The first-apartment guide
Your first place, explained
Student housing has its own vocabulary: by-the-bed leases, installments, guarantors, matching. Here's the whole thing in plain English, in the order you'll meet it, from a team that has walked a few thousand students through it. It applies to any building, not just ours.
Start earlier than feels reasonable
In Tallahassee, leases for next August sign the fall before. The best plans (studios, four-bedrooms near campus) go first and rates step up as a building fills. Touring in September for the following year is normal, not early.
By the bed, not by the apartment
Most student communities lease each bedroom separately. You sign for your room and your share of the common areas. If a roommate leaves or stops paying, it isn't your problem. Ask any building whether its lease is individual; if it isn't, you're on the hook for the whole unit.
Installments, not rent
The academic-year lease is one price, split into one, two or twelve installments. "Twelve installments" is not "twelve months of rent"; it's the same total, spread out. Compare buildings on the total, and on what's inside it.
What "all-inclusive" should mean
Furniture, internet, cable, water (often to a cap), the washer and dryer, and the amenities. Electricity is almost always separate and split among roommates. Ask for the fee schedule before you sign: utility admin fees, community fees, parking, pets and insurance are where the surprises live.
The guarantor
A parent or guardian co-signs the individual lease, online, as part of the application. No U.S. guarantor? Most buildings accept a guarantor service or a larger deposit instead. It's a routine question; ask it.
Roommates: bring them or get matched
Signing with friends groups you in the same home. Signing solo puts you through a matching questionnaire (schedule, cleanliness, noise, guests) and pairs you with people who answered the same way. Good buildings let you meet before move-in.
What to look at on a tour
The walk to campus, timed. Ask about the bedroom, and what it's like. The bathroom count. Where packages go. Who answers the phone and how fast. The gym at the hour you'd use it. Then ask to see the lease and the fee schedule.
Insurance, credit and the pet account
Renters insurance is required almost everywhere ($100,000 liability is typical), with the building named as an interested party. Many leases include credit reporting of on-time payments; you can usually opt out before move-in. A PetClear account is required whether you have a pet or not.
Move-in day
Everything is due before it: insurance, first installment, the guarantor. Then it's a time slot, a tent, a cart and your keys. The buildings that do it well tell you the dates months out and text you the week of. Ours does ›
Questions?
Ask a person
The leasing team has answered every version of these. Text (833) 904-8178, or come by 501 Chapel Drive with your family.