There is only one listing currently available for rent in La Mirada, according to the Multiple Listings Service (MLS), the online database holding all listings up for lease by real estate agents.
Due to the falling real estate market, house foreclosures are becoming more common, causing more people to be forced into renting.
“Fewer people buying homes means more people looking to rent. And the volume of home sales in Southern California is at its lowest point in two decades,” said Andrea Chang in the Los Angeles Times.
“The falling real estate market has created more demand for rent, there are more people being forced to rent and there is more skittish people weary about buying. As a result, rent has gone up,” said Mathew McGilvray, local Whittier and La Mirada real estate agent of The Real Estate Edge.
The general idea for the natural housing order on campus is to live in a dorm as an underclassman, and by junior or senior year move off campus, either to rent or in the Biola apartments.
Junior Nick Bautista describes the benefits of living off campus: “It is easier to live by yourself than in the dorms because there are less people around, you can eat any time you want, you can watch cable TV, and it is a step toward living on your own.”
Unfortunately for students looking to move off campus next fall, the median price range per month in Biola’s surrounding cities to rent a two bedroom one bath is about $1,750 per month plus gas, utilities and miscellaneous expenses. Biola’s off campus apartments cost about $500 a month per person.
Some students don’t think living off campus is worth it. Caroline Rutenbar, a senior living on campus, said: “I am living on campus this year in order to save money.” ]
Biola’s housing department currently lists a total of 2,718 students living off campus, including 302 living in Biola apartments.
Another thing to consider with the difference in renting versus staying on campus is the business aspect.
“Our landlord has been very accommodating in working with us; however, we did experience some abnormal problems, and because of her previous experience with Biola students she was great to work with,” said Trevor Hults, who rents an off campus place.
Rob Johnson, AS Vice President of Finance, advises that before you take steps towards moving off campus, keep in mind that while it presents a freedom that does not come with the dorms, it also comes with a loss of that community.
In the words of Anne Alloway, Housing Manager of Student Development, “Some of the design of moving freshmen into dorms on campus to seniors moving off campus is, in my opinion, a natural progression towards helping students build community in their first years of college life and gradually take that approach to life out into the off campus community, where they will be living the bulk of their lives after graduation.”
To contact Mathew at The Real Estate Edge call (714) 318-4237, or e-mail at [email protected]
