The Ultimate Off-Campus Houses
If you enjoy well-stocked bookstores, art house cinemas, active music scenes, or deep-seated athletic rivalries, there’s simply nowhere like a college town. They’re the kinds of places with something for everyone to enjoy, regardless of their enrollment status.
With back-to-school season in full swing, we’ve gathered some Corcoran listings near colleges and universities across the regions we serve — from where the city is your campus to the leafy communities of our movie and television-fueled popular imagination.
See us after class and comment on Instagram which home you think is worth a study!
The House: Resplendent hardwood floors, substantial built-ins, and breathtaking bay windows at this brownstone parlor-level residence in Back Bay will have you jumping for joy. Don’t worry about hitting your head; the ceilings soar nearly 12 feet. Natural light and a fireplace fill the living room with warmth, an effect that spills over to an open kitchen sporting top-of-the-line appliances. You’ll find a similar sensation (and another fireplace) in the primary suite, which also has a walk-in closet and a marble-decorated bathroom. To boot, Boston University, Berklee College of Music, Northeastern University, and Emerson College are all a sub-half-hour walk, drive, or T ride away.
The Place: Boston’s greater metropolitan area is kind of like one big college town, wrapping up Cambridge (Harvard, MIT), Medford (Tufts), Waltham (Bentley, Brandeis), and others into the school spirit. But Boston-proper maintains the lion’s share, amassing over two dozen higher-learning institutions and an untold number of monochrome sweatshirts emblazoned with a school’s name, purchased at a campus bookstore. The city’s appeal should be obvious — sitting on the water, enjoying four temperate seasons, flaunting timeless architecture, possessing a broad public transit network, being literal living history, etc. Throw in stunning parks, flourishing arts, and can’t-miss culture, and it’s a no-brainer.
Listed By: Brian Dougherty and John dePreaux of Corcoran Property Advisors.
The House: This brick beauty, under six miles from downtown Athens and even closer to the UGA campus, wows from every angle. Interior details like crown moldings, hardwood accents, and built-in shelving units level up an elegance that feels intrinsic once you step into the double-height entry foyer. Al fresco entertaining is also a cinch here. Slide aside double kitchen doors to a vast brick patio that centers on a saltwater pool and is enveloped by lush, verdant landscaping. Alternatively, make your move from a heavenly sunroom, also an ideal spot to curl up in a sunbeam like a lazy bulldog.
The Place: The University of Georgia was the first state-chartered university in the entire United States, so it’s hard to disassociate it from the city it’s called home since 1785. To put into perspective just how old UGA is, the university’s founding president, Abraham Baldwin, represented Georgia at the Constitutional Convention and was one of the state’s two signatories on the Constitution itself. Athens itself is a classic “College Town,” with a happening nightlife, a renowned music scene, and a fervent sports fandom.
Listed By: Sarah Ellis of Corcoran Classic Living.
The House: You’ll feel positively regal at this captivating Colonial-style manse 15 minutes beyond the FitzRandolph Gate. The 4,000-plus square foot home can meet any occasion. Hosting a dinner party that’s lavish in preparation and presentation? A recently remodeled chef’s kitchen, mighty dining room, and inviting living area are there to serve. Just want to curl up with your latest reading obsession for hours on end? Please find your spot in front of the wood-burning fireplace. Whichever way the day trends, find escape from it all in the primary suite, which flaunts a luxe windowed ensuite with a blissful bathtub.
The Place: Princeton University is an intellectual powerhouse of Ivy League pedigree, and its grounds feel like the archetypal college campus. Still, although the school is synonymous with the municipality it has occupied since 1756, you don’t have to be enrolled as a Tiger to fall for Princeton. Culture abounds across the storied municipality and welcomes all crowds to delight in its historic, princely environs. Just because someone is a Nobel Prize laureate doesn’t mean they have the right to cut in front of you at the coffee shop.
Listed By: Maria DePasquale and Trish Shah of Corcoran Sawyer Smith.
The House: This corner lot three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom house is spread over multiple levels, and is just minutes from Downtown, Memorial Park, and the Galleria. The three bedrooms are all located on the third floor, while the fourth level is a rooftop deck that’s perfect for entertaining — whip up some hors d’oeuvres and cocktails in the chef’s kitchen (complete with a built-in wine fridge) on the second floor and bring them upstairs to enjoy while watching the sunset. The first floor has a flexible space that can be used for a home office or as a guest suite, with an ensuite and a private terrace.
