living with college students

[drachma]

Odd situation presented itself.

I am 26, not too far from a college student. I lived alone for a year after graduating and then with one roommate when rent got to be too much... now I want it even lower. In trying to reduce my housing costs I am seeking roommates. Nobody my age wants to cram 4 people in a sardine tin, so in cruising the classifieds section I found a house occupied by 3 other tenants. They are all college students from 20-22.

The house is fine, typical college students. Seem clean enough. One's dad owns it and they rent it out while the daughter lives there and goes to school. Lease agreement and everything. 2 full bathrooms, a private bedroom, washer and dryer, big ass modern kitchen, man, the works. and a big empty basement where I can work out, which cuts out my gym costs too! and its down town, and the rent is about $150-200/month less than anywhere else I can find a room (with fixed utility cost!). Most rooms work out to about $650 +/- 50 depending on the heating method, this one is $475. Right now I pay 850 for a big spacious place with 1 roommate, which needs to stop. and i hate the headaches of juggling roommates and keeping spots filled - i'd rather just be the tenant, its cheaper and lower risk (but less control).

its down town too so i can bike commute!

they sound like they have some college ragers from time to time, are all art students, and mary jane is present in the house. none of which i particularly care about other than police involvement, which theyve avoided so far (its a bit "in the neighborhood", so i doubt this house is the juiciest target on the block. and nobody deals.) im a libertarian type, drugs dont bother me, especially weed, i wouldnt live anywhere with hard drugs. i just prefer not to spend money on it myself...

any other ERE'ers done something crazy like this?

everything lines up it's just an unorthodox situation for someone like me. but when you're price shopping this hard i feel like maybe you gotta do something a little... extreme... to retire early...


oh and they're all 21 year old women and im a 26 year old male engineer. but, hey, im a New World Man, people is people and they didnt set off my internal "GTFO" alarm. i think im gonna sign.



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TLDR; trading a small amount of legal security, possible drama, and really not impressing potential dates for dirt cheap, high quality housing

[JamesR]

I'd do it. I'm doing something similar, living in a house of college students while working full time. I was renting a crappy cheap bachelor studio, and then found a room for rent for significantly cheaper. I'm saving $500/mo compared to the cheap studio, but I'm renting a tiny room with only bath/kitchen to share, no living room. It's in biking distance of work, few minutes walk from subway, and has various discount/bargain shops & bulk grocery stores. I don't interact at all with the other roommates and it's fairly quiet, sounds like your option would be more sociable/fun for you. p.s. I'm older than 30, I don't really care about the age factor here.

[theanimal]

A clean house where your roommates are 3 college girls and you save a bunch of money...where do I sign?

[jacob]

I'd do it. You're a tenant, so you can move easily (lease?). Given the sketchy neighborhood(?), I probably wouldn't stash a fancy computer/stereo on the premises.

One thing to consider wrt shared arrangements is whether any one of them is a total slob because once one person starts a mess the others won't clean it up AND leave their own mess and it's downhill from there.

I spent ages 24-28 living in dorm with 18 other people (of various ages ... being in grad school I was one of the older ones) while starting on this whole frugal thing. I saved most of my stipend during that time: some $90,000.

[drachma]

A clean house where your roommates are 3 college girls and you save a bunch of money...where do I sign?

i got mixed reviews from around the internet, but this was the one consistent reply

also "dont hook up with them"

anyways, thanks all for the replies, and something to chew on with the mess comment there jacob. given my current roommate's inability to pick up after himself, compared with the cleanliness I observed at the new place, even if somebody started a game of Garbage Jenga or did biology experiments in the sink now and then I'd be breaking even

[C40]

also "dont hook up with them

Big time!

But three college girls will have all kinds of other friends / acquaintances

[wheatstate]

Two rules about hooking up with roommates:
1) Don't.
2) If alcohol is involved, refer to rule #1. (I am not the author, but am a believer)

The other good part about college roommates is they generally don't have much money to spend, so you don't spend yours being social. There is lots of inexpensive fun.