Welcome to America! I hope you have a good time, and that the school can help you with housing and stuff; be sure to stay in contact with them often so everything gets coordinated properly. You definitely can't afford to have them forget about you, it's such a pain if the paperwork isn't done up properly.

BisuDagger

Bisutopia19386 Posts

July 28 2014 01:53 GMT

#22

Hopefully a TL-er on here that lives in the area sees this. I can't do much from Fl but you will always have a place to stay if life takes you this way.

boxerfred

Germany8360 Posts

July 28 2014 06:39 GMT

#23

On July 27 2014 15:12 Waxangel wrote:
find a roommate and just sublet/rent a room without signing a lease D:

Did you yolo a lot when you were younger? :D

Bill Murray

United States9292 Posts

July 28 2014 06:59 GMT

#24

I wouldn't use craigslist. It can be pretty seedy.

ThomasjServo

15244 Posts

July 28 2014 15:07 GMT

#25

On July 28 2014 15:59 Bill Murray wrote:
I wouldn't use craigslist. It can be pretty seedy.

Depends on the area, I wouldn't use it without pretty extensive knowledge of the area personally. I wouldn't check out a place in North Minneapolis for example but were it in a different neighborhood, I would be much more apt to check out a listing.

nobodywonder

United States848 Posts

July 28 2014 18:36 GMT

#26

Hey, I live around Sacramento, though I go to school in SoCal. I'll PM you later.

Btw what school and area of Sacramento are you looking around?

Ctone23

United States1841 Posts

July 28 2014 19:55 GMT

#27

I would definitely contact your school, if nothing else they can point you in a decent direction.

TheFlock

United States389 Posts

July 29 2014 21:16 GMT

#28

Welcome to California! Glad to hear you were able to find something through your school for a while. That is definitely the most reliable way to go. Craigslist can be good and very bad so you have to really be careful. Here in the south bay area my friends have lived in several houses they found on craigslist and they have been just fine.

Always good to hear from retired progamers, especially when they come to live near me

boesthius

United States11637 Posts

July 30 2014 03:27 GMT

#29

--- Nuked ---

Wuster

1974 Posts

July 30 2014 17:51 GMT

#30

On July 27 2014 14:38 Rain wrote:
Thanks to everyone who gave me good information. I contacted the school and they offered me homestay service so I will most likely stay someone else's house for the first few months. Starcraft club sounds pretty intense lool.
I was a bit frustrated earlier today cause I looked up few apartments around the school, tried to reach them but they were afk. Probably because it'sweekends. Anyway thank you again!!! <3

Don't get too frustrated with AFK landlords, that's how all of them are. When I was in college we'd literally walk around a block of apartments and call *every* *single* *one* and be lucky to reach one person.

tree139

United States9 Posts

July 30 2014 23:45 GMT

#31

Talk to the school and they should help you. There should be a bulletin board at the school, check it for rentals and you can also put up a Wanted ad yourself. The same goes for coffee shops, grocery stores, and hardware stores in the area. Ask if they have a bulletin board; if they say no then ask if they know where some are nearby.
The Sacramento Bee newspaper has online classifieds: http://www.sacbee.com/adperfect/ you can check there for rental listings. Or pick up a newspaper at a store and check the classifieds. You can also google 'sacramento rentals' or 'sacramento classifieds'. Another way is to go to the area you want to live and drive/walk around looking for 'For Rent' signs. Craigslist can work well, but be very careful. I have rented 3 good places and 0 bad places from Craigslist, because I am very careful! Always get a receipt for your payments, showing the dates you paid for. Here are a few ways that have worked for me when renting with bad credit or no credit:

1. You can rent from a private owner. Private owners are less likely to check your credit, and more willing to negotiate. The property management companies will usually check credit, and are often restricted in their ability to negotiate; since they must follow company procedure and answer to their boss.

2. If you are trying to rent a place and you fall short of their credit/income requirements, offer to pay extra deposit (1 month's rent extra should work) in order to ease their worries. Again, this will work better with private owners. I rented a place successfully without a job by doing this. My friend also did this with no job, and it worked at a huge apartment complex run by a property management company. Good luck!

ClanRH.TV

United States462 Posts

July 31 2014 02:03 GMT

#32

On July 27 2014 04:35 Rain wrote:
Hello guys this is former progamer Fnatic.Rain.

I have arrived in US a day ago for school, Now I'm currently staying at a hotel in Sacramento.
Since it's my first time looking for an apartment in US, honestly I don't know what to do lool.
Apparently I have heard invididual's credit is very important when u r renting a house, unfortunately, I have no credits here. Luckily, I brought enough money in cash so I guess I can just pay 3 or 4 months rent in advance as a deposit moeny. But I'm not sure if its negotiable.

It would be appreciated if you can give me some information. My class starts very soon so I will comeback with some stories about school life as a retired Korean progamer.

I feel kind of bad using blog for asking a help but if u are currently living in Sacarmento and willing to help me please PM me

I guarantee I will reward you.

You can still get credit cards and such with no credit but the terms of the card may not be very forgiving if you miss a payment. I would suggest that, on top of talking with your universities counselor, that you stop at a local bank and speak with an agent about setting up an account and developing you credit. Additionally, there are many online resources that can instruct you on how to develop a solid credit score and keeping it that way.

Edit: Get on top of finding an apartment ASAP. That way you'll get a better price/location instead of waiting and settling for less.