I may moving but the rents or still high i am considering a roommate........... who has a roommate? (San Francisco: sublease)

[RockhetHD]

I may moving but the rents or still high i am considering a roommate........... who has a roommate? please tell your stories?

[mayorhaggar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK6nNOWBPs4

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by RockhetHD

I may moving but the rents or still high i am considering a roommate........... who has a roommate? please tell your stories?

Great syntax!

[RockhetHD]

Sorry for the bad grammer Allergy meds!

I may be moving to the Bay Area after college but i am considering a roommate to helps keep my housing cost under control........... who has a roommate? Please share your stories.

Also what is the price of a nice decent 1 bedroom apartment in the Peninsula Area?

[mayorhaggar]

I don't really know what sort of advice you're looking for. You've gone through college and you've never had roommates?

Yes you can save money. In San Francisco a room in a shared apartment can go for around $600 to 800 for something basic, whereas your own studio would start around $1000 and a 1br would be $1400 and up. So with roommates you'd save hundreds. But you would be giving up a lot of privacy and personal space. It can really suck if you're with inconsiderate people who don't respect your space, eat your food, don't pay their bills, etc. Even if you live with people who try to be considerate, it can just be annoying having to live in such close proximity to other people and having to compromise on stuff you don't have to when you're living by yourself. Personally I'd rather live by myself, so I have a small studio. Yeah I could save money if I lived with roommates but it's worth it to have my own place, and I don't have a car so that probably saves me the difference between having roommates and having a studio in terms of not paying gas, insurance and car payments.

[gandalmonor]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

I don't really know what sort of advice you're looking for. You've gone through college and you've never had roommates?

Yes you can save money. In San Francisco a room in a shared apartment can go for around $600 to 800 for something basic, whereas your own studio would start around $1000 and a 1br would be $1400 and up. So with roommates you'd save hundreds. But you would be giving up a lot of privacy and personal space. It can really suck if you're with inconsiderate people who don't respect your space, eat your food, don't pay their bills, etc. Even if you live with people who try to be considerate, it can just be annoying having to live in such close proximity to other people and having to compromise on stuff you don't have to when you're living by yourself. Personally I'd rather live by myself, so I have a small studio. Yeah I could save money if I lived with roommates but it's worth it to have my own place, and I don't have a car so that probably saves me the difference between having roommates and having a studio in terms of not paying gas, insurance and car payments.

Having a room mate can save you $$$, but cost you emotionally. It pays to seriously think through the room mate idea before committing to anything.
mod cut

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by gandalmonor

Having a room mate can save you $$$, but cost you emotionally.

Should be treated more like a mutual agreement business deal, rather than emotional attachment.

[rkwalton]

Roommates or housemates, to be more accurate, are pretty much a part of life in big cities. I know people who own apartments and rent out rooms because it helps them contain their costs too.

I just moved into a place in the Avenues and I have two housemates. I got sick of trolling the roommate ads and being subject to random peoples' rules, so I went the other way and found a couple of people to look for a place with. That's the same thing I did when I moved to San Francisco for law school. That was the best housemate situation I ever had, so I decided to replicate it this time. So far, so good. I think it's better because it's less random in the sense that you choose the person you're going to share with first. You sort through those emails and look for people who might be a good fit. Then you narrow down places based on budget and preferences. I found a house and moved fast on it because that's the market here. We got approved and, for now, all is well. I'm also happy to be back on a lease. I don't like the random nature of being subject to a 30-day notice when you're sublease. You can get the same from a landlord, but usually if you pay on time and are a good tenant they'll want to keep you. The worst that can happen is they'll increase the rent from time to time.

[SunDevil1212]

I paid $850 per month for a while and lived in a prime area in North Beach with 2 others in a 3-bedroom flat. The place was small but can't complain for the price. Met the roommies through Craigslist. If you are not a weirdo, with enough persistence you can still find a cheap room to rent in a good neighborhood of San Francisco.

It was a good experience, and I wouldn't have been able to afford moving to SF otherwise. I don't have much bad to say about my old roommates...but it wasn't like we were best friends, either. That seems to be typical - people generally get along with their roommates but most don't really socialize together outside of the apartment. Roommates who become close friends are rare. So just be prepared for that - don't go into it expecting to make best friends, take it for what it is - a cheap way to live in a fun city.

I found myself eating out quite a bit, keeping to my room, and going to the park to hang out...just to get out of the house and avoid having be in close proximity to my roommates for hours every night. Again, they weren't bad people but we didn't have a whole lot in common so I just avoided trying to force conversation every night. You can never really feel 100% "at home" in a Craigslist-roommate situation (or at least, I didn't)....I mean, you get off of work, go home at night and the last thing you want to do on a regular basis is force a semi-awkward conversation with someone you know only a little more than any other stranger, right?

So again, be prepared. But, all in all, its certainly worth it for the chance to live in a great city on the cheap - at least for a couple years, anyway.