Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Tenants’ Doors
If the early leasing pressure ban passes, landlords argue, students will get around it by just knocking on doors of places they’re interested in renting, which constitutes a “safety issue.” MSA rep Rese Fox linked to a few websites of local landlords that already encourage this practice. Campus Rentals: “You may visit any of the listed units. Don’t be embarrassed. Just go to the door and knock. Most students find their place this way every year, but we do ask that you be considerate of the tenants and their schedules.”
Or rather, that’s what it said yesterday. Today, it says, “You may visit any of the listed units. A Campus Rentals representative can show you through; feel free to contact us at the office. We’ll be glad to arrange for you to see it.”
That’s exactly why I never rented from Campus Rentals. They had some apartments and buildings that looked intriguing, but (a) I was never comfortable just knocking on somebody’s door and asking them to show me their place, and (b) I didn’t want to be the one whose door was getting knocked on the next year.
posted by Jen. on February 2nd, 2006 at 1:00 pmIt’s not listed on their web site, but I hear there is a job opening at Campus Rentals in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth.
posted by FAA on February 2nd, 2006 at 1:26 pmKudos to AAIO — great catch!
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on February 2nd, 2006 at 7:19 pmDon’t worry … we printed out hard copies and gave them to Leigh Greden & Wendy Woods before they left the hearing. Plus, I have more copies in my room. In fact, I picked up an identifiable grain of whitish dust and deposited it on the corner of the pile of hard copies, where it is bound to be shaken off if the hard copies are moved.
posted by Rese Fox on February 2nd, 2006 at 7:28 pmWhen I was house hunting in the fall, I called Michigan Rental because I wanted to look at a house and the dude told me just to go knock on the door. We tried three times in two days and nobody came to the door, so we called him back to ask again. He refused to schedule a showing, telling us that people would “be there sooner or later.”
I felt like I should have had a 27b/6 or something… bloody paperwork.
posted by Zach on February 2nd, 2006 at 7:52 pmAll this talk of housing further emphasizes how boring both this site and Ann Arbor both are. Think about this: the members this community actually find *enjoyment* by listening to some over-aged urban planning graduate student (why??) complain about people that are better left forgotten. I was happier when I didn’t know anyone on the council by name. This website has become a SYMPTON, not a solution, to the A2 problem.
posted by Max Ehrlich on February 2nd, 2006 at 11:15 pmMax Ehrlich, there’s the door. Please let it hit your holier-than-thou arse on the way out.
posted by Big John on February 2nd, 2006 at 11:18 pmUrban planning grad student? Au contraire.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 3rd, 2006 at 12:02 amRese Fox: Internet high-five. Well played, old chap.
My landlord roundup:
Madison made appointments with us, and never showed, so we just knocked on the door out of desperation. The people who rented after us had never seen the inside of the place before they signed. I don’t know what kind of crack they were on, but I let them in myself at some point over the summer, because they wanted to assign bedrooms.
Issa never bothered to tell us about the people visiting our place, and half the time, they didn’t show up for the tour themselves either.
Three Oaks has been remarkably good about that - we get a full day’s notice, at least, posted in writing on the door. With an approximate time and date and everything. God, it’s beautiful. It’d be even more beautiful if we had decent recycling bins that were actually taken to the curb every week, but other than that…
posted by Anonymous on February 3rd, 2006 at 1:10 amAlso, Google cache does not lie:
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:bpJC2HyjZpAJ:www.campusrealty.com/how-to-get.html+%22Most+students+find+their+place+this+way+every+year%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
posted by Dave on February 3rd, 2006 at 1:41 pmDon’t be so “ehrlich,” Max… (he he). Actually, I find the whole thing rather interesting.
What interests me is: Does this sort of thing with rentals only go on in Ann Arbor, or is this common practice for all college towns comparable to Ann Arbor (e.g., I think of Madison, Berkeley, Amherst)?
Here in Trier, a town of roughly 100,000 (with only 15,000 college students added to that), people come in and start looking if they don’t have dorm space around August (the cut off for dorm space - when you find out - is mid-July, and our school year starts in October), and then it just keeps getting tighter and tighter.
If you come to look in October, you’ll probably find something in the end, but you’ll have to go through about 20 apartment showings with about 20 other potential renters each time (yes, it’s Germany - there is no “show up an knock”). My housemate and I finally found something by putting an add in the paper describing ourselves as “academics” (we’re both doctoral students with stipend/jobs at the University). Then we had about 20 old ladies come out of the woodwork who just didn’t put anything in the paper because they didn’t want to rent to “students.”
So, in other words, here in Trier we don’t do anything special in terms of early rentals. People who don’t already have a place just show up two months before school starts and begin looking.
Anyone else have experience from other college towns of roughly similar size? What were the practices there?
posted by daniel on February 3rd, 2006 at 6:52 pmIt is definitely not like that in Amherst, for what it’s worth.
posted by Anna on February 3rd, 2006 at 7:53 pmCouple of points here: YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ANSWER YOUR PHONE WHEN IT RINGS. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ANSWER A KNOCK AT YOUR DOOR, EVEN IF IT IS THE POLICE. Once again, respect the privacy of other people. Out government won’t but we should lead them by example, after all we all don’t go around shooting people in the face. Well, maybe not all of us, behinds full of buck shot excepted …
posted by Andrew on February 13th, 2006 at 11:53 pm