Residing off campus brings freedom, challenges for OSU students

By KYLE ODEGARD

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES

Jared Schafer, a whip-thin 22-year-old, slung his backpack over his shoulders and headed out the door for the first day of classes at Oregon State University.

Like most college students in Corvallis, this meant he was leaving his apartment - a place with a hand-me-down couch and TV, posters of rock bands and a card table that doubles as a dining area and desk.

It might not seem like much, but to Schafer it's a slice of heaven.

"You have freedom, and it's kind of your own space," said the philosophy major, who lived in a dorm his freshman year.

OSU has nearly 20,000 students, and 13,000 of them choose to live in apartments and rental houses in Corvallis, said Bob Loewen, a city housing program specialist.

OSU doesn't track where its students live, but there are about 3,500 in dorms and university-sponsored cooperatives, and another 1,000 students or so in fraternities and sororities.

Students said rental housing gives them greater independence and is cheaper than the dormitories. But apartment living comes with its own set of complications. Units are hard to find in a college town, and there are a few lousy landlords, Loewen said. Landlords and neighbors have issues with students, as well.

The huge number of student renters - almost 25 percent of the town's population fits into that category - is typical for a college town. Still, it creates issues for Corvallis, such as conflicts about loud parties and a shortage of affordable houses on the marketplace for young families, said Mayor Charlie Tomlinson.

Dorm life vs.apartment life

Schafer, a senior at OSU, said living in the dorms was fun and he met a lot of people, but halfway through his freshman year, like most of his friends, he decided to move out.

"It's cheaper for me to live in an apartment and buy my own food rather than live on a meal plan," Schafer said. "I don't have to deal with sharing a bathroom with 50 other people on a floor."

Courtney Lindstrom, 20, lived in the dorms her freshman and sophomore years, and her roommates left her frustrated.

The gerontology major said her first roommate stole clothes from her. Another was a party animal who came back to their dorm room at 2 or 3 a.m. every night.

Other drunken people would bang on the walls in the dorms. "You get used to it, kind of like the train," she said.

In early September, Lindstrom moved into her first apartment, and now she's living off Western Boulevard with her best friend. She can have candles, incense and pets in her new place. "We can cook and listen to our music really loud," she said.

Living at the dorms meant Lindstrom was aware of the numerous activities at OSU, but now she's exploring more social opportunities outside campus. And she's also meeting plenty of her neighbors at her apartment complex.

Christina Sautto, 20, a junior business major, said living on campus was convenient and moving out of the dorms means keeping track of expenses. Still, she's happy she made the switch. "I have more free space. I have my own room. I guess I have more privacy," Sautto said.

Supply and demand

Finding a place to live isn't easy, however, Sautto said.

"If you want to start looking for an apartment, you have to go before the end of the school year is over," she said. To secure a great place for the fall, many students rent during the summer, whether they live in Corvallis or not. The early bird, after all, gets a better nest - one that's either nicer or closer to campus.

Delaying the apartment hunt means a long walk or bike ride to classes. And it also can result in more conflicts with neighbors, because more families and older people live in complexes away from OSU, Sautto said.

Often the easiest way to get an apartment is to know someone with a roommate who is graduating or moving out, Lindstrom said. In many cases, especially with organizations such as the crew teams, houses are essentially passed down from upperclassmen to younger students.

The last few years have seen stronger demand for rental units in Corvallis, said Jami Sterling, owner of Sterling Management Group, which has 1,000 apartments here.

"Why is that? Probably because we don't have a lot of new construction going on and Oregon State has done a great job with their enrollment expansion," Sterling said. "Kids have come in the last few weeks with mom and dad frantic because there's no place to rent."

Loewen said Corvallis currently has about 12,500 units, about half of which are filled with college students. The city usually adds about 100 to 200 units per year, but this year might not see an increase, partly because some complexes are being converted into condominiums. Others have been demolished for future development.

During winter 2008, the vacancy rate in Corvallis was at 2.9 percent, according to Norris & Stevens, a Portland real estate firm that brokers and manages apartment investments.

The vacancy rate here was lower than in the Portland-metropolitan area, which had a rate of 3.8 percent, but slightly higher than the Eugene-Springfield area.

Students in the community

Chris Westfall, the city's code enforcement supervisor, said college students don't pose an unusual number of difficulties for Corvallis, despite their large population.

