@ Dude I didn't use that much detergent; I think the flaw is in my wringing method.
Zev's Journal
The latest latest:
Barring unforeseen eventualities, I will be signing the lease on a 4-BR $1,600 apartment 20 blocks north of my current apartment in two days. Depending on how exploitive I want to be, I can charge ≥ $450 for each of the other three bedrooms, bringing my rent to... $250?! I will offer cleaning of the common areas weekly, no matter what rent I settle on. I was getting annoyed waiting to hear back from my landlord about my requested rent reduction, and this is going to be the most ERE-aligned solution. The apartment is surprisingly nice, and there was no broker fee. It's a few blocks from a major hospital and medical school (Columbia Presbyterian), so I think it might be smart to recruit medical students as roommates.
My bike commute will be lengthened negligibly, and my bike trailer-building project has suddenly become high-priority--I will be moving by bicycle.
Barring unforeseen eventualities, I will be signing the lease on a 4-BR $1,600 apartment 20 blocks north of my current apartment in two days. Depending on how exploitive I want to be, I can charge ≥ $450 for each of the other three bedrooms, bringing my rent to... $250?! I will offer cleaning of the common areas weekly, no matter what rent I settle on. I was getting annoyed waiting to hear back from my landlord about my requested rent reduction, and this is going to be the most ERE-aligned solution. The apartment is surprisingly nice, and there was no broker fee. It's a few blocks from a major hospital and medical school (Columbia Presbyterian), so I think it might be smart to recruit medical students as roommates.
My bike commute will be lengthened negligibly, and my bike trailer-building project has suddenly become high-priority--I will be moving by bicycle.
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AlexOliver
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jacob
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I think you should just clean the common rooms outright (no offer). In my experience, it's good to have someone _define_ the cleaning standard, when living with room mates. The default "human mode" is that nobody (very few) wants to clean other people's mess off. Furthermore, everybody always leaves a little bit of mess. Hence, one can easily have a runaway unless there's a designated person to do a deep clean on a regular basis.
I'd recommend grad students. They spend most of their time (including weekends) in their offices and they only come home to sleep. I also recommend the hard sciences---quiet people, no parties. At one time I rented a room in a house from a landlady who rented exclusively people with the physics department, grad students, postdocs, and long term visitors.
I'd recommend grad students. They spend most of their time (including weekends) in their offices and they only come home to sleep. I also recommend the hard sciences---quiet people, no parties. At one time I rented a room in a house from a landlady who rented exclusively people with the physics department, grad students, postdocs, and long term visitors.
The bucket and plunger sounds like a lot of fun...
When I travel, I use a ziploc bag to wash clothes, this is my method-- very cheap, and pretty good results, maybe this will be helpful for doing a small load, or when hunting:
Start with a large zip-lock bag. I use a big bag by Hefty that is a 2.5 gallon bag. A one gallon bag isn't quite enough.
Washing - Put the dirty clothes in. Heavy items like sweaters or heavy pants might do better in your bucket. Add a small squirt of liquid laundry detergent and fill the bag no more than half-way with warm water. Soak if needed then shake vigorously, and agitate the clothes with your hands-- through the bag or in the bag, your choice. Drain the bag into sink/tub/toilet by opening one corner of the bag. Add rinse water, shake, drain and repeat until the rinse water drains clean.
Drying - Use car chamois to wring the clothes, it soaks up an incredible amount of water then wrings to nearly dry to use again. Wring everything as well as you can then hang overnight. Dry your plastic bag like a dirty dish, open and upside down on a counter.
When I travel, I use a ziploc bag to wash clothes, this is my method-- very cheap, and pretty good results, maybe this will be helpful for doing a small load, or when hunting:
Start with a large zip-lock bag. I use a big bag by Hefty that is a 2.5 gallon bag. A one gallon bag isn't quite enough.
Washing - Put the dirty clothes in. Heavy items like sweaters or heavy pants might do better in your bucket. Add a small squirt of liquid laundry detergent and fill the bag no more than half-way with warm water. Soak if needed then shake vigorously, and agitate the clothes with your hands-- through the bag or in the bag, your choice. Drain the bag into sink/tub/toilet by opening one corner of the bag. Add rinse water, shake, drain and repeat until the rinse water drains clean.
