How can I find a nice room to rent quickly in Olympia Wa?

September 7, 2008 3:55 PM

I am having to move out of were I am living at the end of this week and have been having trouble finding a new place to live in Olympia. I have tried both the internet and local paper but still have not found anything that I think would work for me any ideas?

I am 28 female looking for a place to stay that is cool with meat eating and TV watching in Olympia Wa. Also right now I don't have the money to get my own place.
I need the place NOW and have tried Craigslist and the local paper and all I find is hippies and men. I don't have a problem with men but would not want a house of all guys either. The roommate finding websites charge to do anything more then look. No one I know around either has need of roommate or space to let me crash.
I need to find a place by the end of the week. My sister would love to let me stay here with her, but her house is not set-up for someone to stay more then one or two weeks and we are going into the third. And going back to were I was before would mean moving out of state which I also don't want to do.
Any ideas would be great

posted by CollegeNelson to home & garden (3 comments total)

is there a local university around? often housing opportunities are posted on campus.
posted by anitanita at 4:07 PM on September 7, 2008

If worst comes to worst, you might think about staying at a hostel in town, and putting your stuff in storage for a month.

Also, you mention "the newspaper" but Olympia has an alternative newspaper as well.

And to expand on the "check out local colleges" suggestion (which is a good idea), it's pretty common for co-op stores to have bulletin boards where people can post about housing.

Finally, you mention "trying" on-line websites; I hope that you've not only looked for "housing offered" ads, but also posted "housing wanted" notices yourself at places like Craigslist. And if/when you do, I suggest leaving off "meat eating" and "TV watching"; I realize that Olympia is a bit counter-culture, but it's best - I think - to be as minimalist here as possible; your basic requirement is either female housemates or a co-ed housing situation. If someone contacts you, then is the right time to ask them about any particulars they are looking for in a housemate (vegetarian, no TV, whatever - let them specify), and to find out what the female-male ratio would be if you were to become a housemate.
posted by WestCoaster at 6:23 PM on September 7, 2008

Head over to either co-op in town. A lot of the time they have up on their bulletin boards message about people looking for roommates, renters, etc. Also, hit up Evergreen, Saint Martins, and South Sound Community College. They have bulletin boards all over, some of which are bound to have people looking for roommates.

Also, you can post information about yourself on these boards, effectively advertising yourself as a potential renter/roommate. There are actually quite a few people around up there that would be willing to rent one room of their home to you. My transexual sibling is going to school at Evergreen and had the room renting option come up quite frequently.

This might sound weird, especially if you don't mind potentially drunken phone calls/emails, but post up the information that you're seeking a place/room in the restrooms of the bars downtown. If you've ever been in The Voyeur, you know that unblemished bathroom walls are NOT high on their list.

I haven't been to the farmers market there in awhile, but I bet they'd have a bulletin board up there as well.

The Glen is also a place to hit up. It's the apartment complex behind Evergreen that I lived in for some time when I was going to school there. Cheap, has a close bus line, lovely environment, and it has a bulletin board there as well that may yield potential.

To get all nitpicky now, what do you mean by 'hippies'? There is definitely a strong social pressure amongst the youth in Oly to be cool, easy going earth mamas, but a lot of that can just be a facade that people put on in there adds. It couldn't hurt to contact some of the more promising looking places and just check it out.

Really, in Olympia if you can't find a place to live you're either being lazy or too picky.
posted by ZaneJ. at 3:47 AM on September 9, 2008