Local lease gaps make for 'creative' living
Derek Wollner thought he had found a place to keep his furniture — until he reached the front door.
The narrow door frame means his furniture will sit on his brother's front porch for now. He can only hope it won't rain.
Wollner is experiencing a gap between his old lease's expiration and new lease's starting date, a problem for many locals and University of Iowa students at this time each summer. The turnover can often leave people homeless for weeks on end and struggling to find storage among sold-out and high-priced rental units.
Every June, people bustle around Iowa City in search of U-Haul trucks and storage units for their furniture. And many find themselves living in their cars, staying with friends, and in Wollner's case, hoping his furniture won't be ruined.
"We are getting ready to move in on Saturday," the 19-year-old said. "I think the stuff is OK for now, but we are keeping our fingers crossed."
UI junior Jonathan Jaeger had to leave his deck furniture on the back porch of the house — where the lease ended July 28.
"We could not fit any deck furniture," Jeager said. "So we just had to leave it and hope we can go back for it later."
Ben Kisner, also a UI junior, was able to find a storage unit but said the high cost was frustrating.
"We have to pay for a storage unit for a month, and we are only using it for a week, while we wait to move into our new apartment," he said.
Quality Care Storage in Coralville rented out storage units to more than 400 people this month, said Patrick Heintz, the company's guest-services representative.
"We are always expecting apartment turnovers this time of year," he said. "We see an influx of customers toward the end of June, and business pretty much subsides around the end of July."
Heintz, a UI student himself, said July is the company's busiest time of year, with May coming in second, when students move out of dorms.
But not all resort to rented storage.
UI junior Kelsey Seligmann's blue Honda Civic is packed full of household items, a microwave resting in her front seat. She and friends are staying with friends at the Sigma Nu fraternity house for a week while they are in between leases.
But even though lease gaps may be the biggest problem while moving, cleaning and maintenance means these intervals are unavoidable, said Brittany McMaster, the office manager at Cruise Apartments, 113 Wright St.
"Typically, the move-in and -out dates do not match up," she said, "It is definitely a challenge for students."
Seligmann said she didn't know the turnover would render her temporarily homeless until a month ago.
"Things all came crashing down," she said.
As students such as Seligmann rush to find a place to store their things, many have found that storage units and U-Hauls are hard to snag in Iowa City during the month of July.
Mark Rohm, the general manager at U-Haul, 2601 Second St., Coralville, said its 19 trucks — which each serve around four customers a day — were booked a couple months ago for use each day in July. Customers are often frustrated they can't rent the trucks overnight, Rohm said, but his goal is to help as many people as possible.
But students in predicaments like Wollner's still remain, with two creamy white couches and a chair left stranded on a porch.
Scattered thunderstorms lie in the forecast for today. And the fate of his furniture is up in the air until Aug. 1, when he and his belongings will find refuge in a new home.
comments powered by Disqus
