Could you handle a roomie?
Posted
Mar 03 2009, 11:52 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
More and more people are placing ads looking for roommates to help share housing costs. Would you be willing to sacrifice privacy if someone helped pay the bills?
"Nickel" at FiveCentNickel asked his readers about the pros and cons. Their experiences varied greatly. Some welcomed the extra company and money, and others suffered through roommates from hell and beyond. Here's what they said:
Rental income generally is taxable if you own your home, but the rented part of your house and its portion of the mortgage, taxes, etc., become business expenses that reduce your tax obligation. If you rent and get a roommate, you're merely sharing expenses.
Loss of privacy can be hard to take. "CJ" at Wise Money Matters said he and his wife let his sister live with them for a few months in their 1,500-square-foot house and "it was some of the worst few months ever."
Be careful whom you pick. Several readers agreed that you can screen but that some bad apples will get through.
- Kristy at Master Your Card said, "In a nutshell, one of my ex-roommates stole checks, my credit card, and various other items." Her story, unbelievably, goes downhill from there.
- Adam at Checkbook Diaries rented to a relative and called the experience "a nightmare." He said, "Not only did they NOT pay the agreed upon rent, they ran the electric bill up an extra $400 in one month and wouldn't pay any of that either."
- Reader Ingrid Williams said, "I had a roommate that smelled really bad. Very bad case of BO. But how do you tell a person they stink? I gave her a 30-day notice to move. She did."
- We agreed to allow a person to live in our house for a month in exchange for painting the spare bedroom. She quickly decorated every inch of the walls and at the end of the month moved out. The room is still the same color.
We'll add, spell out terms and obligations, and do it in writing.
How do you find a roomie? This post at Secrets for Money recommends Craigslist and some roommate-specific sites. (Be on the lookout for scammers who express interest in your extra room, then send you a large check to cash and ask you to wire them most of the money. This happened to a friend of ours who sought a roommate through Craigslist.)
Related reading:
Stranger in the spare room? It's a tax break
Stretched thin? Take in boarders
52 ways to make extra money
Let someone else pay half your bills
