After knowing someone for just a few months, mostly seeing him while in the bathroom, would you want him to have keys to your home? During October of freshman year, did you ever call your mom about the kids you had met in college and pause while speaking to ask your new "best friend" what her last name was? Have you found the prices charged for some of the places in Ann Arbor a little outrageous?

After knowing someone for just a few months, mostly seeing him while in the bathroom, would you want him to have keys to your home? During October of freshman year, did you ever call your mom about the kids you had met in college and pause while speaking to ask your new "best friend" what her last name was? Have you found the prices charged for some of the places in Ann Arbor a little outrageous?

Regardless of the answers one might provide to these and similar questions, hopefully they illustrate how precarious searching for housing can be and some of the risks entailed when attempting to live off-campus. For most students, finding an abode for the following fall becomes a priority after the school year's first two months given that landlords start marketing their holdings quite (read: too damn) early. Freshman can find the process particularly daunting since they are still adjusting to school and might not even know with whom they truly will want to live. However, looking for a house or apartment - the two most traditional student-housing options - can intimidate anyone.

The anxiety inherent in the process is in part due to how unfamiliar it can be for many people. With notable exceptions like the children of real estate magnates, entrepreneurs who are guaranteed mortgages from a young age or those whose favorite television station growing up was the one which listed housing prices over muzak, finding an apartment or house while in college can be the first time someone encounters the real estate market. Conditioned to feel skeptical and defensive by tales of cunning and negligent landlords, prospective lessees surely will fight apprehension when they are asked to put up large security deposits or realize that they will be held accountable if their roommates decide to stop paying rent and move to Albania in the middle of the year.

Ignoring the potential problems one may encounter while living as an off-campus home-renter, many students might simply feel uncomfortable living in a house or apartment. Some may find these conventional living arrangements isolating given how many other people are at one's disposal in the residence halls; others may thirst for an opportunity to better integrate their academic and residential existences; still more people might enjoy living in a community in which they can take a leadership position. Bearing in mind that there are even more possibilities than those which follow, the Daily presents three perhaps overlooked housing options which may alleviate some of the stress and burdens of a traditional house hunt:

Cooperative Living provides students with a chance to exist in a community setting off campus. The student co-ops, known as the Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC), are an affordable alternative to the residence halls that still feature many of the accouterments common in residence hall life, qualities like camaraderie, convenient access to essential facilities, and a meal plan. ICC homes, student owned and operated, do not seek to make a profit, and this condition markedly reduces the price. For little more than $400 a month, students can live in a co-op and receive a room, meals, laundry services, utilities and local phone calls.

The premise on which co-op living hinges, though, is that residents will engage in four or five hours of work per week meant to maintain and improve the home. These activities can range from mundane chores like paying bills to perhaps more engaging work like making dinner. Residents also make group decisions at house meetings concerning issues like when social functions should occur, what each week's menu should be and to which publications the house should subscribe.

This communal attitude has even spawned an ICC-invented term, "guff." Guff refers to things that are community property, often food items such as bread. It can be used as a noun -"Hey, there's some guff here"; a verb - "I didn't think that belonged to anyone so I guffed it"; or an adjective - "Is this our guff cheese?"

Inherent in these community-based, democratic processes - and in co-op living in general-is a reliance upon others. Yet sometimes responsibilities are neglected and expectations are not met. These shortcomings can be difficult to reconcile. As current Joint House resident and LSA sophomore Becky Mau said, "When people didn't know each other well (early on), it was hard to get on people's cases (about neglecting duties). The whole making sure everyone pays their rent is hard. The house is now getting better because people are getting to know each other better." On the whole, though, Mau has enjoyed her experience in a co-op. "I didn't like living in the dorms and definitely have met more and different kinds of people here. And, you can drink and smoke.