sublet agreements must be approved by the landlord as well, so be sure to set up a meeting to go over specifications once you find a roommate.

5. Talk about it

If you’ve got a healthy amount of time before you need to find housing, simply talk to people about it. When approached by anyone, regardless of your connection to them, casually mention that you’re in the market for temporary housing. They could be your coworkers, your extended family, even the kids you sit next to in class.

This way, if they hear of anybody moving, they’ll know to mention it to you. Another good way to spread the news is to make a simple post on Facebook or Twitter about your housing search. Encourage your friends to share it and you may get more offers than you think!

6. Plain old apartment search

If you’ve employed the above methods and have come up short, it may be time to just give the old apartment search a go. Compile a list of apartment complexes around you and give them a call asking if they know of any temporary housing arrangements available.

It may not hurt to contact your university housing department either. They may have insights on good places to look around town. They might know of some dorm openings if you’re just looking to stay the semester and don’t mind dropping a little extra cash. You can even suggest a quiet floor if you’re uneasy about living with college freshmen again.

Looking for temporary housing may seem like an impossible task when everyone else is already settled in. Knowing where to look is the first step. Don’t be shy about your search and you’re sure to get some help along the way. You won’t even have to click your heels before you’re well on your way to your new (temporary) home.

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