Complaints include students parking on lawns, problems with trash, too many people living in a unit or someone occupying a garage or basement area against the building code. He typically contacts more students at the beginning of the school year and educates the revolving population about the law. But he sees similar issues across Corvallis, as well.

Loewen said he's heard from residents about problems around college neighborhoods with garbage and noise from parties or rowdy beer-drinking sessions.

"A long-standing issue is students getting along with their neighbors, and I just don't mean people who live here year round," Mayor Tomlinson said. "I also mean students getting along with other students."

Tomlinson added that the majority of houses in the flatlands between Sixth and 30th streets in Corvallis have become student rentals. "That takes out a significant amount of affordable housing for families," he said. That's one reason home prices are high in Corvallis, and some City Council members have worried the town is becoming something of an unofficial gated community that's unaffordable for working-class folks.

Lt. Dave Henslee of the Corvallis Police Department said the university population causes a higher number of alcohol-related problems, and students heading to and from bars have caused vandalism along the Monroe Avenue corridor and downtown.

Lindstrom isn't into binge drinking, but she acknowledged it was popular and said it might even be more prevalent on campus. She said to stereotype all students as obnoxious louts was unfair.

Tomlinson said the community values students.

"The university is such a significant presence in the community, employment-wise, economics-wise," he said. Students also volunteer in the community, and Tomlinson said most are hard-working.

He and his wife used to live near campus and they enjoyed it.

"There's a lot of energy from young people, living in a neighborhood like that. Positive energy. I'm happy they're back. It's been a quiet summer."

Realities of apartment life

An apartment or rental house often seems like a dream to many college students, but rental realities can mean a rude awakening for novice renters.

Students recalled problems such as crummy neighbors, cleaning deposits that disappear no matter how much they cleaned the rental at move-out time and landlords who ignore requests to make essential repairs.

Jared Schafer, 22, a senior at OSU, said he once lived in a complex that had thin ceilings. His apartment was located below a night owl with heavy feet. That basically meant he became an insomniac because of his neighbor.

But now he's got another problem that's frustrating him:

On the last day of August, Schafer came home from work and found a note taped to his door saying his monthly rent would increase by $60 in exactly 30 days.

"It was infuriating," he said. He didn't have any other option but to pay the increased rate. It would be nearly impossible to find a decent place close to campus less than a month before school started, he said.

And it's not as though living in Corvallis had been cheap before the rent increase. The average one-bedroom apartment in Corvallis cost $632 a month in winter 2008, about $100 more than nearby Albany, according to Norris & Stevens.

Bob Loewen, a city of Corvallis housing program specialist, said the most frequent complaints he hears are plumbing issues, such as leaky fixtures or a lack of hot water.

New city codes are being discussed that could provide more protection for renters, ensuring that locks on windows and doors work, and shortening the allowed time for landlords to make heating and plumbing repairs. Such a fix now could wait for more than three weeks, even if the landlord did everything according to the law.

The overwhelming majority of landlords and property managers are respectable, however, Loewen said. And he also hears complaints from them about tenants who trash apartments or who won't let maintenance men in for repairs.

"The biggest thing we have is when kids all move out, a lot of them tend to forget about rules and regulations. They forget sometimes to give a 30-day notice," said Jami Sterling, owner of Sterling Management Group, which has 1,000 apartments in Corvallis. Sometimes college students also leave junk behind. But such tenants are the exception.

"Really, overall, we don't have that many problems with students," she said.

Tips for Renters

• Put the name of your landlord or management company into an online search engine before signing papers. Ask around.

• Read the rental agreement thoroughly, and obey its terms. An eviction can result from failing to comply.

• Don't rely on verbal statements or promises. Get any rental agreement and contract terms (regarding deposits, etc.) in writing.

• Document with photographs the condition of the unit before moving in and provide that information to your landlord. If possible, have the landlord initial the photographs.

• When something needs maintenance, tell your landlord promptly. Many are happy to make repairs because it prevents future problems, but some types of damage are the renter's responsibility. This is another area to discuss in advance.

• Problems with your apartment? Call the Corvallis Housing Division at 766-6944 or e-mail bob.loewen@ci.

corvallis.or.us.

• So bad you need legal advice? Call Audrey Bach, attorney for the Associated Students of OSU at 737-4165.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net

or 758-9523.