age 15
Battalion Housing Guide
Wednesday, April 4,1990
ets prove expensive for apartment dwellers
need By SELINA GONZALEZ
'The Battalion Staff
Ca mpus ^ Before owning a pet, Texas A&M students
Ve ®°f5l hould consider more than just that pretty dog-
;ie in the window.
Off-campus living differs from staying on
ampus in that students have the choice in
ome apartment complexes to have a pet. But
s he luxury of owning and caring for a pet
a proil loesn’t come cheaply.
Client Schroff, a Creekwood Apartments
epresentative, said residents who own a pet
s >ay a $150 pet deposit that is returned in full if
io fleas, damage or odor are found when rent-
rs leave. Residents who don’t alert manage-
nent of a pet can be charged $10 a day from
he day the pet is discovered until the resident
nakes amends, Schroff said.
“We haven’t had a problem with residents
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hat main - in d P ets because we pretty much told them
the residents) up front,” he said.
Phillis Fontenote, a representative from
llV/Od lilt fl]|' 1. W. t W A WkTW 1 « i. 1 ▼ V-
Lt froiuL kazos House Apartments, said the pet policy
illy ser j 0 J ncludes a $100 pet deposit, and $50 of the de
posit is returned if no damage is found, such as
Jjad odor or tom carpet. There is a 15-pound
tes nee C; limit on the weight of a pet, she said.
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, what
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ng to
: said.
The representative from Timber Creek
Apartments said a $350 pet deposit is collected
for a cat or a dog. There is a 30-pound limit on
the weight of the pet. No deposit is collected
for birds or fish and $150 of the deposit is non-
refundable while the remainder will be re
turned if damage is not found.
The representative explained that some
apartments in Houston have pet rents. For ex
ample, a resident might have to pay up to $25
per pet per month, so living at the residence
for a year or two could result in an extremely
costly pet.
James Westbrook, a Casa Blanca Apart
ments representative, said although the man
agement used to allow pets, their current pol
icy doesn’t.
“It became such a hassle in the past with
people leaving them in their apartments over
vacation; they would leave a bunch a food and
just leave them there,” Westbrook said.
The management had to replace the carpet
in many of the units as a result of pets occupy
ing the residence, he said. Many of the units at
Casa Blanca are furnished and in order to care
Pets/Page 16
Battalion File Photo
Many students prefer living alone to having roommates
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Hhe Battalion Staff
*
able
You can be your own best room-
nate.
Living alone seems to be an alterna-
ive arrangement for many students
ho do not want to deal with hassles
of sharing living space or splitting
bills.
Although there are no figures avail-
as to how many A&M students
actually live alone, a significant num
ber do.
According to publications released
by the Off-Campus Center, the hous
ing needs of those students who live
alone are met in the off-campus com
munity, which offers a variety of one-
bedroom and efficiency apartments at
comparatively low rates per month.
u:
A consensus from students who live
alone is that personal freedom is
worth the extra money it might cost
not to have a roommate.
Elizabeth Thornton, a senior educa
tion major from Mesquite, has lived
alone since her junior year and said
she wouldn’t want to have it any other
way.
“There’s nothing like having the
freedom to do whatever 1 want, at any
time of day, without having to worry
about whether or not my roommate
would approve,” she said.
Several A&M students who chose
not to be identified in the interest of
safety said they choose to live alone
for a number of reasons.
Most students agreed the option of
living alone offers lifestyle flexibility
and independence.
When asked why she prefers to live
alone, Thornton said she can avoid the
arguments that her friends have with
their roommates about bills and house
rules.
“Living by myself, 1 don’t have to
worry, for instance, about a roommate
wanting to have the air conditioner on
full blast or wanting to split the gro
cery bill when they eat twice as much
as I do,” she said.
“Besides, I’ve got too much stuff to
have a roommate,” she said. “There’s
nowhere in my apartment to put one.”
Holly Beeson, a senior journalism
major from Houston who has lived by
herself for four years, said she recom
mends that incoming students live
with a roommate until they meet peo
ple at A&M. She said living alone is
not lonely if you have friends who re
spect your privacy but still come over
to visit.
