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Given this challenging market, I'm considering the possibility of acquiring a 1 bedroom condo with the intent of sharing it with a roommate. I have experience doing this in an apartment with a den that is less than 600 square feet and it has worked pretty well thus far. I see many 1 bedroom condos that have excessive square footage (700+ square feet). Rather than have all that square footage go to waste, why not put up some curtains or some temporary walls and make the space livable for 2 people? Plenty of living rooms are bigger than they need to be and could a spot have a carved out for an extra small bedroom.
Has anyone tried anything like this? If so, how did it go? I've had experience re-purposing a den with a window, but I've never tried partitioning another sleeping space in a unit that had excessive square footage. I've also only had roommates that were already friends or I had some kind of connection to and never have roomed with someone I found on an online public classifieds site. Advertising such a setup to a complete stranger might take a little more work.
Let's assume for the sake of simplicity that street-parking is not an issue.
let's also assume that the HOA/condo rules allow you to accept rent from a tenant who doesn't occupy the whole space. Because some limit rentals, and some limit the # of nights someone can be deemed an "overnight guest"
When I was a student, 4 of us (females) shared a 3 bedroom apartment. We changed the living room into a bedroom. It already had one door that led into the hall that could be closed for privacy. Then a friend of ours "built" a wall dividing the dining room from the living room. Not hard, and inexpensive to do with ?plywood or something. The landlord didn't mind and just asked that we take it down when we move out.
It was a very nice room, and it actually had the nicest windows and largest size of all of the "bedrooms". It did not have a closet of course, so she got most use of the hall closet and bought a small "wardrobe" piece of furniture for other clothing she wanted to hang. If you wanted to make an extra room into a bedroom, you should supply this as well.
It worked out great. The rent became more affordable for all of us. We liked each other a lot and got along well. We knew each other ahead of time though.
Condo rules would likely require notification of said "guest". I suppose if you co-habitated, it can work since if you had a boyfriend/girlfriend move in, I can't see that being an issue. But I am sure there are rules in the condo bylaws that mention this scenario. Subletting a room, on the books is most likely not allowed, so you better have the arrangement set up, iron clad with a trustworthy person that will go along with whatever story you come up as to why there is an additional person living in the unit.
It definetly can get sticky, but if you proceed by the rules of the condo, it might work.
I am not sure I would do this myself as I just think too many things can go wrong in the long run.
I've had roomates from craigslist in the past and in general. I would have no problem splitting a two bedroom with someone but a one bedroom, especially with a stranger and not a friend no way. I also think your going to be attracting the wrong type of person, someone transient and with little money.
Two strangers...one bedroom = bad idea. I was in any number of roommate situations during my college years and everyone always had their own bedroom. I would never even consider this particular scenario.
Given this challenging market, I'm considering the possibility of acquiring a 1 bedroom condo with the intent of sharing it with a roommate. I have experience doing this in an apartment with a den that is less than 600 square feet and it has worked pretty well thus far. I see many 1 bedroom condos that have excessive square footage (700+ square feet). Rather than have all that square footage go to waste, why not put up some curtains or some temporary walls and make the space livable for 2 people? Plenty of living rooms are bigger than they need to be and could a spot have a carved out for an extra small bedroom.
Has anyone tried anything like this? If so, how did it go? I've had experience re-purposing a den with a window, but I've never tried partitioning another sleeping space in a unit that had excessive square footage. I've also only had roommates that were already friends or I had some kind of connection to and never have roomed with someone I found on an online public classifieds site. Advertising such a setup to a complete stranger might take a little more work.
Let's assume for the sake of simplicity that street-parking is not an issue.
A den is different, It's usually a room that can be easily made into a bedroom but does not qualify because of no egress windows or no closet or the size or no door that closes or it opens into another bedroom.
I wouldn't do it. But if I had a good friend and had trouble paying the rent I might consider it. I did have a friend who had to move out of his place and wasn't sure where he was moving and I would have let him stay on my sofa-bed in the living room until he found a place, but he was able to get a roommate situation on his own.
I could see legality being an issue in terms of overall capacity of the dwelling unit, but I can't see it being an issue with people sleeping in rooms that are habitable but not primarily used for sleeping. Typically, that is where maximum occupancy limits for the unit come into play to prevent overcrowding of units. Now, if someone is sleeping in a room that is not habitable to begin with (like a basement that is missing an egress window) that would be a different issue altogether.
I do this with a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo I purchased and it works out great for me financially. My master suite is on one side of the unit; the guest bedroom and attached bathroom are on the opposite end. I wouldn't do it with a 1 bedroom though. I feel like that would get old fast.
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