Avg. utility cost- house and # of occupants (Burlington, South Burlington: apartment, to rent)

[toobusytoday]

My son and his friends are looking for a house to rent in Burlington for the fall. They are not the animal house types. More like The Big Bang theory. Anyway, Between four of them, they can afford a nice home, but no one has an idea of the cost of utilities per month. So for let's say a four bedroom home with average insulation and conservative useage, what would be a ballpark figure? I doubt they would use phone service but would need internet. Would also need garbage, sewer and water. Could they get all of that for around $400 a month?

Also, are there restrictions on # of unrelated occupants? I know many college towns do have those restrictions, for good reasons, but when I look at the listings, I don't see that mentioned. The only reasons I am involved at all in this is 1) Son and two of the roommates are doing study abroad and 2) They are guys so doing the normal procrastination thing and leaving everything up to the one friend in Burlington.

[joe moving]

I don;t know the specific laws to Burlington but this might be helpful

Occupancy Limits | Vermont Human Rights Commission

[toobusytoday]

Thanks Joe. It looks like Burlington has some sort of high occupancy area for the college kids, but I don't know how much I want to get involved in figuring that out. I've sent some links to my son and he forwarded them on to the roommate that's in country now.

[delmioquartiere]

Hard to get a room in a nice house for $400-maybe five years ago. Ironically in the lesser quality student housing It's even more money. I think that stems from quantity as well as the landlords know the students really don't care because that's just part of a student loan from the Feds.

Utility's are hard to estimate when three of the people let the water run down the drain as they brush their teeth for seven minutes.

I'm pretty sure garbage collection is on the landlords dime.

Unrelated people I believe can be no more than four but things change rapidly in this city.

[vter]

I know in South Burlington its no more than 4 unrelated people.

[Vermonr]

Garbage, sewer, and water is almost always paid for by the landlord in Burlington. Burlington has a law that allows only four unrelated people to live together, but people break this all the time. Cheapest internet would be in the 50-60 range, but with a bunch of guys chances are at least one of them would want cable/high speed, so say an estimate of 100 a month total (30-40 each, say).

Hot water is expensive and causes the electricity bill to go up. A conservative user of electricity would do about 30-50 a month (assuming tenant's water is electrically heated). Again, a bunch of guys here, probably some of whom like to play video games or take long showers. Assume at least 30 dollars each per month.

Heating is natural gas and depends more on the building than the number of people. A large old Victorian house or apartment would be in the 100-200 range to heat during the coldest months and around 100 for the not so cold months. So assume Nov, Feb, March- 100 Apr- 50 Dec, Jan- 200.

Basic rent is anywhere from 400-650. My basic rent when I was living with 5 girls (oops, I mean 3 girls of course) was 400 and I paid anywhere from 30-60 extra for utilities.

If he and his friends can go on the cheap side, around the 400 mark for just rent, he should budget, per month, an extra 50 or so for utilities in the summer (more if he will use an air conditioner) and an extra 150 in the winter.

And for the love of God, tell him to see the apt. in person! Housing stock is horrendous in downtown Burlington. Warped floors are the worst. He should look out for floors that are crooked, drafty areas, anything that looks like it is in disrepair, signs of animals and neglect, and disrespectful neighbors.

[toobusytoday]

I wasn't really asking about the cost of housing, and for sure wasn't thinking they could get a house for $400! I've found housing prices on Craigslist, but there are some places that include utilities and some that don't so it's hard to compare. I thnk they are leaning for a house over an apartment. My son and two of his roommates are out of the country for the semester so are counting on one friend to look at places.

Thanks for the estimates!