Would you live rent free...?

desperaterobots

....if it means giving up a nice apartment and control over your housing situation?

Okay. So in a months time, I can move in to a rent-free house for at least 5 months. My housemates parents have bought a huge house in a swank suburb that they want to tear down, but won't be doing so until early '08, so we have been invited to move in rather than the house sitting empty.

Seems pretty simple. It's a huge opportunity. Why then am I wracked with trepidation?

Basically, I'm comfortable. The housing market where I live is extremely tight. Rents are damn expensive now if you're single working a bad-paying job like me, but I'm in a fucking great apartment block (bar some noisy downstairs neighbours) in a fucking great location and my rent hasn't gone up in the 2+ years I've lived here -- private rental and all. It takes me 10 minutes to hop on a bus to work and I'm a 10 minute walk from my favourite pub.

Saying that, I could be booted out or my rent could go up any time.

Would I be stupid not to take this opportunity, even if it means potential hardship afterwards? What if I can't find anywhere within my means to rent again?

tl;dr - Have opportunity to move into rent free house, but only for about 6 months, and then i have to find another place to live which might be way more expensive than I'm currently paying in a shittier suburb. Worth it?

Blake T

Sub-let much?

Do you intend on buying any time soon?

This could be a great time to save up for a deposit.

desperaterobots

Don't intend on buying, Perth has the highest house prices in the whole fucking country because of the resources boom. It's retarded.

But I am looking at this as an amazing opportunity to build savings. For what, I don't know. I could move interstate, or go overseas on a trip, or something. It's what happens afterwards that concerns me (and parents out of the question due to a hilarious ongoing divorce drama). I'd hate to see any money saved end up being chipped away by higher rents afterwards...

MotherFirefly

Talk to the people that rent out your place-- say that you have a job oppurtunity and they're sending you...abroad. That'd be a good reason for them to only temp out the place.

Also have you considered sub-letting? Someone pays you to live there and you pass on the cash to your renters? Then you won't lose your space.

Either way, it's 5 months...free rent. I'd take that, especially if you have a poor paying job, it'd help you save up to get an equally swank pad afterwards.

desperaterobots

This sub-letting arrangement intrigues me. I'm totally going to look in to this.

Serphimera

MotherFirefly wrote: »

Talk to the people that rent out your place-- say that you have a job oppurtunity and they're sending you...abroad. That'd be a good reason for them to only temp out the place.

Also have you considered sub-letting? Someone pays you to live there and you pass on the cash to your renters? Then you won't lose your space.

Either way, it's 5 months...free rent. I'd take that, especially if you have a poor paying job, it'd help you save up to get an equally swank pad afterwards.

I concur

Thanatos

I'd definitely say sub-let. That's a huge amount of money to just pass up, but I would definitely hesitate giving up such a good, relatively secure living arrangement.

Djeet

What's your commute going to be like from the free-rent place to work, and to places you like to go? At 2+ yr's no rent hike in a tight rental market, your rent will probably be jacked at next opportunity (unless owner/operator is clueless).

PirateJon

desperaterobots wrote: »

tl;dr - Have opportunity to move into rent free house, but only for about 6 months, and then i have to find another place to live which might be way more expensive than I'm currently paying in a shittier suburb. Worth it?

Fuck no. moving sucks, and you want to do it twice in 6 months? room-mates, no matter how awesome, sometimes suck. Giving up the things you like and you'r perfect place for...what? $5k? I wouldn't take that deal.

Tube

I'd say no purely because of the hassle of moving.

neth

for less than 5k you could hire movers to pack your shit for you and move it and still come out ahead. plus not everyone has a lot of stuff

EggyToast

Cardboard Tube wrote: »

I'd say no purely because of the hassle of moving.

It's only really worth it if you don't have a lot of stuff. If your current apartment is pretty sparsely furnished, and you could rent a truck or pack stuff in your vehicle and would be set up in the house after a weekend (with no mystery boxes sitting around), then it would be worthwhile. Packing by itself can take a LOT of time, and then unpacking can take an equal amount of time. If movers cost $5k, his rent would have to be close to a thousand bucks a month for him to come out ahead, and that doesn't cover increased driving costs.

If you'd simply end up back in the same spot in 6 months, it's not as worth it unless your rent is high or you can find a subletter and you have few material possessions. If you can chuck it all in a few boxex and sublet for 6 months, then it could be pretty fun.

