when do you recommend we start looking for off campus housing?
is there any off campus housing available for 8 people, near the mcmaster campus?

now. yes there are.. just gota try one that fits. It might not NEAR NEAR but maybe a block or two away, those houses can def fit like 8

Most people have already started looking/signing leases, so yeah you should definitely start looking now if you're a big group. Usually later on most of the housing available is rooms in a larger house for 1-2 people.

ya definately get on that. We are living in a 6 person house and it took us a decent time last year to find one that wasn't really small and should have been meant for 4. My advice would be to look at every 8 person house you can find that looks even remotely nice. Pictures can be deceiving in for better or worse. Also, don't listen do the walking distances as most are inaccurate and based of off google maps. Many may actually be closer than google says.

Originally Posted by h011

when do you recommend we start looking for off campus housing?
is there any off campus housing available for 8 people, near the mcmaster campus?

You're sort of late in starting to look for houses. Many people start in December/early Jan. Start using the macoffcampus website.

You may be able to convert a 7 (or maybe even a 6 room) house into 8. We had the option for our 7 person house, but in the end we didnt

Originally Posted by h011

when do you recommend we start looking for off campus housing?
is there any off campus housing available for 8 people, near the mcmaster campus?

I don't know the people who currently live there, and I don't know whether they are moving out or not, but I use to live at 77 Thorndale Crescent, which is a long house. It has 8 rooms on the first floor and the basement has a seperate entrance. So, you can either become friends with the people in the basement if you want, or you and your friends can keep to yourselves. Unfortunately I don't have the land lady's number anymore since I no longer need to keep in contact with her, but you could always go with some of the people you want to move in with and ask someone at the house.

As people have already said, start looking asap.
my roomates and I started looking mid-Dec... and there were some 8 bedroom houses on MacOffCampus site then....
But a lot of people have already signed leases (like we already did) so I'm not sure what's up there still

Good luck!