[wplug] the high cost of living -- and adaptations thereto

[Drew from Zhrodague]

> I live in Los Angeles and pay $1200 for a one bed
> apartment. Many people room with others, rather
> than pay that sort of rent. It's very common in
> L.A. to rent just a bedroom for four or five
> hundred, or even to rent just the bed or sofa for
> a few hundred per month. I met a young accountant
> who shared a bedroom with another fellow; there
> were two beds in the same bedroom; he paid $300
> for his share of the bedroom; several others rented
> out the sofa and other beds. This is common practice
> here. People often buy houses with the express intent
> of renting out bedrooms to help with their mortgage
> payments. When a house sells for $700,000 and upward,
> one needs all the help one can get.

 	Same with Boston. After my dotcom went belly up, I moved from my 
1-room apartment, to a floor in a Somerville tenement shared with two 
other people for ~$410 apiece. It is common in more expensive areas to 
share housing with other people (whom you may not know so well).

 	I just bought a house with my SO (on the Slopes), and our monthly 
housing bill went from $650/month, down to $405. Even though we're only 
going to be here another 3-5 years, it makes so much more sense to pay 
ourselves and gain equity, than it does to pay someone else for the 
privilege of living in their crappy house.

 	(Of course, we don't have a working shower, the roof leaks, the 
porch is falling down, power is sub-sub-standard, and the wallpaper was 
chosen in poor taste, but those are things we're allowed to fix properly. 
We've lived in apartments in far worse shape, at full-price rent.)

-- 

Drew from Zhrodague		http://www.WiFiMaps.com
drew at zhrodague.net		http://www.zhrodague.net