Quick summary: I own my house. It's a 3 br, 2ba home, and I only use one bedroom and bathroom for myself. Recently a friend of mine proposed moving in. I've thought about it, and decided to offer them the other 2 rooms and bathroom to them for $500/month + half utilities.
I told another friend of mine (someone not directly involved) about this in passing, and they began to personally attack me for being a sham of a communist, and being a capitalist, and a landlord. They claim that what I'm asking for is steep. I understand essentially the place where their criticism is coming from, rent is a system of accumulation whereby I would be gaining wealth, and my friend would be receiving merely the permit to exist in my house. So on some level I understand and agree with the fact that this arrangement is essentially at odds with my beliefs.
Does this make me a sham? Brutal honesty please.
I’m likely going to be in a similar situation. I bought a place with one more room than I need and a friend wants to move in (and I’d be more than happy to live with them).
I think it’s important to remember that for homeowners, most housing expenses do not go towards building equity. Property taxes, mortgage interest, insurance, condo fees/maintenance…all of this is functionally the same as paying rent. If someone moves in, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for these expenses to be shared. The principal of the mortgage should be the homeowner’s responsibility only since that’s pure wealth building.
I would also point out that by renting this room, you’re building more density in your community, saving your friend from an exploitative landlord, and making the housing market in your area just a little bit less competitive (which lowers rents for everyone down the line!).
You have to be sure not to exploit them, or to minimize the exploitation inherent in the landlord/tenant relationship (because that’s what it is). No charging a security deposit, no pet rent if they have one (although i don’t think asking for like…a carpet cleaning once every while would be insane since pets do that), etc.
You want to live with someone and share the costs of living there. Your goal is to agree with your tenant on the cost of living in that room. Determine the monthly cost of operating the space and charge it. This amount is not the same as the “fair market value”, obviously, since the fair market value is just the most you could exploit them for before they say no.
Anyone calling you a sham of a communist for sharing housing with someone is a fucking idiot.
(PS whatever you end up agreeing to you have to consider home maintenance costs)
Thank you, I appreciate you speaking at length about this. These are a lot of good points that I had also not considered.