#whoseyourlandlord

[wylandlord]

Should You Live On or Off Campus?

January and February are the hottest months for students to start the housing search for the upcoming year. USA Today reports that behind death and divorce, MOVING is the most stressful experience in one’s life. Yes, DEATH and DIVORCE are the only two stressors that trump moving. Moving for college students is an equally stressful experience. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered in a short amount of time. How many people do I want to live with? How many people can I live with based on where I choose? Who do I want to live with? And the biggest debate of them all- to make the move off campus or to live in residential housing. Whose Your Landlord is here to help you decide what move to make for next semester!

Compare Costs

The costs of off-campus renting compared to on-campus housing vary from college to college. So, the cheaper option depends on where you go to school. If living off-campus is cheaper, remember the additional costs that rent might not cover (utilities, Internet, cable, etc.). While costs differ between universities, how you pay for each is the same. On-campus housing requires a lump sum payment before each semester while off-campus living is a rent check once a month. Because the payment of off-campus living is broken down more than living on-campus, remember that much more budgeting is required.

Remember the Responsibilities

Consider how much responsibility you would like to have in your housing situation. With living on-campus, a lot of the responsibility is out of your hands. Someone is at the front desk to alert you when your mail comes, utilities and Internet are all-included, and security precautions are already set in place. Not to mention, a majority of universities require you to purchase a meal plan if you live on-campus, so cooking is taken care of for you. But, as a renter in an off-campus apartment, you have to cross over to the ‘real world’. Once you rent off-campus, you will have renter’s profile, so it is your job to make sure that profile is a positive reflection of yourself for the next time you rent. As a renter, you will also be paying cable and utilities, which contributes to your credit score. Because your credit score is on the line, it is vital that you make these payments every month. Since off-campus housing is equipped with a kitchen, the need for a full meal plan becomes obsolete. Even if you only get a partial meal plan, it is still your responsibility to grocery shop and cook for yourself on a daily basis.

Compare Convenience

Compared to each other, on-campus housing and off-campus housing each have their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to convenience. For on-campus housing, the proximity to classes and university buildings and coming fully-furnished is more convenient than its off-campus renting counterpart. But, off-campus renting is more convenient when it comes to year-round living and no guest policies.

Making this decision is not an easy one- make sure to create a pros and con list that outlines the advantages and disadvantages of both on-campus and off-campus housing. Remember to do your research- check out reviews on Whose Your Landlord to learn about other people’s experiences on and off campus!

[lewlowkey]

Hey y'all! My first Blavity.com Interview, with Ofo Ezeugwu at WhoseYourLandlord.com is up!! Go check it out http://bit.ly/1b5tc2p 

[wylandlord]

My Landlord from Hell

By Ashley Hart

Every year thousands of college students begin looking for housing for the up and coming school year. Students scour the internet looking for that one place to call home. Some students like Joella Smith, a Junior Social Work major at Temple University, take their search to craigslist.com.

Although some people have luck finding that perfect place on craigslist, Smith was not so fortunate. Smith found a house three blocks from campus on the corner of 12th and Susquehanna. “The location was great and convenient, but the house had a ton of problems,” Smith said.

Smith explained that the landlord was supposed to have the property clean and ready for move in by the time the semester had started. “There were stains and ripped paint on the walls and the carpet was filthy! It looked like it had been there for years.”

The quality of the house was not the only problem Smith said she had. The landlord let a 40-year-old man live in the property while she and her roommates lived there. “We were four college girls all in our twenties living with a 40-year-old, it was very uncomfortable,” Smith said.

“One night he had been drinking and got really drunk. He was yelling and throwing our stuff everywhere. My roommates and I were going to call the police but decided to call the landlord first. The landlord told us that there was nothing he could do about it and to just let him blow off some steam” Smith said.

After that incident Smith and her roommates decided they could no longer live in this condition. “After only living there for three months, I broke the lease and moved back in with my parents because the landlord was negligent to my concerns and safe keeping.”

“The rest of the year I had to commute all the way from Warminster which is about a 40 minute train ride. It was very inconvenient and time consuming, but it was better than living is such conditions.”

When asked, Smith said she would definitely use a website like whoseyourlandlord.com to check reviews on her landlord in the future.

“I wish I knew about Whose Your Landlord before, it would have saved me a lot of trouble” Smith said. 

[youngpeopledo]

Ofo Ezeugwu: Energetic Entrepreneur

Interview by Chris Asroff Click here to like Young People Do on Facebook

So you have an idea. But what does the path to success look like? If you're unsure, you may want to consult with Ofo Ezeugwu. Ezeugwu is a 21-year-old entrepreneur who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, who helps others reach their goals while simultaneously pursuing his own.

He graduated college in May of this year with a degree in Entrepreneurship from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Ofo explains what experiences through his college career led him to where he is now as the CEO and President of Untapped, Inc. and WhoseYourLandlord, LLC (possessive form of whose intentional, more on that later).

Young People Do: So, it seems like you made the decision to become an entrepreneur relatively early in college. Can you explain to our readers what your aspirations were prior to your business ideas, and what finally pushed you to pursue them?

