Housing Information
Freshmen: see The University of Iowa's information web site page on housing. Be sure to check out the Performing Arts Community dorms where first and second year performing arts students live in a Living-Learning Community newly remodeled area in Currier Hall, which includes "performance spaces, a commons area, an expanded computer services area, and other amenities for artists, filmmakers, writers, and performers." For a more detailed description by one who lives there, click here.
More than 90% of first-year students live in one of nine residence halls
Graduate students: see the UI page on Graduate housing.
Housing information online:
[Disclaimer: we provide the information below as a service; we cannot vouch for any of the commercial apartment listings below, which were simply taken from Google listings]
Undergraduate Admissions: Housing - links: Residence halls, Living-Learning communities, Fraternities & sororities, university apartments, off-campus housing
University Housing & Dining
Residence Halls
University Apartments (priority given to families with dependent children)
Off-Campus Housing
Off-Campus Housing Search - residence listings, roommates wanted, rooming houses; other housing resources
Off-Campus Living Guide
Housing information for International Students
Daily Iowan [campus newspaper] Classifieds
Zumper - free apartment rental search website
Trulia - Iowa City Apartment rentals - 250+ listings with in-depth neighborhood information
Zilllow - Iowa City apartment rentals - 120+ listings with fair rental estimates
Rent (rent.com) - currently lists 197 properties (apartments, rental homes, condos) in the Iowa City area
Apartment List (143 apartments listed in recent search). Has a free iPhone app.
My Apartment Map - plots available apartments on an interactive map that also shows nearby grocery stores, public transportation, etc.
Apartments Downtown
RentLingo - Collects listings from multiple sites and shows available roommates and sublets in the Iowa City (or any other) area. In the menu you can move a slider to indicate your price range, select how many bed and baths you want, query about pets, and more. You sign in with your Facebook account; a huge map shows how many and where your Facebook friends live in this area. You can zoom in and zoom out; you can also select List View with info and a photo of each listing; also gives how long ago it was first listed. Kind slick...
Hawks Ridge
IowacityRent.com - at last look had 454 apartment listings for Iowa City & surrounding area.
Apartment Guide
areaguides.net > Iowa City - 9 listings in a recent search.
superpages.com - has links to 71 apartments
Apartments in Iowa City
Iowa City Apartments Depot
Apartments Downtown Iowa City
My Cheap Apartments.com
Craig's List - Iowa City housing
Campus View
Rentals.com
Apartment home living.com - Iowa City apts.
Apartment Ratings
Apartments in North Liberty (neighboring community)
Uloop/Iowa: Housing - includes info on apartments for rent, sublets, roommates wanted, for sale, events, jobs, carpools, travel, & services at UI
Parsons Properties
Jim Miller Rentals
Cruise Apartments
Barker Apartments
Keystone Property Management
North Bay Properties
Heritage Property Management
Hilo Managment
Below are some recommendations from horn studio members on finding housing:
Dorms:
All freshmen should live in the dorms. It is a great way to meet new people and it is nice being close to classes.
You may request someone in particular or you can have a random selection.
For on-campus living, live on the east side of the river. Going back and forth to the music building is much easier from either Daum, Burge, Currier, or Stanley dorms. Stanley is the closest dorm to the School of Music. I recommend Stanley - it is quiet and only a 3-5 min. walk.
For freshmen, dorms are the best idea considering cost, safety, and convenience.
Apartments:
If you want to live off-campus, it is cheapest to live with other people.
Look for off campus housing as soon as possible because leases are being signed as early as January for the year beginning in the fall.
Apartments closer to campus are much more expensive.
One way to find a roommate is to check out Facebook. There are many sublets.
Check out the flyers in the music building for ads for roommates.
The cheapest housing is probably in Coralville. There are busses that run back and forth.
North Liberty and Tiffin are farther out, but have a lot of offerings.
There is graduate housing out on Mormon Trek.
Roommates will cut your cost by at least $100 a month, probably more. The more roommates you have, the cheaper your rent will be.
I live in an apartment about 15 minutes from campus and pay only $600 a month (shared with my roommate) for a nice apartment with central air, dishwasher, garbage disposal, washer/drier, and two parking spaces - a very good deal.
I lived on the east side of Iowa City last year, sharing a duplex I found through Craigslist with a roommate. It worked out really well... I may have gotten a little bit lucky, but there is also an off-campus housing service at http://apps.imu.uiowa.edu/housing/ that lists roommates wanted, etc. I'd recommend that anyone going this route be able to come to town to check out the places they've found on Craigslist, as the posts can sometimes be misleading. When my dad and I came to visit, this was the only place of the four that was livable.. Luckily, it was a great place, but someone could get into trouble if sight-unseen. Having a roommate made the rent really cheap (I paid about $275) and also the Iowa City Transit bus system was a very good and cheap way to get to school without forking money over for gas and for a Hancher pass. This year, I lived in Coralville, which I think on the whole was a slightly less positive experience. The rents seem to be cheaper on average, but I feel that the bus service is not as good, and the commute ends up being a little bit further.