BudgetingRents are $700 or $800 per apartment, plus separately metered utilities, plus $50/month per pet, plus $150/month per extra person over age 12 more than the number of legal bedrooms in the apartment. Move-in requires first and last month's rent plus a security deposit equal to a month's rent, which you can pay up front or on request over three months.Your basic budget plan ignoring pets and extra people is like this:
When comparing apartment costs, compare your bottom line! Estimate a number for each Yes in your row and add up your total living expenses. Utilities can easily change the picture. ScenariosSeparate leases: The rents for each unit are $800, $700, and $700 for 2, 1, and 1 residents in Units A, B, and C respectively. Since A has its own steam boiler and gas meter, A tenants pay for heat separately, so that adds up to a bit more for the two-bedroom unit once utilities are included.I get a dog: My rent goes up by $50/month. My boyfriend visits me for a week: My rent goes up by $150/month, for each month during which he stays more than 3 days. Cheaper than Econolodge! Whole-house Lease with a Co-Housing group of 4 residents: Units A B and C contain 4 legal bedrooms. With building rent (4 residents) of 2000, divide it how you like but an equal share would be 500 per person, plus utilities. Whole-house Lease with a Co-Housing group of 6 tenants: These three units could potentially be occupied by six, perhaps related people, on a budget, perhaps with couples in master bedrooms, or with individuals using the generous B and C living rooms as walk-through bedrooms, similar to the walk-through bedroom in Unit A. In this case the $2000 building rent for 4 tenants increases by only 150*2=300 to 2300 for a total of 6 tenants, so that the per-person share of rent is 2300/6 = 383.33. Plus utilities of course. In short, a group lease lowers your rent, but adds some responsibility for shared utilities. On the other hand, dividing the utility bills over the number of people in the house makes it more affordable for each one. Remember, kids to age 12 don't count, visitors after 3 days and pets do count, and No Smoking! Thank you for budgeting responsibly.
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