Ofo Ezeugwu: I was working at MassMutual as a life, accident, and health insurance producer, in the summer of 2011, when the idea for Untapped was born. Prior to that, I was still an entrepreneurship major and I had just picked up my management and information systems minor. So, I knew I wanted to do something in business and my strong preference was marketing. My life intentions, at that point, were to start a business, be very successful, and have fun along the way.

I always had the bug for entrepreneurship and I enjoyed helping others develop leadership skills and strengthen their self-confidence I realized the summer of 2011 that I really wanted to dictate my own schedule and start something that was special to me.

YPD: Can you tell our readers more about Untapped and Whose Your Landlord? What's the idea and when were they founded?

OE: Untapped, Inc. was founded in July 2011 and its primary purpose is to work with young entrepreneurs on cultivating their ideas and seeing them through to fruition. We provide the training, support system, and, eventually, financial capital to assist these young CEOs in seeing their visions materialize.

WhoseYourLandlord was founded in February 2012 and officially launched on October 24, 2012. In addition to the rating platform, we’re creating a housing hub for college students to use in assessing, finding, and managing their housing situations/ We’ll be rolling out our mobile app this upcoming winter. So, I guess you guys are the first to know.

YPD: You just graduated from college, Temple University, this past May. Share with everyone what it was like to already have a career well underway while still in college and why you made the decision to get started when you did. Also, why did you choose the marketing industry?

OE: Yup, I’m 100% #TempleMade. I had a lot of fun in college but I also was on top of managing my time properly. Senior year was easily the craziest year; I was acting and modeling with several agencies, serving as vice president of Temple’s student body, and was the president of two growing companies. It’s safe to say, time ran very fluidly for me as there was always something to do.

I decided to get started with both companies when I did because I knew the resources and connections I made in college would go a long way towards making the beginning stages very successful in our growth. Our target demographic was my fellow peers and they would listen to what I had to say and help us achieve our goals because everything was aligned correctly.

And, lastly, I’ve always enjoyed marketing and getting a grasp of what people do, what they respond to, and why. Naturally, once I garnered the educational background in marketing, I knew the next step would be putting my knowledge into action.

YPD: How important was it to you and your business’s success that you have a great surrounding cast that is on the same page as you? At what point in the process of beginning your business did you find it absolutely necessary to build a team?

OE: A strong supporting cast is necessary to succeed at a high rate. We have people who exhibit specialty skills in tech, marketing, finance, operations, etc. This is important in making sure we cover all bases of business operations.

I found it necessary to build the team organically as we saw fit; so, once we were approaching a crossroads where we needed to add a specific specialty, I would begin looking for someone who fit that bit.

YPD:  Pretend I'm a potential customer/user for either “Untapped, Inc.” or “Whose Your Landlord;" what's the elevator pitch?

OE: Untapped: Today, colleges spend much time teaching “what.” We teach “how.” We don’t focus on pure business development; rather we incorporate the intangibles, ideals, and life lessons associated with every day realities in life. Our focus lies in creating great leaders and encouraging young people to step out of their comfort zone and achieve greatness (as they define it). This new age of entrepreneurship doesn’t solely lend itself to business. Entrepreneurship falls in line with a mindset of looking to achieve more and rally others around you to achieve a common goal. Bring your ideas, concepts, and questions. We’ll figure it out together. WYL: WhoseYourLandlord.com is a website that allows college students to rate their on and off campus housing: this includes, their landlords, residence halls, and housing complexes. In the name, we use the possessive form of the word “who” because we’re giving students ownership of their situation by putting housing in their hands. WhoseYourLandlord puts the power of information in the hands of the tenant.

By providing an open platform which invokes a community of past and current renters to contribute ratings and reviews of their home providers, we will foster an environment by which landlords are compelled to provide quality services. We create a housing hub, preserving time, money, and effort on the parts of those looking for housing and those providing it. WYL gives our users ownership of their situation enabling tenants to make informed decisions on housing by reviewing the personal experiences of others that may not be available through any other platform.

YPD: On your Facebook page for “Untapped, Inc.,” there is a quote from you: “No steps backward, just forward progress.” What's the significance of that statement?

OE:  That statement means the world to me. Through mistakes, triumphs, and through all the work, you must have a short memory. It’s cool getting coverage in news articles and in publications; but, if that was our sole goal, we would have stopped a long time ago. Persistence is key in all that we do and it’s the determining factor in regards to who becomes successful and who does not. “No steps backward” focuses on not dwelling on the past. “Just forward progress” means, no matter what the past held, we’re going to continue to succeed in the future.

YPD: What is your strongest piece of advice for other 20-somethings?

OE: My strongest piece of advice is to keep working. If you have a dream in mind, think of the preliminary steps you must take to allow it to formulate into something tangible. For example, if you’re creating a blog about technology; write out what the first several posts will be about.

Determine what informational fortitude you already have in that area and determine what you need to know. This step is crucial in realizing how you’ll go about researching and staying abreast as to what’s going on in any specific industry. Start with the small steps first and the accumulated steam will power you through the following steps on the path to success.

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