I live in a dorm currently, which is the norm for freshmen year but it is not too popular for sophomores to live in dorms. There is very limited space in the dorms and freshmen are the priority for dorm space. I've been on several house tours, talked with several realtors and I still do not have a place to live for next school year.

Most places in downtown Charleston are expensive just because of the location. If you can't afford an apartment downtown, the realtors aren't very sympathetic because they can easily find someone else to fill the spot.

One of the main problems that continuously happens is that my roommates and I find a house we want to sign a lease for August but the house is available now and the realtor will not let us sign an August lease. For one of the houses we really liked, you had to sign a May lease for the house which didn't make a lot of sense for us to do since none of us will be in Charleston this summer.

A lot of the houses we find are decent but have major drawbacks like not having a washer and dryer and other problems that we prefer to avoid.

A big reason why we haven't found anything yet is that we are all on a tight budget. It can be very hard to find a house that is less than one thousand a person, per month and we are trying to avoid paying such a high price. We are currently considering not living downtown next year because once you get out of downtown, the prices decrease sufficiently.

Being so far into the school year and not knowing where I am going to live next year is very stressful but I know it will work out.