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Old 02-12-2009, 09:35 PM
 
11 posts, read 26,178 times
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Ok, so I found this forum from some random Googling, and I figure it would be a decent place to ask the question on my mind.

Ok, so I'm a 19 year old in the Camden/Dover area. I've lived with my friend and his family since I was 16, (long story. short version: both my parents have severe problems and such. oh well.) and while it's nice to have not been charged rent or anything like this, I'd like to not grow complacent in this situation.

I'm currently a full time student at Delaware State, and while I could look into living on campus, I'd rather look into something a little more permanent. My girlfriend's grandmother is a local business owner, and has a few houses to her name, and at least one near my has been unoccupied for a while, and has been mentioned as a place I could potentially rent out.

This is a pretty decent idea to me, although before I go talking to my friends about who wants to potentially live with me (it's a 2 bedroom house), I'm trying to get a feel for the costs of bills, potentially.

Rent itself shouldn't be too nasty, since I think I'll get a decent rate because of my connections. But then there are bills. What would I probably be looking to pay? Water? Electric? What else? I know I have my cell phone, and there would be internet and potentially some cable, but what else? And what kind of prices are we looking at?

I asked my friend's mom who I live with what her electric bill is like, and she said it's always over $200. This is odd to me, but it's a house of 5, and a lot of people (not me hahaha) are pretty bad with energy conservation. Meanwhile, one of my friends with an apartment typically pays less than $50 in electric bills. So assuming that the electric bill is somewhere in the range of $50-$75, what else should I be looking to pay, and how much? In all likeliness, it'll be me and one other person.
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Old 02-13-2009, 01:31 PM
 
1 posts, read 3,883 times
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First you need to find out what kind of utilities are in the house in question. Is the heat gas, oil, electric? Prices vary somewhat. If the heat's electric, you'll be paying more than $50. And in the summer air conditioning will run your electric up. I have a 2 bedroom apartment and on the budget plan (that's where you pay an average amount each month) I pay $55 a month. That doesn't include heat (which my landlord covers). W/o the budget plan, my electric bill in the summer would run over $125 and I only run the AC when it's absolutely unbearable.

In addition to figuring out what your heat/electric/AC expenses would be, you could also pay water/sewer, cable, internet, landline phone, trash (unless you are in city limits). I only pay cable ($65 a month for basic), and phone ($40 not including long distance calls). Ask your friend's mother what she pays for those other services.

And then you need to think about the expenses for furniture if the house isn't furnished, groceries, rental insurance (if something happens to the house, your stuff isn't covered by your landlord's insurance). I guess since you're only 19 you can handle yardwork and snow removal expenses on your own.

Good luck to you. It's a pretty overwhelming experience starting out on your own! If you are using student loans to attend DelState, you can include your living expenses in your award, but then you are taking on debt to cover your basic living expenses. If you do this through subsidized Stafford loans and you think you will be able to get a decent job when you are done to pay this back, that's not so bad. Or if you get unsubsidized Stafford loans, it would still be ok if you pay the interest payments while you are in school.

Bottom line, not knowing your situation in your friend's home, I'd stay there until I finished school. It may not be as much fun, but it would help you save thousands of dollars at a time when you are already spending a lot to go to school. Good luck.
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