Opportunity: On campus students who attend the University of Florida and Santa Fe but do not live in Gainesville year round are subjected to over-pricing during the Summer because landlords are trying to maximize profits.
- Who: Students who attend the University of Florida and Santa Fe.
- What: Over-priced for summer terms they neither need nor want to pay for.
- Why: Landlords do not want to have a property not earning any cash during the summer, they are maximizing profits
Testing the what: The boundaries here are mainly that it is summer specific. Additionally, as previously notes, not all students dislike being here for the summer, but there is a large enough group that actually truly dislikes it.
Testing the why: I would say most people dislike it mainly because of financial/ independence reasons. They feel stuck to their contracts and know that if they leave the city, they feel as if they are wasting money. Additionally, many people want to go back home to be with their family or even potentially get a summer job, so having to pay is very unfortunate and unnecessary.
Interview 1: This male student attends the University of Florida so they do fall under the who boundary. They currently live off campus and dislike the idea of having to pay for 3-4 months of rent when they are not going to be here. Mainly, this is causing them to debate whether they should stay here for the summer or not, when they truly do want to go home.
Interview 2: This male student also attends the University of Florida. They are an engineering student and are actually going to stay here for the summer to do courses. Thus, they do not mind having to pay for the summer months but do understand and empathize with others as well.
Interview 3: This female junior attends Santa Fe. They currently live in Tampa and have accepted the fact that they will have to pay for the summer months even though they are not going to be living there. They hate that they have to pay but understand the fact that 12 month leases are the norm. Interestingly, their frustration turns into acceptance because they believe thats just how college is.
Interview 4: This female attends the University of Florida. Interestingly enough, her father was actually going to purchase a property in Gainesville so that she could live there with her friends and split rent with them. When asked about paying for summer months, there wasnt much frustration, most likely because her parents pay for everything.
Interview 5: Lastly, I interviewed my mother. She does not fall within my who boundary becuase she is not a student, but does hate that I have to pay for the summer. She of course wants me to go home but understands that it would be a waste of money to pay for a room I do not use. She lives in Miami and knows that there is a lot of bargaining within rentals, so she does not understand why you cannot find a fall and spring only semester rental.
Summary: I found that most people really do struggle with this problem. Something new I learned is that people have basically accepted that they have to pay, but when you bring it up, they get fairly livid. Potentially, a marketing campaign notifying students that they should still at least try to bargain instead of just accepting their leases could help. A lot of people also brought up the valid point that landlords would never accept not getting any money for a whole summer.
This is a great idea! This has happened to me every year and I hate it! I do need to and most the time can't physically be in Gainesvegas, so why am I forced to pay. The opportunity is there, but the solution may be difficult. An app may be the best bet, but either way, the opportunity is there and I am one of the consumers of whatever the product may be.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense for those who don't take summer classes, absolutely. However, a big chuck of the student body keeps going to finish their degrees quicker, taking summer classes has been a huge shortcut for me overall. Subleasing is another problem solver for those who are done completely and don't want to stick around or have a job lined up. If I was in the shoes of those that want to go home every summer the whole summer, I would consider having roommates to alleviate the bills.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that this is a huge issue with college students. We are already paying for so much and adding on an extra 3 months of rent that we aren't using is very annoying! Students want to go home, get internships or jobs in other cities and want to leave for their break. This makes doing that a lot more expensive. However, I believe that this would be a very difficult problem to fix. Most of the rentals in Gainesville are owned by a few companies and I do not see them being willing to give up income for a few months.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a difficult thing to get going because no landlord wants to miss out on 3 months of rent. I think the options in the non-college towns are all one year leases too. Students have the on-campus option that isn't binding for one year and others choose to sub-lease. Though sub-leasing is often very difficult. I personally hate paying for summer rent because I am out of Gainesville all summer. If someone offered no summer rent at an up and coming apartment complex that would definitely generate interest.
ReplyDelete