OK, so I’m trying to finally move out, and it is FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE to find a shared room to rent in San Diego. It’s mind-boggling–there are tons and tons of entries on Craigslist, but invariably every single poster either (a) leaves the post up after they get a renter, so that you spend all day calling lots of people who tell you “Sorry, we already found someone” or (b) doesn’t answer their phone or email; they just mysteriously disappear when anyone shows interest in the room they seemed to need badly to rent out to someone.
I have a room that I could offer you really cheap but with the commute between San Diego and West Virginia you probably wouldn’t save as much money as you would hope.
You might try the website and/or student publications of your college and other local colleges. I know that my university here in Baltimore has a housing office that helps hook studewnts up with one another, and with landlords, for off-campus housing. Our Newsletter also often advertises share accommodations. UCSD and other San Diego schools might do something similar.
What about you finding an apartment, then being the one who gets roommates? It seems you’ll have no trouble finding some. That’s what my friend and I did in the Boston housing market, and it worked out well.
I’ve had exactly the same trouble with buyers while trying to sell my laptop on Craigslist. I got a call the day I posted it. I made a plan for the guy to come see it the next evening. The next day, I got another call. This guy wanted it so much he asked if he could come give me cash right now. I told him he could, but that he couldn’t have the computer until the evening anyway, since I was at work and he was at home. He offered me $100 less than I was asking to hold it. Gee, but no thanks. If you’re really in such desperate need, you can pay the asking price.
The first guy canceled on me, and said he’d call Sat to see it. No call. I called him Sunday and never got a response. The second guy called me again on Sunday to see if it had sold. He came over Sunday night, fiddled with it for about 15 minutes, then offered me $100 less than my asking price. I had told him over the phone just two days previously that I wasn’t going to accept that. Thanks for wasting my time, buddy.
People how use craigslist do deem markedly irresponsible at times. I don’t get it. Try selling an apartment full of furniture and finding someone to take said apartment, when you are moving from one coast to the other a week after your finals end. Keep trying, though, I have had some luck.
