It’s that time of the year again. That time of the year where you’re trying to make-up your mind on whether or not you should stay on campus or try your hand living off of campus. It’s always a tough decision, and when you finally do make that decision there comes the process and time of convincing your parents and finding roommates (friends) that you think would make excellent house mates, and just being prepared in general for this process.

We, at Charlesgate Realty Group, want to help you make a smooth transition when you finally make that hard decision. To make it as easy as we possibly can for you, we’ve created a section on our website called Off Campus, which is a great resource on what you need to do next. We suggest you check it out, share it with your friends, parents and any one else who might find it helpful.

We’ve also created a FAQs page that deals with some harder questions. Like the purpose of a cosigner, what is a certified check, and what is a guarantor? We recently just updated this section with a few more questions.

• What are move in funds?
  Most apartments require the move in funds equal to three months’ rent (first month rent, last month rent, and security deposit).  In addition there is a realtor fee of one month rent.  There may be ancillary fees associated with the screening including credit checks which are generally around $15 per credit report, and some other banking fees may apply depending on how the funds are paid.  The realtor fee is generally paid by the tenant due to the high demand and low supply of apartments in the downtown area.  Be prepared to pay a minimum of two months’ rent at the time of submitting an application and the remaining two months within a short time.  Different landlord have varying expectations and requirements for paying the balance of the move in funds.
• Will I need  cosigners or guarantors?
  The majority of landlords will require a qualified cosigner for each applicant who does not income qualify for the apartment, usually this is the situation with full-time students.  The cosigners are guaranteeing the rent payments.  They will go through a similar application, credit, and income screening to make sure the monthly rent obligation will be met.
• Jointly and Severally:
  Apartments are rented as a group, so all three tenants are responsible for the rent.  When a lease is signed they are collectively responsible for the rent regardless of how the individual tenants decide to make arrangements for their portion of the payment.  It is important that the cosigners understand this as they are responsible for this as well.  It is important for the cosigners and tenants to understand this.  Lastly, it is common that landlords will require the rent to be paid in one check, so arrangements will need to be made for the monthly payments.

We highly suggest more questions throughout your process. In the meantime check out our updated pages for housing available near Boston University, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University. (We even had our agents pick out a few that they thought were pretty awesome deals).