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Would you live rent free...?
desperaterobots
perth, ausRegistered User regular
perth, ausRegistered User regular
....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?
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?
desperaterobots on
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Do you intend on buying any time soon?
This could be a great time to save up for a deposit.
Satans..... hints.....
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...
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
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.
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.
Personally, I don't have much stuff, and I'd definitely take the opportunity to have a house with some friends for free.
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.
Satans..... hints.....
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 :?
If you are comfortable where you are, stay there. You cant beat a good location.
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.
: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.
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.
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.
Satans..... hints.....
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.
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.
Just something to keep in mind.
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.
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!
Cheers
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