ElJeffe

EggyToast wrote: »

Cardboard Tube wrote: »

I'd say no purely because of the hassle of moving.

It's only really worth it if you don't have a lot of stuff. If your current apartment is pretty sparsely furnished, and you could rent a truck or pack stuff in your vehicle and would be set up in the house after a weekend (with no mystery boxes sitting around), then it would be worthwhile. Packing by itself can take a LOT of time, and then unpacking can take an equal amount of time. If movers cost $5k, his rent would have to be close to a thousand bucks a month for him to come out ahead, and that doesn't cover increased driving costs.

If you'd simply end up back in the same spot in 6 months, it's not as worth it unless your rent is high or you can find a subletter and you have few material possessions. If you can chuck it all in a few boxex and sublet for 6 months, then it could be pretty fun.

Movers don't cost $5k, and renting a U-Haul costs a couple hundred bucks tops, assuming you rent a huge truck and drive a long way.

Substantial financial savings here are a given. I would say definitely do it if you can sublet or somehow be assured of the place being there when you come back. Even if that's not an option, you can look at the rental market right now and get a feel for what you'd be looking at in finding a new place.

MengerSponge

If you do have a lot of stuff, you could still sublet for those 5 months, and possibly get more because the place is furnished. Obviously a lot of potential renters would have their own furniture, but there are bound to be a few who would kill for a furnished place. And if your rent is so low currently, you might be able to sublet for more than you're paying, and actually make a profit (though I'm not sure what the legal restrictions are on subletting, so check this out first).

Personally, I don't have much stuff, and I'd definitely take the opportunity to have a house with some friends for free.

Blake T

Also where in Perth are you going to and going from and where do you work?

If it's some place like Hillaries which is you know, neat. The fact of the matter is that it's a pain to get into the city. If it's South Perth I'd jump on that.

Also I live in Perth you can afford to buy but you'd just start off with a unit, this would be a great time to get some savings placed down for a deposit on a small place.

The Cat

desperaterobots wrote: »

This sub-letting arrangement intrigues me. I'm totally going to look in to this.

There should be a website for a tenants' association in your state that will give you the relevant legal info. Possibly a helpline, the QLD one is really good. Its hard to sublet sometimes though - I'm renting through an agency that flat out refuses to do it.

Worth pointing out that if you have a car and such and don't mind relatively frequent moves, you could potentially do well as a house sitter after this gig. You could use it as a reference if all goes well. There are agencies that manage house sitters around, its worth looking into.

Gotta say though, I'd be reluctant to move as well. The housing situation is almost as bad here :?

Belketre

Pretty sure that sub letting in most places in Australia requires express consent of the owner. Hell, having somebody move in without telling them breaches your rental agreement.

If you are comfortable where you are, stay there. You cant beat a good location.

desperaterobots

All your opinions are incredibly useful, thanks guys.

I'm moving from Mt Lawley to South Perth, into a fucking huge house that will only have 2 people in it. I will finally have a room to do paintings in! Huzzah! My commute will be an extra 5-10 minutes, nothing too bad. Here's a handy map:



I can move into the house on July 2. Which means I need to organise all of this next week or I have to hand in my 21 day notice to the landlord. I'm freakin' out. I think what I will do is:

- Call the landlord and ask about moving back in in 6 months time.
- If this isn't an option, ask about subletting to a friend (if I can find one?)

Hopefully I'll be able to do this. If not... then the hard choice needs to be made. 2 huge moves, higher rent in 6 months vs 4 or 5 grand in the bank. Gosh.

The Cat

Stalkeriffic!

:P

so long as those bridges aren't too troublesome in peak hour, you should be fine. I think your financial gains stand to be a big deal so long as you don't blow the cash on crap. maybe if you do move, open a savings subaccount and whack most of your not-rent in there.

desperaterobots

I really should consider that this is a public forum, no?

Open a savings account I will definitely be doing. I have never had any big savings, and I want, damn it! I think I might just be freaking out about nothing. I need to be shaken up, and get out of my comfort zone. I could be kicked out any time, or my rent jacked up, so this might be the kick in the ass I need to get shit moving more positively in my life rather than coasting along in the hate-zone.

