Pearl Street Co-Op — Local services in Austin

Contrary to what Praveen was saying, Pearl Street is quite nice. It's an older building (almost 60 years old now), but maintenance is definitely kept up on the place. One of the many great things about Pearl is that there are many officer positions and committee positions available for house members. These positions are require frequent communication with the College Houses office that overseas our actions here at Pearl. Officer and committe positions offer lots of real-world skills and even some specialized ones. You can be a maintenance coordinator, Director of the whole co-op, budget representative (viewing transactions that account for millions of dollars and deciding where money should be allocated), a head cook/baker, and many other things.

As far as study life goes, we have a study room, computer room (8 computers and a printer), and educational coordinator. The Ed co will set up things for us to learn about like our rights, physics, social entrepreneurship, painting etc.

Party life. We definitely have a good amount of partying, during the week we have quite hours at 11pm, so you hardly ever hear music too late unless someone is feeling bold. But the parties we do have our great! The culture is of acceptance. You can be who you want to be, and not feel the pressures of conformity that are often prevalent in other places.

I personally study my ass off and still find time to party at Pearl, the lowest grade I got was one B+ last semester. There's always people available to go out with and do social things like drinking, rock climbing, etc.

There's so many different kinds of people. There is about 30%-40% international students living here at any given point in time, and then a healthy mix of people from all backgrounds.

I definitely say come by and check the place out. Countless people describe their time here as the best time of their life. It may or may not be yours as...

Great community where you live in not just a residence, but a home. The ultimate definition of the sharing economy, Pearl Street provides you everything you might want out of a student resident, without the annoying and expensive landlords and VC firms (which is basically the rest of West Campus).

You get the opportunity and benefit of meeting people from all over the world and of various backgrounds.

Included in the rent is all utility bills, internet, pool access, home gym, computer lab and printing, maintenance, tool shed, bike parking, cheap car parking upon request (one low fee per semester), video games and consoles, movie room, study rooms, social events, ALL OF YOUR FOOD (2 hot meals each weekday, 3 hot meals weekends, breakfast options, coffee, snacks, and whatever else you could want). Rooms are very large, furniture included (if you want), bathrooms are shared with only 1 or 2 other people. Good luck finding a more affordable deal anywhere near UT.

The best part of all is the built-in support and community, an aspect that is...

Pearl Street Co-op is cooperative style housing rather than a typical house, apartment, or condo. That means when you live there it's part of your signed contract to do 4 hours of house labor, and that could involve cleaning, cooking, or a myriad of tasks. Even if you have a busy schedule and there isn't time for you to do labor, officers make a good effort to give the most flexible labor possible. I think it's a super super unique to live in a co-op style house, and you'll get to meet so many different and lovely people. My experience with Pearl has been great, first and foremost because of the community we have together. I like the fact that we plan and act on important house matters as a whole group, like group activities or house upkeep. I've seen Pearl residents really care about each other and the environment they live in. Application process is really easy too. Would not hesitate to...