By Emily GlazerThe Daily Northwestern
Imagine getting a check for $100 after signing the lease for a new apartment.
Use Movingoffcampus.com, and that just might be a reality.
The Web site launched a Northwestern account in early February, making NU the seventh university to join the housing site, which gives students a portion of its commission when they mention the site to an affiliated property owner.
Beyond options for students to rent or sublet apartments, the site also allows users to search for potential roommates.
“We want to make this as intuitive and informative as possible for students,” said Mark Sawyier, the Web site’s founder and a senior at Washington University in St. Louis. “Unlike Craigslist … we’re providing students with floor plans, photos, pricing and how close it is to campus.”
Sawyier created the Web site about two years ago, and it has since expanded to University of Chicago, University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Northeastern, Boston and Saint Louis universities.
“I realized college students have a lot of difficulty, whether it’s finding an apartment, subletting an apartment or finding a roommate,” he said.
Weinberg junior Ellie Cunningham, the site’s NU team leader, said she thinks the site responds to a severe problem with off-campus housing at NU.
“(Students’) options are knocking on people’s doors, calling friends to try to get their house or apartment for next year or making people say they’ll hold a house for you,” she said.
But Cunningham said students should not be hesitant to use a more progressive option to find off-campus housing.
“(Movingoffcampus.com) is an entire break from the past, and perhaps for that reason, people are hesitant to use the site,” she said. “Especially with (the) $100 (promotion), it seems like there’s a catch. People need to understand that there’s not a catch.”
Although most of the property on the site is from landlords, Sawyier stressed that students too can post listings for free to sublet their apartments for the summer.
“All you have to do is make an account and post your apartment,” he said.
Ray Gobberg, co-partner of the Web site, said they have been trying to promote the site so it will reach students and eventually spread by word of mouth.
“What we’re trying to accomplish is to get some channels of communication that most students respond to,” the Washington University junior said. “(Specifically) ads on Facebook because the traffic on that site is unbelievable.”
Reach Emily Glazer at [email protected].