Blake T

Small world I live in Mt Lawley as well.

Personally as a single 24 year old. I'd prefer to live in Mt Lawley. Constant busses just around the corner into the city (or a walk for me to the trains) awesome restaurants are on every fucking corner on Beaufort Street and you're near better pubs. Plus you can get really drunk in the city and walk home. Also getting to South Perth from the City would mean you'd need to do the freeway thing every day are you positive it's only another 5 minutes?

If however I was looking to buy at the end of the year, I'd just into the house in south perth.

desperaterobots

Hah. Crazy! I live right near beaufort street and the whole arrangement is terribly convenient. And as a single 25 year old, I'd prefer to live here too. Especially for the stumbling home drunk reasons.

But, like I said, I've been very lucky in that I've had no rent increases in 2+ years. If the rent had gone up, it's likely I would have already moved because it's a struggle to pay for the place by myself as it is. That increase could come any time. My housemate's leaving anyway, which means my rent's gonna double if I stay. You see where I'm going with this. I might as well put the money away for the next six months, because I might get kicked out in 2 months time anyway?

I pay $310 a fortnight for my two bedroom apartment. That was cheap in 2004. I'm looking at $300 per week if I move back in to the same area by myself. So I'm really hoping to find a place to share by the time I move back in, but obviously that's not guaranteed. Hence the trepidation.

My trip to work will involve more walking (a positive) and a ferry trip, but I'm hip with that. It's not *really* that much further away than my current place, there's just a river in the way. :P

Yeah. Anyway. It's a fucking difficult choice to make.

The Cat

with a roommate leaving, not so much. that adds "may be stuck paying for the whole place for a few weeks" and "may wind up with a freak in the next room out of desperation/bad luck" to your 'pros' column.

Djeet

Moving's not all bad. I miss the opportunity to toss/get rid of most of my crap, instead of having it fill up the place. I live in kinda a small place and would love to have an extra room or 2 for projects.

It's unclear which choice actually gives you more control of your housing situation as there's the flatmate moving out and maybe rent might go up at your current place on top of that? If faced with these things occurring, how long would it take to find a decent flatmate before you couldn't make rent? You might have 6 months at the free place to find someone. Are you on good terms with the owners of the rent-free place? Might they cause you grief by wanting you out sooner than you expect? Will you have a lease agreement with the people at rent-free place (this protects you too you know)? No need to answer, just food for thought.

ElJeffe

I don't think it's been mentioned, but if the laws there are as they are here, you do want to be very careful with who you sublet to. If the new tenant trashes the place, you're likely going to be responsible for it, and your landlord will charge you for it, or take it out of your deposit, or whatever. You can, of course, seek to have the subletter reimburse you, but it can add some extra hassle to the ordeal.

Just something to keep in mind.

misbehavin

This is all personal opinion here, but I'd say move...

As I said, this is entirely my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, because everyone is different, but 2 years in the same apartment is a long time to me. Unless the rent is ASTONISHINGLY cheap (which is unlikely), I tend to want to move after each lease agreement ends, at least until I get my house (this fall), in which case I'll settle down for 5-10 years until mortgage is paid, then sell and move again.

desperaterobots

I thought I might update this.

I decided to move. It took a whole day and about 5 trips and it was hellish. But now, I live in a fucking mansion. There are rooms within rooms that have doors to rooms that are lined with doors. It's massive.

I have the entire second floor; bedroom, bathroom, a huge studio space and a view of the city that is unstoppable. My commute to work is just as fast. And I'm $620 a month better off. This is all made of win.

I asked my landlord if I could rent the place again in 6 months, I told him I was moving overseas for a while. He said that he'd decided to renovate the apartment since I was moving out and unfortunately he couldn't guarantee that I could have the place again. I'm cool with that. But he did say he'd be delighted for me to give him a call when I'm ready to move back in to talk about renting it again if it's available.

So, I'm saving money for now and crossing the bridge about the next house-move when it comes. For now I'm going to pretend I'm rich in my house which is worth $1.7 million!

Uncle Long

Congratulations. That's just outstandingly awesome. It's good to hear that good things are happening in the world. I could use one of those situations like you've found yourself in where it just 'works out' in the end.

Cheers

Gafoto

That's a sweet deal dude. Glad you decided to move.

The Cat

Nice one