There are several factors to consider when deciding where to live. After all, if taken too lightly, the outcome can be painful to live with, since most students are stuck with a contract they must sell before they are able to move elsewhere.

So, without ever previously having to find a place on their own, how do many students make such a crucial decision?

It turns out many students employ the advice and opinions of other students and family members who have lived in Rexburg.

Most students don’t want to make uneducated decisions and get stuck with bad consequences, so they find themselves relying on others for housing advice if they have never visited Rexburg.

Visiting and touring different apartments before committing to a contract is another smart way for students to choose housing.

This option allows students to take a personal look at different amenities, styles and locations and decide which is best to meet their needs.

“I and the girls I was going to live with came to Rexburg and looked at some different locations and compared prices,” said Catherine Palmer, a sophomore from Blackfoot, Idaho.

By going to look at the building during the semester, it is easier to ask the current tenants how they feel about the building and managers and see how well their things fit within the space provided in the apartment.

Some students make the decision to move alone.

In these instances, students can avoid the anxiety sometimes felt when the friends they want to move with choose a place they don’t want to live.

For those students who do not live close enough to Rexburg to come and search in person, several apartment complexes have Web sites displaying floor plans and offer pamphlets by mail to inform students of what they have to offer.

“When I first came to college I chose where I was going to live after getting a bunch of pamphlets in the mail,” said Patty Harrington, a sophomore from Sumner, Wash.

Finally, there are the select few who allow others, such as parents or family members, to choose their housing for them.

Some students are away on missions or consumed with other matters and do not have the luxury of making the decision themselves. According to some, this option is not half bad.

“My twin brother picked out my apartment for me because he was already here,” said Matt Warren, a junior from Rigby, Idaho.

The housing selection techniques mentioned above seem to work well for freshman students choosing their housing for the first time but do these methods continue to work as the students stay in Rexburg and change apartment complexes?

Harrington said since first coming to Rexburg, she has made many great friends she has chosen to live with.

“Now I just live wherever my roommates want to,” Harrington said.

Palmer and Warren have also changed from their original ways of finding housing.

Palmer said now her main technique is “word-of-mouth and finding out how other people feel about where they live” before making her decision.

Warren has married since making his first housing choice and now currently lives where he does because his father-in-law built the complex.

As many students become more familiar with Rexburg and the plethora of housing options available around town, they tend to change their original search techniques.

Experience is an essential part of life and proves beneficial especially in instances such as housing.