The Place: The neighborhood of Rice Military is named for the Rice family — the same family that endowed Rice University — and about a 20-minute drive away from Rice’s bucolic college campus, which sits right next to Rice Village and West University Place, a separate little city within the boundaries of Houston. Unlike college enclaves in other cities, Rice’s college vibe is upscale and sophisticated — a far cry from the cheap eats and grungy thrift stores you might find elsewhere. Still, Rice’s reputation as a world-class university means cultural amenities like the Moody Center for the Arts and James Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany Skyspace, which was designed to act as a laboratory for Rice’s Shepherd School of Music students.
Listed By: Amy Doubenmier of Corcoran Prestige Realty.
The House: Less than a mile from N.C. State in Raleigh’s Village District is the columned, covered front entry of this move-in-ready condo. An open layout grants a level of flexibility to put your own spin on the one-bedroom home’s interior, which features hardwood floors throughout, tall ceilings, and crown moldings. The kitchen blends the flavors of form and function, offering stone countertops, copious cabinetry, and stainless steel appliances — all of which can help serve up everything from a formal meal to a late-night snack. When needed, peaceful moments await out on the private balcony. Meanwhile, multiple restaurants, shops, and more are around the corner and navigable sans car.
The Place: Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill are home to North Carolina State, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina, respectively. Together, this triumvirate comprises a region of the state known as the Research Triangle, an alliance that arose in the late 1950s when those major universities put aside any heated sports rivalries to create a research park for all of them to collaborate. The result was Research Triangle Park, which borders all three cities and has caused each community to boom as more and more folks are lured by the historic architecture, delicious food scene, and good old-fashioned air of coolness only a college town can provide.
Listed By: Frank S. DeRonja, Jr. and Mechelle Fuquay of Corcoran DeRonja Real Estate.
The House: Enjoy off-campus living in this adorable two-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow in Milwaukie, a quiet suburb just off of Highway 99E. This sweet house is located within walking distance of the Springwater Corridor Trail, a 21-mile pedestrian-and-bike path that connects directly to Portland. The garage has an electric vehicle charger, of course, as well as a hot tub for soaking and relaxing. There’s ample space on the property to create the garden of your dreams or to be used for RV parking, if the itinerant life calls to you.
The Place: Even without the abundance of colleges that call Portland home, Portland would still be a culture vulture’s dream. This is a city that’s so committed to bookstores, vinyl shops, independent cinema, craft coffee, and the great outdoors that it inspired Portlandia, an entire television show making gentle fun of the city’s denizens and their passion to “put a bird on it.” Add in collegiate institutions like Reed, Lewis & Clark, and University of Portland, as well as the medical powerhouse of Oregon Health & Science University, and you’ll understand why this is a city of lifelong learners.
Listed By: Jeff Hurder of Corcoran Prime.
The House: This lovely three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house is California cute, with a blue-grey exterior and a cheerful bright yellow door. The inside is equally lovely, with an open-concept living space that includes a recessed sofa nook, allowing for an airier layout between the living and dining areas, which flows smoothly into the kitchen and the laundry room beyond. With green space out front and in back, there’s enough room for a grill, an outdoor dining set, or even a play set in the backyard.
The Place: The East Bay is anchored by Oakland and its next-door neighbor, Berkeley, home to U.C. Berkeley, flagship of the University of California system, and the quintessential college town. And in 2022, Mills College, a women’s college that had been in Oakland since 1871, became the west coast campus for Northeastern when the two schools merged. Since the two cities are so close together, it’s easy for residents of both to zip over to the other via BART, driving, or cycling. There’s always something to learn and to experience in the East Bay, whether it’s trying the latest version of California cuisine at Chez Panisse, taking the kids on the steam trains at Tilden Park or rides at Fairyland, or getting a scoop at Fenton’s.
Listed By: Alejandra Granillo of Corcoran Icon Properties.
