Housing Advise

[Gforce007]

I have gotten permission to live off campus first term if I wanted too.

I wish I know that when I visited the island. It was not that difficult.

I did speak with someone's mom who lived at KiKi's apartments at true blue. (right next to the resort I stayed at). Does anyone have any experience with these apartments or any apartments in True Blue.

How does someone set up off campus housing while in the US. Is there a moderator at SGU or are you on your own??

I dont know where to start. Can a contract be worked out without even visiting the place (inside). I did see the outside and it seemed great. (right next to the True Blue Resort Lap pools. Cant beat that!

How long does it take to set up internet service?? Cable??, Electric??Can this be facilitated early before you get there??

It would be great to have a roomy but seems I might be solo unless another first termer is willing (and get permission) to live like three minutes from campus.

I just cant see living in that cell with absolutly no privacy. I could def rough it if I had too but I never was fond of the dorm life. (tried it once and was like, NO THANKS!)

Kinda like a cockroach with no hole to run to when the lights go on. I know one learns anothers schedule in time to do you private stuff but I am just used to always having my own place.

Thanks for any feedback!

[emt036]

Yeah, getting permission to live off campus is as easy as saying you are bringing down a pet. :-)

-Didn't live at Kiki's, but heard they were nice, new, and expensive.
-While the housing department in Grenada can get you contact numbers and the like, there is no one assigned to set up off-campus housing for students. You have to do that yourself. From the US, it might be a bit hard. Most landlords have a phone to call them, some have email, but few have faxes if you wanted to send a contract back and forth. Also putting down a deposit would be near impossible, unless you sent money to a proxy (i.e. current student) with PayPal or something, and they paid the landlord.
Do you know if Kiki Apartments are still available? Most stuff on True Blue will probably be sold out by August. My advice would be to contact the landlord first, and see if he has anything available:

Kiki's APARTMENTS
PHONE # +1-473-403-2594/439-5137

Perhaps you can work something out directly with him to set up a contract. It may be possible to do it without ever seeing the inside of the place, but personally I wouldn't recommend it. I remember a place I looked at a couple of terms ago on the TB road that looked fine from the outside, but had 6' ceilings on the inside (and I am 6'3"). :roll: If he has nothing available, or you need to enlist the assistance of an intermediary, try one of these realtors:
http://qp2.sgu.edu/QuickPlace/housing/Main.nsf/h_6D843AC57BC65C9C04257085004F9F07/A94888E5F12A3A2204257085004F9F54/?OpenDocument

-Electricity should already be installed by your landlord. Generally what happens is that the electricity is in the landlord's name, but s/he will present you with the bill at the end of the month, and you pay for your usage (if it isn't included.)
-Cable and internet you will most likely have to set up in your own name (but some landlords do provide this pre-set-up, you just pay for it). You can set up internet at a a booth on the campus during orientation, but setting up cable TV will require 1 (or more) trips into the heart of downtown St. George's, since you first need to get your landlord to sign a permission form to install cable. Cable took about 2 weeks to install, and internet can range anywhere from a couple of weeks to 2 months (happened a few terms ago when they ran out of routers/switching equipment/something). Nothing you can do in advance to make it go any faster. (On a side note, the cable company in St. Vincent set up our internet in a blazingly fast 2 days.)

Hope that helped!

[dunsoon]

I totally agree with you about the box. I found it to be a nightmarish experience, esp after having lived in an apartment by myself for 8 years. I lived in SD1 for most of 1st term but managed to get a single almost at the end and that was much better. The noise level in the dorms is ridiculous - People acted as though they were the only ones living in the whole building.

Anyway, may I suggest that you come down to Grenada a week or more early and then have a look around for apts in person? It may be true that alot of the better places are already rented by upper termers before they left campus in the spring and so I agree with above poster that it is important for you to look before you sign a lease. Especially important to meet the landlord. You could get a cheap hotel room for a week or two - there are places that will give you a discount for extended stays.

Good luck and I wish I had done what you are doing!

[Gforce007]

I totally agree with you about the box. I found it to be a nightmarish experience, esp after having lived in an apartment by myself for 8 years. I lived in SD1 for most of 1st term but managed to get a single almost at the end and that was much better. The noise level in the dorms is ridiculous - People acted as though they were the only ones living in the whole building.

Anyway, may I suggest that you come down to Grenada a week or more early and then have a look around for apts in person? It may be true that alot of the better places are already rented by upper termers before they left campus in the spring and so I agree with above poster that it is important for you to look before you sign a lease. Especially important to meet the landlord. You could get a cheap hotel room for a week or two - there are places that will give you a discount for extended stays.

Good luck and I wish I had done what you are doing!

I am coming down Aug 11, pretty early, hopefully I can get everything scheduled before I get there to look at places within four days. I will being staying at True Blue again.

Looks like a lot of expensive phone tag until then. DOnt these realtors have frekin email or fax. rrrrrrrrr Calling back and forth is going to be painful. Hopefully the connection is clear enough to understand them