With summer around the corner, MSU enrollment will drop to about 16,000, leaving students with 12-month leases scrambling to find subleasers or risk paying full rent for an unused space.
Now, with only finals week remaining, Katie Kegler is desperate to find someone to sublease her Charles Street house bedroom, and she's lowered her price and offered free rent in May as incentives.
"It's kind of frustrating," said the merchandise management senior, who posted fliers, and placed newspaper and Internet ads. To her dismay, "that never worked."
Kegler said she receives about three responses to ads per day, but callers have backed out. "It might be because it's a little intimidating to live with strangers," she said. "That's why most of them didn't work out."
Student renters are not the only group encountering problems with summer subleasing - or subleasers.
"We hear of problems from landlords sometimes and from the tenant who signed the original lease that subleasers have caused problems," said Howard Asch, East Lansing code enforcement and neighborhood conservation director.
To prevent problems, the original leaser needs to be forthcoming with the subleaser about the landlord's rules and requirements, he said.
In the apartments of the newly-built Northern Tier, where about 2,700 students reside, Sharon Ott, regional manager of Capstone Commons, said her company has never had problems with subleasing.
"If they can't find a subleaser, the majority of them stay," Ott said. "Vacancy isn't an issue."
Because so many renters are desperate to find subleasers, students offering up their living space must compete to attract summer residents. Subleasing can often turn into a contest to see who can offer the cheapest rent.
"Finding a subleaser usually depends on whether students are willing to negotiate their lease," said Sarah Schmid, a leasing agent at Capitol Villa. "More people start subleasing later in the semester to get a better deal."
For those still seeking a subleaser, the search is not over yet. More students stay in the area over the summer than one might anticipate, East Lansing Planning & Community Development Director Jim Van Ravensway said.
"In the past we've seen numbers like 16,000 students enrolled in summer classes," he said. "But, just because they are enrolled doesn't mean those are the only students on campus. More are around but they aren't taking classes."