Drying - Use car chamois to wring the clothes, it soaks up an incredible amount of water then wrings to nearly dry to use again. Wring everything as well as you can then hang overnight. Dry your plastic bag like a dirty dish, open and upside down on a counter.
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Concojones
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:57 am
A note about profiting off your renters (e.g. the $450-for-them-$250-for-you situation, or $533/$0, or, why not, $700/-$500). Your renters will feel at least a little like they're being taken advantage of, which will cool the relationship, because who likes feeling like being taken advantage of? It doesn't make sense but that's how we're wired. I'm currently in the situation where my rent sponsors someone's early retirement, and neither I nor the other renter are very enthusiastic about it 
So keep this in mind if you see your roommates as (potential) friends rather than business partners.
It's all about perceived fairness. And you can make the $450/$250 "fair" by taking on the cleaning/administration work, providing appliances, or taking a smaller room. You see, I've thought about this It's because I foresee renting a place of my own and subletting a room or two. After the initial excitement of realizing this would make me enough money to cover my rent, and then some, I thought of the other side and this (paragraph) is what I came up with for what I'll do.
Funny how it's all between the ears though. If you owned the place (instead of renting it), the above problem wouldn't exist because the "injustice" isn't so glaring (even though the reality is the same).
So keep this in mind if you see your roommates as (potential) friends rather than business partners.It's all about perceived fairness. And you can make the $450/$250 "fair" by taking on the cleaning/administration work, providing appliances, or taking a smaller room. You see, I've thought about this
It's because I foresee renting a place of my own and subletting a room or two. After the initial excitement of realizing this would make me enough money to cover my rent, and then some, I thought of the other side and this (paragraph) is what I came up with for what I'll do. Funny how it's all between the ears though. If you owned the place (instead of renting it), the above problem wouldn't exist because the "injustice" isn't so glaring (even though the reality is the same).
@Concojones -- valid things to think on, for sure. looks like i am moving imminently, so I'll have to make this decision soon. If I take on med students as roommates (as previously mentioned, the apt. is near a huge hospital), they probably will appreciate the cleaning service, but i'm definitely taking the largest room. so long as they don't read this forum, it's possible that they won't know about the inequity, but of course i will, and so will my friends--not the most karma-positive thing I could do. 
Agreed that giving yourself reduced rent (especially if you're taking the largest room!) could be contentious. Do you know (or have you looked into) how much it would cost to hire a cleaning service to do the same level of cleaning that you anticipate providing? I think that's probably about the max you can reasonably expect to get your rent discounted by. If it would cost your roommates less to hire a weekly common space cleaner than to pay a premium on rent, that does seem like it might be asking for trouble.
If you are renting out the whole space under your name, and have a the choice of screening renters, why should it matter what you pay?
They only need to know their own cost, not yours. If you lose a renter for a month or two, then you end up having to cover that persons rent until a new renter is screened and found, correct?
Hiring a full on cleaning service on a weekly basis might be a fairly cheap way to go - for you especially. The cleaning personnel will go thru everything, wash all the clothes, dishes, etc. Around here, this service is usually $100 a week and 1, maybe 2 full days. Actually, typing this gives me an idea for SO...heh.
Anyways, Zev, I wouldn't worry about the karma or rent factor - med students probably do not have good enough credit to get a decent apartment, nor the time or anything to clean. You could take this one step further and prepare meals too, as bulk meal preparation breaks down easier for you as well.
They only need to know their own cost, not yours. If you lose a renter for a month or two, then you end up having to cover that persons rent until a new renter is screened and found, correct?
Hiring a full on cleaning service on a weekly basis might be a fairly cheap way to go - for you especially. The cleaning personnel will go thru everything, wash all the clothes, dishes, etc. Around here, this service is usually $100 a week and 1, maybe 2 full days. Actually, typing this gives me an idea for SO...heh.
Anyways, Zev, I wouldn't worry about the karma or rent factor - med students probably do not have good enough credit to get a decent apartment, nor the time or anything to clean. You could take this one step further and prepare meals too, as bulk meal preparation breaks down easier for you as well.
Never take the biggest room! Always take the smallest one!
