College Students Taking Over Empty McMansions

This is kinda cool.  You should’ve seen the way we lived at University of Maryland back in Denton Hall (cinder block shithole dorms) or the Knox Boxes (barely off-campus houses that would be considered “tear-downs” in any other neighborhood).

But in Cali, It appears the housing slump is giving modern-day college students the chance to live it up with their rent money…

From the New York Times:

While students at other colleges cram into shoebox-size dorm rooms, Ms. Alarab, a management major, and Ms. Foster, who is studying applied math, come home from midterms to chill out under the stars in a curvaceous swimming pool and an adjoining Jacuzzi behind the rapidly depreciating McMansion that they have rented for a song.

Here in Merced, a city in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley and one of the country’s hardest hit by home foreclosures, the downturn in the real estate market has presented an unusual housing opportunity for thousands of college students. Facing a shortage of dorm space, they are moving into hundreds of luxurious homes in overbuilt planned communities.

Forget the off-to-college checklist of yesteryear (bedside lamp, laundry bag, under-the-bed storage trays). This is “Animal House” 2011.

Double-height Great Room? Check.

Five bedrooms? Check.

Chandeliers? Check.

Now I kind of want to go back to college in the San Joaquin Valley of California or whatever…

Source:

Animal McMansion: Students Trade Dorm for Suburban Luxury (NYT)