“I live alone (with my dog and cat),
because 1 like my privacy,” she said.
“I had a lot of problems with room
mates in dorms, especially with the
lack of personal space.
“It’s not the same living with a
roommate.
“I know that when I leave a mess no
one will leave one after mine, no one
will borrow my clothes and 1 can
sprawl out on my couch whenever I
want to.”
Students can get information about
one-bedroom and efficiency apart
ments at the Off-Campus Center in
Puryear Hall across from the YMCA
Building.
e 16
Married Student Housing provides
good location, activities to tenants
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By ANDY KEHOE
Of The Battalion Staff
For those Aggies with fami
lies, Texas A&M’s Married
Student Housing offers a rea
sonable alternative.
Located across from the
polo fields on University
Drive, the 651-unit apartment
complex is reserved for grad
uate students and married peo
ple with or without children.
MSH offers several benefits
to its tenants, making it a pop
ular alternative to off-campus
housing.
Only 700 students are ac
cepted each year, and students
currently have to wait more
than a year to get an apart
ment.
Sandra Burke, president of
the Married Student Apart
ment Council, said the first
and most obvious advantage to
living in MSH is the apart
ments’ location to campus.
“A lot of people are able to
walk or cycle to campus if
they live in the apartments,”
Burke said. “This allows them
to save monej on gas and
parking stickers. Living this
close to campus also cuts
down on the daily wear and
tear on your car.”
While the University-owned
apartments are open to all
graduate students, they are
ideal for students with fami
lies, Burke said.
“We have many activities
for the families, especially the
children,” she said. “Every
body is so busy, juggling
school with marriage and fam
ily life. We try to get them to
participate in our activities like
the barbecue and volleyball
competition.”
Several different styles of
apartments are available to
students. One-
See Married/Page 16
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Apartment locators save students
time, energy on search for home
$4
88
each
By CHRIS V AUGHN
Of The Battalion Staff
Apartment locators were created for stu
dents without the time or energy to pore
through the yellow pages or drive around
Bryan-College Station looking for a new
home.
Students can save the time and energy by
walking into a local apartment locators office,
filling out a card, meeting with an agent, say
ing on what side of town they wish to live,
specifying their price range, and answering a
few more easy questions.
And it’s free.
The leasing agent then assists students in
finding several properties that fit their needs
and wishes. After narrowing down the possi
bilities, students can get a leasing agent to give
them a personal tour of the apartment com
plexes, duplexes, fourplexes or any other type
of residences.
“We spend time trying to match property to
them,” Charles Ragland, a leasing agent with
Finders Keepers, said. “We get a feel for what
they want before we jump in the car and start
looking.”
Shirley O’Brien, management director of
Apartments Plus, said there is no time limit for
assisting a student in finding a place to live.
“The time limit is catered to everyone’s spe
cific needs,” O’Brien said. “On an average,
we spend three to six hours per rental helping
students.”
Apartment locators don’t charge a fee to stu
dents, but make their money from the apart
ment complexes who participate with them.
Most locators are paid on a commission basis
per apartment by the management companies.
“We don’t get a dime until the first month’s
rent is paid,” Ragland said.
Rose Marie Lindsay of the Bryan-College
Station Apartment Association said that be
cause not all apartments are listed with the loc
ators , students may have to do some looking
on their own to cover all the apartments.
“It’s entirely up to the apartment owner as
to whether to use an apartmentlocatorsor not,”'
Lindsay said. “Some of the apartment owners
aren’t interested in paying the commission
fees.”
The apartment locators agents say most stu
dents probably don’t take advantage of the
service for fear they will have to pay.
“A lot of students don’t realize what we do
is free,” O’Brien said. “We save them a lot of
time, and we know about the availability of
apartments faster.”
Ragland said students should trust apart-
mentlocatorsagents as much as any other leas
ing agent.
“We’re licensed real estate agents, and we
operate under a code of ethics just like they
do,” he said.
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