OpenHouse: A transparent, stress-free alternative in the transfer-student housing search
Former Badger Bekah Stacey reflects on her stressful experience finding housing as a transfer student at UW-Madison and how the OpenHouse app would’ve transformed her housing search.
By: Kayla Northway
As most college students can attest, moving away from home for the first time can be stressful. However, it can be even more nerve-racking for transfer students, because they have the added burden of finding their own housing even before they step foot on campus.
A former Badger who graduated in May 2024, Bekah Stacey still recalls her experience finding housing when she transferred to UW-Madison from St. Norbert college after her freshman year.
“At my previous college, [university housing] was mandatory. All four years you had to live in campus housing, so it wasn’t even something I had thought of till I got in,” Stacey said.
However, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s lack of student housing, on-campus residence halls are only reserved for first-year students. Every semester, UW-Madison has approximately 2,000 newly-admitted transfer students who must face the challenge of finding affordable housing near campus amidst rising rent costs.
On the bright side, the OpenHouse app takes the stress out of the student housing search, making the process as transparent and convenient as possible. Users can find a place, find their roommates and even sublease their apartment all at once.
Knowing that securing university housing wasn’t a plausible option as a transfer student, Stacey began looking for off-campus housing as soon as she got accepted to UW-Madison in late March of 2021, and she ended up finding a place a couple months later.
“Once I got [my apartment] and signed the lease, it was like ‘Okay, I’m ready,’ I didn’t feel like I had much else, preparation wise to do for school, like that was definitely my biggest concern,” Stacey said.
Through Facebook groups, Stacey was able to find her first group of roommates and her first apartment –– located on Monroe Street across from Trader Joes. While it ended up working out for the most part, Stacey admits that the search process wasn’t always easy.
“I mean you never know what you’re getting into, and also there’s always scammers, more so on the people who were posting side,” Stacey said. “I definitely, I was a little sketched out.”
With OpenHouse’s commitment to transparency and safety, users can be sure that they’re in-the-know from the start, minimizing potentially sketchy interactions like Stacey’s. The app’s verify feature allows renters and leasers to confirm their account information through their school or organization’s email account, signifying their accounts are valid with a small check mark.
While Stacey looked at some apartment websites to find housing, she didn’t have any luck, since she was looking so late in the game and most of the units still available were too expensive for her. She ended up looking through Facebook groups, which took some searching to find the most recent one, and she spent lots of time constantly trying to be the first person to message.
Luckily, OpenHouse offers a low-stress, low-effort alternative to the traditional housing and roommate search –– users can simply set their preferences and let OpenHouse do the rest.
The app’s dating-app style interface allows users to “swipe right” on housing listings or roommate profiles they like, or swipe left to pass. Once they find a match, users can message potential roommates and apartment buildings all within the app, creating a convenient, safe space to find a community.
Stacey’s experience is one of many transfer students who face challenges finding housing, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Through its commitment to transparency, safety and community, OpenHouse aims to simplify the housing search –– one swipe at a time.
Sources:
Bekah Stacey, May 2024 UW-Madison graduate
Contracts & Assignments. (2025). University Housing. https://www.housing.wisc.edu/undergraduate/assignments/
First-Year Students. (2025). University Housing. https://www.housing.wisc.edu/undergraduate/first-years/
Hanley, E. (2024, September 11). New study reveals students struggle with rent costs and housing close to campus. New Study Reveals Students Struggle with Rent Costs and Housing close to Campus – the Daily Cardinal. https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2024/09/new-study-reveals-students-struggle-with-rent-costs-and-housing-close-to-campus
Lehr, S. (2024, September 2). Rents near UW-Madison are among the steepest in Big 10 conference, study finds. WPR. https://www.wpr.org/news/rents-uw-madison-steepest-big-10-conference-study