Page 14
Battalion Housing Guide
Wednesday, April 4,
iag®
Agents explain rent
differences in B-CS
By SEAN FRERK1NG
Of The Battalion Staff
You get what you pay
for, and the differences be
tween what you get in
Bryan and College Station
may surprise you.
Martha Starts, an agent
for Western Realty, said
one of the differences be
tween the two areas is the
cost of rent. Although prop
erty taxes are higher in Col
lege Station than in Bryan,
Starts said, taxes have little
influence on the price of an
apartment.
“The location and type of
neighborhood are
the important fac
tors in calculating
the cost of the
apartments or
duplexes,” Starts
said.
She said the age
of the complex is a
vital statistic in the
price of the unit.
The newer the
building, the more
the
pools, laundromats and vol
leyball pits to attract stu
dents who can afford these
luxuries,” Blue said.
The cost of electricity
also adds to the cost of liv
ing in Bryan and College
Station, Blue said. With ini
tial flat rates on water and
electricity, students who use
an average of 1,000 ki
lowatts of electricity in a
month will pay almost $20
more per month in College
Station.
If students use an average
of 2,000 gallons of water
per unit, which is the aver
age for individual units in
Bryan and College Station,
students paying for
water and sewage
will give the utility
company nearly
twice as much
money in College
Station as they do
in Bryan.
One reason for
the disparity in
prices between the
two areas might be
owner can charge, she said.
Holly Blue, an accoun
tant for Culpepper Prop
erties, said she agrees with
Starts.
“The buildings are much
newer in College Station,
and companies can get more
rent per square foot because
of that,” Blue said.
A greater demand for
housing near the campus
also lets apartment com
plexes raise rates. Blue
said. Certain apartment
complexes also try to target
an affluent group of stu
dents, she said.
“They (the apartment
complexes) throw in some
perks like (paid utilities),
two or three swimming
the isolation of the market
Dr. John Hanson, a Texas
A&M professor of econom
ics, said. Hanson said some
economists consider Bryan
and College Station an iso
lated market.
“In isolated markets,
competition is usually less,”
Hanson said.
And the lack of competi
tion may be a factor for
higher prices in the Bryan-
College Station area, Han
son said.
Blue offered her theory
about why prices are higher
in College Station than in
Bryan.
“After all, B-CS is a col
lege town, and nothing ever
really makes sense,” she
said.
Off-Campus Center offers advice'
Students should search for roommates with similar basic need!
/SELlf
IlheBi
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
Roommate hunters beware!
Friendship does not nec
essarily mean people will be
able to live peacefully under
the same roof.
“Compatibility does not
mean roommates will click,”
said Mary Ann Rausch, assis
tant coordinator for the Off-
Campus Center.
She said students must
know their basic needs before
trying to find livable room
mates .
Basically there are two
kinds of people who are room
mates, Rausch said.
Some people look for room
mates who will become their
confidants and good friends,
Rausch said. Other people just
want somebody who will obey
some basic rules and pay the
bills on time.
“When picking a roommate,
it helps to know what your ba
sic living needs are,” Rausch
said. “If you know, for exam
ple, that you value privacy or
time to yourself, and you live
with the roommate who wants
to be your best friend, then
that might cause problems.”
She said it also helps to
have similar views about
home.
“If you like to study in your
apartment and your roommate
thinks studying should be done
in the library, then it’s possi
ble your roommate will view
the apartment as a party area,
which might interfere with
your study schedule,” Rausch
said.
“Roommates need to deter
mine the appropriate times to
be loud. If one roommate is a
morning person and the other a
night person, those needs
should be respected.”
After needs and wants have
been identified, students can
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Boonville
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APARTMENTS
776-6760
1,2 & 3 Bedroom Flats and Studios
Centrally Located
On-Site Courtesy Guard
Laundromat & Pool
Local Ownership
On-Site Managers
East Loop (Highway 6
Prompt Courteous Maintenance
Clean, Neat Apartments si
Affordable Rates
3500
Pinfeather
Road
VILLA WEST
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822-7772
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Laundromat & On-Site Managers
Prompt Courteous Maintenance
Wellborn Road
Pinfeather Road
-sjg
3
■n
3L
Oft
09
XI
3.
m
F.M. 2818
o
at
a.
find roommates by:
• Using the OCC’s Room
mate Referral Service.
• Placing ads in local
newspapers.
• Distributing fliers around
campus.
• Telling friends, neigh
bors and classmates you are
looking for a roommate.
When looking for a room
mate, the OCC recommends
that students:
gets re-
the con-
said, he tells the person in a
tactful way what’s bothering
him.
“If the problem
solved, it’s worth
frontation,” he said.
Rausch said she estimates
about one-fourth of the stu
dents who use the Off-Campus
Center sign a roommate te
nancy contract. The contract
specifies responsibilities of all
roommates for payment of uti-
Because off-campus
dents usually have morel
space than dorm students,
campus students someij
tend to resolve a problej
escaping to a different
instead of communicate
working through a probj ioesn't
Rausch said
epresei
Additionally, Rauschu >ay a $
she thought women arec io fleas
willing to discuss what hoi ;rs leav
them than men who
miss a problem altogeii
resolve it in a more
manner.
“Men think that manyp
lems are not serious enoui
worry about unless the rt
mate is stealing fromhii
something really seriot
Rausch said.
“All roommates need to
cide what’s important to|
to live happily, what
going to deal with a
and what’s going to
their backs,” she said.
nent of
he day
nakes a
“We
jnd pet
the resi
Philli
razos
nclude:
josit is
jad od(
jmit on
• Ask as many and as spe
cific questions as possible.
• Interview more than one
potential roommate.
• Think over the decision
and do not rush.
Junior mechanical engi
neering major Mike Bradley
said his roommate situation
works because the men com
municate, cooperate and ac
cept the necessity of sharing.
“The key to our situation is
that we all met in the dorms so
we already had an idea of how
compatible we were,” Bradley
said. “We’re still in the same
social circle.”
Bradley said his roommates
deal with conflicts by either
having group discussions or
leaving notes. If it’s a problem
with another person, Bradley
lities, rent and security de
posit, as well as arrangements
for grocery shopping, neat
ness, privacy, overnight
guests, smoking, drugs, drink
ing, parties and study times.
As freshmen, manystiitk ^ JUL ' E
aren ’ t experienced
tors, Rausch said. In
said, some students coin
the Off-Campus Center
ask counselors how to tell!
roommate to quit doingsoi
thing that annoys them.
The Texas Apartment Asso
ciation lease states that tenants
are jointly and severally re
sponsible for the entire rent.
This means if one roommate
leaves, the remaining room
mate or roommmates are re
sponsible for the entire rent.
OCC offers a rooi
counseling and conflictmti ^ as
tion for students who
solve their differences
themselves. The Office of
Students’ Attorney is
represent student-againsl-
dent cases.
The tenancy contract, how
ever, can be used as evidence
in a court of law if one room
mate breaks the contract and
moves out, leaving the re
maining occupants to pay all
rent and bills.
Freshmen also
occassional problems i
roommates they knew in
school and decided to
See Roommate/Page 16
Easy Living
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By ANDY
Of The Be
Doux
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Rent Starts at $225/month!
• Eff., 1, 2, 8.3 br.
• Unfurnished
• Central A/C
• shuttle Route
• Rec. Room
• Exercise
• Sauna
• Pool
• Lighted Tennis
8. Basketball Courts
For tl
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Student
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Local
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complei
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1401 FM 2818, C.S.
693-1906
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