It is the beginning of December, and to many, the pressure to rent an apartment seems to be mounting.
More than half the apartments in the Spring Brook Row apartments complex on 921 Fahrenbrook Court are gone. Only 20 units remain in the Palisades on 535 W. Johnson St., and The Aberdeen Apartments at 437 W. Gorham St. are filling quickly. In fact, the Madison City Council even passed an ordinance which moved the starting date of renewals and renting up one month earlier to Nov. 15.
At the same time, many students say they refuse to rent an apartment before June or July, and housing experts are advising students to wait until after December to look for a new home. This discrepancy has many confused.
\Students that rent early are only hurting themselves,"" Ald. Austin King, District 8, said. According to King, landlords can charge students as much as they want when students rush to grab apartments early in the renting season. He said as time goes on, many landlords feel obligated to lower their prices to avoid vacancies.
City Council President and President of the Tenant Resource Center Brenda Konkel agreed, saying early renting and renewing only guarantees tenants a higher price and more potential apartment problems.
""Students who renew their apartments in November before they've even experienced winter or spring flooding don't know enough yet about the place they're living in,"" Konkel said. Konkel also said the belief that all the best apartments disappear early is a myth. ""Often, landlords will wait to put their best apartments on the market because they don't want to rent to undergraduates. Also, as long as a student doesn't mind living slightly off campus, nice apartments are easy to find later in the year.""
Teddy Hutchinson, a Madison resident who rented his current home at the end of last year's renting season, had no problems finding a ""great"" home. According to Hutchinson, after searching for two weeks, he opened up the newspaper one day and discovered an advertisement for the property. ""It's harder to find a place later in the semester, but they're a lot cheaper and just as nice,"" Hutchinson said.
King and Konkel, who both rented late in the season when they were students, stressed unless students begin to change their renting and buying habits, prices will continue to rise and students will continue to feel as though they are falling behind in the race to find a place to live.
