I appreciate your input quite a lot. This is pretty well thought out.

It seems wasteful to me, too. Exactly why I'm pondering renting at all.

them paying your mortgage is exploitation if they gain no equity.

Truth.

You could look at the amount of your mortgage payment that goes towards interest instead of equity

This is a pretty great suggestion. I'll have to do some googling into figuring out what exactly that math amounts to.

What’s stopping you from just letting them live there for free

I'd just prefer to live alone in that instance.

What is their economic position, are they better or worse off than you

They're worse off than me.

Seems like important things to know. $500 seems like a lot of money if it’s just going into your bank account or whatever. I think other people in here are giving you too easy of a time.

Fully agree, hence asking for brutal honesty. I appreciate you taking the time.

Thank you, I appreciate you speaking at length about this. These are a lot of good points that I had also not considered.

Thank you, I appreciate your perspective!

Thank you, I appreciate your input!

Thank you, I appreciate you <3

Maybe you could explain your thoughts to friend and ask what they would like to pay?

My friend and I have not actually met face-to-face yet to discuss this formally. I'm definitely open to any negotiations or compromises they might ask for.

Just don’t take a deposit

hard agree.

Thank you, this is a really useful way to look at the situation.

Thanks for taking the time, Comrade. I appreciate your input

Thanks for taking the time to give your thoughts. I don't have any desire to buy anymore properties, or to rent to any other people beyond this friend of mine.

I still have a long way to go on the mortgage. However, even having said that. Their payments to me go toward equity on my house, whereas they don't get any sort of equity in return. So rent is all around exploitation no matter how I slice it.

anything above maintenance costs

True. One issue is that I really don't know what this number is.

Very true. Having said that, in this situation, if I were not to ask for rent, I would probably prefer to continue living alone. Should I just call off the preposition all together?

Looks like studio apartments go for ~$800. 2br's for around $1200