The House: This Tudor-style house is the kind of place you take one look at and exclaim, “Cute!” The dramatically pitched roof, the all-white stone facade, the fenced-in front yard: it’s all the picture of curb appeal. As you wander under the interior’s arched doorways, you’ll notice a predominantly neutral palette accented by splashes of color or dashes of pattern to an entrancing effect. As conveniently located as it is adorable, this three-bedroom home is barely over a mile from Vanderbilt’s campus — itself only two miles from Nashville’s technicolor downtown.
The Place: The Vanderbilts might famously be a New York family, but it’s in Nashville that you’ll find the university bearing their name — owing to an initial $1 million endowment from Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose nickname “the Commodore” is additionally the namesake of the school’s sports teams. Vanderbilt’s campus is so blessed with trees that it is actually considered an arboretum, and the grounds appropriately feel like another world inside city limits. At this point in its growth arc, it is no secret that Nashville is bustling as they come, where country music may be king, but all genres find a home.
Listed By: Sam Garisto of Corcoran Reverie.
The House: Fittingly, those with an artistic eye might feel the draw of this four-bedroom bungalow two-and-a-half miles from SCAD. Vibrancy radiates outward, owing to the colorful interplay between the blue siding, yellow front door, and white supporting structure. The front porch is an ideal perch to sit and let the hours fly by doing whatever — including absolutely nothing. For an outdoor space with a little more privacy from passersby, the backyard is the venue. This house was initially built in 1945, but has received a complete upgrade inside and out, from the floors to the cabinets to the roof and more.
The Place: Savannah is Georgia’s oldest city, founded in 1733, but it has aged to perfection like no other. A marvel of visionary urban planning, Savannah’s layout incorporates parks and gardens alongside eminently pedestrian-friendly streets with the Savannah River flowing around and through all the while. Accordingly, Savannah is as livable as they come. In the grand scheme, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a more recent part of Savannah’s history. The school opened in 1978 as a means of bringing a specialized professional art college to the area and is now part of the city’s and art community’s fabric.
Listed By: Brent Sappe of Corcoran Austin Hill Realty.
The House: If real estate boils down to “location, location, location,” there may not be a better position on the map of Central Florida than where this lovely single-story, three-bedroom house resides. It’s nestled into the community-minded neighborhood of Baldwin Park, just northeast of Orlando’s downtown and right over the border with Winter Park. In addition to ridiculously easy access to the rich offerings of those cities, Baldwin Park itself boasts swimming pools, fitness centers, scenic trails, and more. Of course, it helps that the move-in-ready home here on Carmello Avenue is an oasis of form and function where all facets of daily life flourish.
The Place: Orlando may be the world’s theme park capital, yet there is so much more to the place than its headline tourist attractions. The City Beautiful has out-of-this-world museums, shops to go vintage treasure hunting, Michelin-starred dining, and so much more. Perhaps surprising to some, there’s even a thriving college town on its doorstep: Winter Park, home to Rollins College since 1885. Initially conceived as a resort community, Winter Park has blossomed into a destination that remains laid back, stocked with chef-driven restaurants, fashionable boutiques, and bountiful farmers’ markets alongside its long-cherished lakefronts.
Listed By: Angela Carney of Corcoran Premier Realty.
The House: Follow the trees from Pratt campus and up Steuben Street. Voluminous exposed brick walls immediately greet you in the living room of this handsome duplex, etching a sense of timelessness into a home otherwise equipped with modern comforts. Ride the waves of natural light into the rear-facing primary bedroom, also partially bedecked in brick, where an extra-tall glass door opens to a personal deck. Stairs from there lead to this condo’s most covetable asset, a backyard with room enough to grill for guests or simply soak up the stillness. The home’s lower level is currently configured as an immense second bedroom, but is versatile to serve as a media room, office, or whatever else one may require.
The Place: Clinton Hill charts an atmosphere somewhere between a low-key urban village and an upstate college town. The latter all but tracks: Pratt Institute, the internationally-renowned art and design school, has called the lush neighborhood home since 1887. Founder Charles Pratt, a Rockefeller associate whose Greenpoint firm helped lead America’s transition from whale oil to petroleum, built his own manse nearby on Clinton Avenue. This freestanding Romanesque Revival masterwork still makes its mark on area architecture today.
Listed By: Tom Stuart of Corcoran’s Park Slope Office.
