Student Housing Office
Campus Center, 03, 03400
617-287-6011
Fax:617-287-6076
osh@umb.edu

Monday – Thursday from 9:00 to 5:00 pm And Friday from 10:00 to 4:00 pm

What Type of Housing do you Need?

If you are an international student, from out of state, or even from another part of Massachusetts, there are some important things for you to know before beginning your housing search in Boston. There isn't exactly an over-abundance of housing in Boston. If you are not careful, you could find yourself settling for a living situation that is not what you had hoped for.

The best time to look for an apartment is from late June to early July. Most leases run from September to September, and one month's notice must be given before termination of a lease. Because of that, Realtors do not know what is going to be available much before June or July, so if you start looking in August, you may find that all the good apartments have already been taken.

If you are an international or an out of state student, early planning is highly recommended. Otherwise, you may have to find a temporary place to set up a base to work from so you can have the time to look more carefully for the long-term situation. Often, temporary living situations can be quite costly, so it's better to plan ahead!

What are you planning to bring with you? An important thing to keep in mind is that most apartments will be unfurnished. That means you may need to bring your own furniture, or else have enough money set aside to buy furniture when you arrive.

Do you have a car? Boston is an old city. The streets tend to be difficult to navigate, as they were originally constructed on old cow paths. Boston isn't on a "grid" like most modern cities, which were built with cars in mind. Additionally, it can be difficult to find parkign. Most of the streets in residential neighborhoods have "Residential Only" parking. If you park in a "Residential Only" parking space without the correct resident parking sticker, you will get a ticket, or your car may be towed. Parking stickers are only accessible to Massachusetts's residents so you may have to park your car in a garage, which is expensive, until you get your resident parking sticker. You can get a resident parking sticker from your local City Hall.

Do you have enough money to get started? The first month or so of living and getting set up will be the most expensive. To help you out, here is a possible scenario of how much your initial expenses might be:

Renting an apartment is often done through a real estate agent who charges a fee. Of course, apartments can be found without the aid of a real estate agent, but it can be difficult, especially if you are from out-of-tate. The current law is that the realtor's fee cannot be more than the cost of the first month's rent. Whenever possible, try to find rentals through newspaper advertisements, our listings, or through our roommate matching system.

So, say you find a roommate and decide to rent a $1200/month two bedroom apartment. Before you even think about moving in, you have to pay the realtor's fee ($1200). Most of the time, you will also have to pay first and last month's rent ($2400) or possibly a security deposit and sometimes even a key deposit to your landlord ($1200 in security deposit and another $100 for a key deposit).

You may also have to pay for phone hook-ups, which could be around $100. You may be responsible as well for a heating bill, which could be up to $200/month in the winter.

As you can see, it could be a couple thousand dollars just to get set up and make the initial payments, even after you split the costs between you and your roommate. Based on this analysis, a regular month's living expenses could be about $750/month to $900/month in the winter, depending on what utilities you are paying.

The security deposit must be refunded to you when you terminate your lease, as long as there are no damages to the apartment. It is a good idea to make a list describing any current problems and/or damages the apartment has before you move in and then have your landlord check your list or make a list of his/her own, so you won't be stuck with paying for damages that you were not responsible for when you move out.