Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

All the different ways of solving the shelter problem. To be static or mobile? Roots, legs, or wheels?
TopHatFox
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Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

Alright. Here's a trickier rooming pros & cons

I found one apartment 2.5 miles away from the gig. It's in downtown for $1075/mo. I'd be rooming with a male, young professional in marketing. I'd have my own room. Visitors and sleepovers are allowed within reason. Full kitchen access.

I found one apartment 2.4 miles miles away from the gig. It's 2-3 blocks from downtown for $700/mo. I'd be in an apartment with a mom, adult daughter, and small dog. I'd have my own room. Visitors and sleepovers are not allowed based on the third party land lord. This is up for discussion to a degree. Basic kitchen access.

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My friends tend to be quiet introverts. I usually bring one friend or partner over for tea, conversation, staying over, etc. My partners or friends are likely to be semi-long distance, like the next few towns over. The second apartment sounds like a nice saving of 4K/year, but would it come at too high a cost considering the no-visiting rule and "basic" kitchen access? I feel like I'd get super judged/hated by the two women tenants.

Thoughts?

BRUTE
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by BRUTE »

option 1

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

It does seem pretty unreasonable to bar visitors or over-night guests.

Scott 2
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by Scott 2 »

I wouldn't go anywhere near option two, I wouldn't even set foot in the apartment. You could become the bad guy in so many ways. Too risky.

Option 1 sounds ok. You can probably find lower rent once established in the area. A couple thousand to hit the new job running is reasonable.

halfmoon
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by halfmoon »

My thoughts/questions:

1. I'm surprised that a mom and adult daughter would be okay living with a male they don't know. Kind of odd.

2. Does either option have laundry on site?

3. What are "basic" kitchen privileges? This needs to be defined.

4. What does visitors and sleepovers "within reason" mean? Again: definition is good.

5. What does "up for discussion to a degree" mean? Define, define, define.

5. Are you sharing a bath in both scenarios? Will sharing a bath with 2 females be awkward?

6. What time commitment (lease) do the two options require? You may be able to find something better through work contacts or general scoping of the area once you live there. Not being committed to a lengthy stay could help.

Did
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by Did »

You can't be on edge in your own home. You need to be be able to have sex. Work from there.

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

I have no idea, but 1075 is considered cheap.
Last edited by TopHatFox on Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/West ... US-Cities/

It looks like the real estate states are 4-5x the national average. These taxes are probably handed down to renters.

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/West ... s-So-High/

The largest reason for high property taxes seem to be "good schools."

Laura Ingalls
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by Laura Ingalls »

I'd go with 1. It seems like normal roommate set up.
The second sounds like broke people that want $700 but don't want to give up any flexibility to really let you be comfortable there.

cmonkey
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by cmonkey »

Why not go for option 3 and go C40's route? You expressed lot's of interest in van dwelling. Get radical!

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

cmonkey wrote:
Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:06 am
Why not go for option 3 and go C40's route? You expressed lot's of interest in van dwelling. Get radical!
I thought about doing this. But there are many factors to be resolved.

The good news is that there are two gyms .2 to .5 miles from the Office building I'm in. I can shower there and maybe have a locker room. I'm guessing I might be able to park there. I might also be able to keep some clothes at the Office.

My reservations are in inviting guests over to my place, cooking meals with all of my fancy clothes in the van, dealing with the cold during a New England Winter, and trying to maintain a middle class facade while living in a van.

What do you all think about these reservations - are they well founded, or?

James_0011
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by James_0011 »

Are these apartments or rooms shares?

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

James_0011 wrote:
Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:22 am
Are these apartments or rooms shares?
They're both apartments where I have my own room. The $1075 has two suite mates including me. The $700 has three including me.

Maybe this is a bad time to buy a room to rent? Most of the single rooms on CL right now are 700-1500/mo, minus a few scams @ $400/mo.

https://newyork.craigslist.org/search/w ... lityMode=0

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

It looks like now through November is the worst time to find a room, whereas January/February is the best. I wish I had started looking for a place when I got the offer back in late Feb. Awell, something to note for next time.

jacob
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by jacob »

This is also true in Chicago. It's because the annual lease cycles tend to sync up. You could always look at subletting.

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

Perhaps I can ask for a 6 month lease with the option to re-new in January?

I can also ask if a roommate inside my room would be considered acceptable if we all split the rent 3 ways?

Hahaha, I can see why people don't retire early. I imagine most folk just find a place the first few days and the cost be damned.

James_0011
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by James_0011 »

@olaz

White plains is in one of the most expensive counties in the country, just something to keep in mind. How could you tell those rooms at 400ish are scams? Just curious...

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

@James_0011

I replied to the $400 postings, and received stuff like:

"I'm in the UKraine, or I am in California, but I will forward you the keys via 48 hour UPS. You can drive by the outside of the place. Fill out this form including previous addresses, phone number, e-mail, etc."

It was all in poor grammar and punctuation too. It's either that or someone texting me a link to Roomster that doesn't work.

When did you find your $600 room?
Last edited by TopHatFox on Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TopHatFox
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by TopHatFox »

James_0011 wrote:
Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:39 pm
@olaz

White plains is in one of the most expensive counties in the country
What other stuff besides rent would be more expensive to buy for an ERE-minded person?

bryan
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Re: Is a cheaper room with no visitors allowed worth it?

Post by bryan »

Olaz wrote:
Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:27 am
My reservations are in inviting guests over to my place, cooking meals with all of my fancy clothes in the van, dealing with the cold during a New England Winter, and trying to maintain a middle class facade while living in a van.

What do you all think about these reservations - are they well founded, or?
> 1

Why are you concerned, specifically? Wasn't much of an issue for me as people usually meet at neutral locations anyway or the 99% of people you know have a place they can host (and you can bring the beer). I would be concerned about noise levels coming from the van mainly. No concern for bringing sex to the van.

> 2

Eat out more? Else design/build so it's not an issue.

> 3

Yes, this (interior climate control) would be a primary concern and would require a legitimate plan/build to mitigate.

> 4

Why are you concerned, specifically? I imagine the only people knowing that I lived in the van are the folks that saw me get out of it (in a certain way) in the morning. Or the people I tell. The people I tell generally think it is superior to a typical middle class lifestyle (granted, West Coast thinking where it's cool to not be a middle class schmuck. Also I don't just tell everyone; it can be enough to just mention the area you usually park as where you live).


You didn't mention parking as a concern..

If you go for the van route before winter, you will have to really get going on the build.

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