Seriously, what kind of ERE are you in the most luxurious room?! Jacob's RV is 289 sqft!
Of course, you can do what you like, and some indulgences are certainly justified. I've just always been amazed at how much extra people will pay for a larger bedroom.
Seriously, what kind of ERE are you in the most luxurious room?! Jacob's RV is 289 sqft!
Of course, you can do what you like, and some indulgences are certainly justified. I've just always been amazed at how much extra people will pay for a larger bedroom.@ Catherine @Q Thanks for your thoughts. I'm going to land somewhere between both of your sentiments. Likely I'll charge $475 per room, because a cheaper room than that basically doesn't exist anywhere in Manhattan or Brooklyn. I'll be getting basically a $300 "rebate" for my cleaning, which is $75 a week--I think that's pretty equivalent to the cost of a professional cleaning service.
@ akratic Thanks for keeping me ERE-honest. You're right, taking the bigger room isn't the ERE thing to do, but the other rooms would barely fit a full-sized bed. I don't know, that's not an excuse. I was going to write "the other rooms will only fit a twin-sized bed," which is almost true, and I'm too big to be sharing a twin bed with anyone.
I sometimes like the option to hole up in my room, and having the option to hole up in a chair, say, rather than a bed, would be a nice option. An option I'm sure you can have in an RV!
@ akratic Thanks for keeping me ERE-honest. You're right, taking the bigger room isn't the ERE thing to do, but the other rooms would barely fit a full-sized bed. I don't know, that's not an excuse. I was going to write "the other rooms will only fit a twin-sized bed," which is almost true, and I'm too big to be sharing a twin bed with anyone.
I sometimes like the option to hole up in my room, and having the option to hole up in a chair, say, rather than a bed, would be a nice option. An option I'm sure you can have in an RV!
Hmm a few unsolicited comment/questions.
Make sure to check if you need approval to sublet your space, laws may vary for you, but I know out here you need approval for subletting from the landlord, otherwise it is possible grounds for eviction/other legal trouble if they so choose.
Is the $475 figure based off one room apartments/studios or the per-person cost of multi-room ones? I'd think the sublet market would fall somewhere in between the two, as there's less overall privacy than a single, but clearly the person doesn't have a pre-organized apartment group. So I'd recommend checking your 'competition' as looking for roommate situations (or just other subletting deals).
Also in order to mitigate your risk of not constantly having sub-letters, you might consider to set up 1-year agreements for sublet contracts. Otherwise if your market is students, you may have some empty rooms in the summer. Back in college we had to do a sublet as one person in our 4 person group had dropped out over the summer. We found someone last minute, and it was mostly fine, with no personal conflicts. Though we did end up on the hook for 2 months of his share since he left for the summer, still was better than having to make up 12 months of rent for us.
Make sure to check if you need approval to sublet your space, laws may vary for you, but I know out here you need approval for subletting from the landlord, otherwise it is possible grounds for eviction/other legal trouble if they so choose.
Is the $475 figure based off one room apartments/studios or the per-person cost of multi-room ones? I'd think the sublet market would fall somewhere in between the two, as there's less overall privacy than a single, but clearly the person doesn't have a pre-organized apartment group. So I'd recommend checking your 'competition' as looking for roommate situations (or just other subletting deals).
Also in order to mitigate your risk of not constantly having sub-letters, you might consider to set up 1-year agreements for sublet contracts. Otherwise if your market is students, you may have some empty rooms in the summer. Back in college we had to do a sublet as one person in our 4 person group had dropped out over the summer. We found someone last minute, and it was mostly fine, with no personal conflicts. Though we did end up on the hook for 2 months of his share since he left for the summer, still was better than having to make up 12 months of rent for us.
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AlexOliver
- Posts: 461
- Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:25 pm
@csdx thx for the heads-up regarding legal issues; i'm on it. $475 is almost unheard of in multi-bedroom apartments anywhere in Manhattan. 1-year lease is a very good idea--I'll put in some extra effort to make sure I don't move in with psychos, and will let them sublet for the summer if they want.
@AlexOliver I tend to be pretty self-disclosing, so if someone asks me what the total rent is on the place, I will likely tell them. This is part of my calculation in trying to formulate a fair price, keeping the cleaning service in mind.
