Thinking about moving out of the dorms, to a different apartment or a house? Better start early, Manhattan renters say.

Janelle Deihert, Manhattan operations officer at McCullough Development Inc., which rents about 900 units in the Manhattan-Junction City area, said students seem to be looking earlier and earlier for housing during the school year

"I think students, at least from my perspective, seem to learn that they have more choices the earlier they look, so that kind of starts a trend," Deihert said. "Everybody starts looking earlier, and their friends look earlier."

This year, Deihart said most students started looking for housing in January for an August lease, and by February and March things start getting very active.

Brice Ebert, with Alliance Property Management, another active renter in the Manhattan area, said housing fluctuates from year to year with no real trends. 

"It's consistently inconsistent," he said. "As some come in, there's others that go. It's the same number of properties, just different people living within those properties."

Both Deihert and Ebert said there has not been much competition between students and soldiers for housing. Deihert said because students mostly sign August leases, soldiers mostly occupy vacancies that occur at other times during the year.

Ebert said soldiers and students are for the most part looking at different areas— students are searching for places close to campus, while soldiers are looking for places closer to Fort Riley, which means occupying units on the outskirts of Manhattan, specifically on the west side.

Deihert said students are mostly looking close toocampus as their first priority, and one-bedroom apartment seemed to be the most popular. Ebert said the same although there are students living farther away in newer areas that don't mind commuting to campus.

Both said in June there were still a few openings available, and Ebert said more units were becoming available in August.

The number of soldiers living in Manhattan is unknown, according to the Fort Riley housing office. The office is currently gathering figures in preparation for a community partnership conference on Aug. 5, where more information will be available regarding soldiers living around the area.