If you have a large friend group that maybe doesn’t want to stay in dorms next year and thinks there are no apartments just right for them, consider getting a house together.

It can be hard to get everyone to agree on a location and stick with the idea until signing a lease, but it can provide great benefits.

The best times living in a house can be spent grillng outside on holidays, sitting on the lawn on a nice day or hosting large social gatherings in your abode.

Many houses will feature places to park your car for less than an apartment pass, and there is more space to hang out outside. These can get rid of a lot of the headaches that the dorms or apartments bring, especially if you feel a little cooped-up in one or two shared rooms.

The cramped nature of an apartment hardly exists when you have plentiful kitchen space and several common areas where people can hang out. Some houses even allow pets, so if someone wants to bring their furry friend to their apartment, several houses can accommodate that.

When making the decision, be sure that you will get along with all of your housemates and that they will stick with the lease. Finding a subletter to move in with several strangers can be very hard.

The biggest issue can be clutter. Finding the perpetrator of a mess may be hard when you have to consider a dozen other people living in the same building, and there is just a lot more to clean. Making sure that people pick up after themselves at all times is crucial to keeping the house from becoming a pigsty.

If you can find a big group of people that you want to live with, I say go for it. The future can be uncertain and you may never get another opportunity to live together with all of your friends.

Masaki is a senior in Media. 

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