@AlexOliver I tend to be pretty self-disclosing, so if someone asks me what the total rent is on the place, I will likely tell them. This is part of my calculation in trying to formulate a fair price, keeping the cleaning service in mind.
The roommate search continues. I'm being very slow and picky because I've been in a 4+-person household before and know how important it is to have sanity and compatibility. There are a few "maybe"s and "pending"s, including one of my favorite paleo bloggers. If it takes until Nov. 1, that'll be fine. I'm experimenting with different target audiences for my ads--paper on med school bulletin boards, paper on meditation center bulletin boards, a thread on the ERE forum, Columbia's grad student online housing listings, Craig's List meditation-focused ad, Craig's List grad student/professional-focused ad. I'm largely attracting people who are broke, which I don't have any big problem with; it's just that they aren't exactly my peers.
I've decided to take one of the smaller rooms, and it's really nice and cozy. My full-sized bed fits snugly, and I've already started fantasizing about putting my electric piano on vertical wheeled tracks.
re: the recent spending/saving post, I must admit that so far I'm only channeling my spending impulses towards "investments" that will lower my monthly expenses. this is going to silly extremes, however, and there's only so much I can justify:
* invested $200+ in literally 2-3 decades' worth of borax, washing soda, liquid castile soap and laundry soap bars (laundry and dish detergent supplies). it'll all fit comfortably under the sink, but still.
* about $120 spent on bike gear -- Mr. Tuffy, non-quick release skewers to use with my bike trailer, hand pump, a few tubes, new tire lever... i guess some other stuff? it added up. i should have held off on the tubes and used patched used ones, found my lost tire lever (a single Pedro's is all you ever need), bought a used hand pump and skewer (maybe fashion one with hardware supplies). I just needed to satisfy my consumer itch and felt momentarily that I had an excuse to. the low-cost trailer is probably going to require some more purchases--the included tires are a joke--but i will try for used/free materials.
I've been sick all week, and so rode the subway to work instead of cycling. The thing is, I did work on the subway, which actually offsets the cost of the subway ride about 40x each way. So I'm rethinking bike commuting as my default transportation method, and will consider it instead for purposes of hauling things and out-of-town excursions.
I've decided to take one of the smaller rooms, and it's really nice and cozy. My full-sized bed fits snugly, and I've already started fantasizing about putting my electric piano on vertical wheeled tracks.
re: the recent spending/saving post, I must admit that so far I'm only channeling my spending impulses towards "investments" that will lower my monthly expenses. this is going to silly extremes, however, and there's only so much I can justify:
* invested $200+ in literally 2-3 decades' worth of borax, washing soda, liquid castile soap and laundry soap bars (laundry and dish detergent supplies). it'll all fit comfortably under the sink, but still.
* about $120 spent on bike gear -- Mr. Tuffy, non-quick release skewers to use with my bike trailer, hand pump, a few tubes, new tire lever... i guess some other stuff? it added up. i should have held off on the tubes and used patched used ones, found my lost tire lever (a single Pedro's is all you ever need), bought a used hand pump and skewer (maybe fashion one with hardware supplies). I just needed to satisfy my consumer itch and felt momentarily that I had an excuse to. the low-cost trailer is probably going to require some more purchases--the included tires are a joke--but i will try for used/free materials.
I've been sick all week, and so rode the subway to work instead of cycling. The thing is, I did work on the subway, which actually offsets the cost of the subway ride about 40x each way. So I'm rethinking bike commuting as my default transportation method, and will consider it instead for purposes of hauling things and out-of-town excursions.
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George the original one
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AlexOliver
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"invested $200+ in literally 2-3 decades' worth of borax, washing soda, liquid castile soap and laundry soap bars (laundry and dish detergent supplies). it'll all fit comfortably under the sink, but still."
That's unfortunate because you could just drop a teaspoon or so of castile soup in the laundry machine and get the same results. You can actually use it for pretty much any cleaning purpose.
http://www.drbronner.com/faqs_main.html#faq10
That's unfortunate because you could just drop a teaspoon or so of castile soup in the laundry machine and get the same results. You can actually use it for pretty much any cleaning purpose.
http://www.drbronner.com/faqs_main.html#faq10