Since VCU’s Off-Campus Housing Fair, Fran Mason, a rental agent for Fanapartments.com who attended, said she has been busy answering about 30 phone calls daily from interested renters.
“It’s more a way of sharing ideas and developing relationships with the school and other people in the district,” Mason said. “It definitely kicks off the season.”
Off-Campus Housing sponsored the event so students could meet with landlords from different apartments, mingle with potential roommates and gather information about moving off campus.
Martha Harper, information services manager for the University Student Commons, and Kirsten Hirsch, assistant director for public relations for student activities, organized the fair to help landlords and students.
“I think it’s a good thing for students to have at least one day of the year where they can just come to the Commons and talk to all the landlords at once,” said Hirsch, who organized similar fairs the past 10 years.
About 45 landlords attended the fair, offered informational pamphlets, provided visuals and answered students’ questions.
Christine Rose, a freshman business major who attended the event, said she learned many new things about apartments that she wouldn’t have considered if she had not attended the fair.
“You can find out information like if it going to have wood floors or carpet? Is heating gas or electrical? Things a lot of first-time apartment hunters wouldn’t think of,” she said.
Representatives such as Hiliary Thurston, leasing manager for Clachan Properties, use the fair to inform potential renters and to collect ideas for themselves.
“We got to network with students and got great feedback from students and ideas from them and other property owners,” Thurston said.
She also said students’ questions and comments often provide information that property owners need to improve their facilities.
Nadine Graham, a freshman social work major from D.C., said the event answered her questions about the first steps to take in renting an apartment.
“I think it was really good that they had the fair, because I wouldn’t have known how to go about looking for apartments in Richmond,” she said.
Because Hirsch wanted to provide students with options and knowledge about renting their first apartments, she said she participated as a resource just as the VCU police did to provide information about safety. In addition, University Dining Services representatives helped inform students about off-campus meal plans.
“You can talk directly with landlords about the apartments that they have available, and you can talk with us and the off-campus housing office,” Hirsch said. Furthermore, she encouraged students to use the off-campus housing Web site to begin their searches.