<p>My mother said that if we (multiple children) were not going to college at least part-time following high school graduation, and wanted to live at home, we were going to have to pay rent. The oldest decided to quit community college, for various reasons. Well, he then had to pay rent. :)</p>
<p>I let S live at home rent free for a couple of months after graduation until he found a job in his field. He was required to do some chores during that time, and to cover his car, phone and personal expenses through part-time employment. He stayed at home for about 9 months after starting his “real” job and paid rent at a below market rate. It worked out well because he left home with no debt and a decent emergency fund.</p>
<p>My parents never charged us rent. My siblings and I all went to college (a couple went straight to OOS 4-year schools, but several of us lived at home while we attended community college then transferred). Over the years, a couple of my siblings moved back home for a few months (one after a divorce and another after getting laid off), and one moved home to attend nursing school. Anybody who lived at home pitched in to do whatever chores needed doing, and paid for their own car insurance and personal expenses, but my parents encouraged us to save most of our money. We all eventually bought our own homes (except for the one who lives & works in Manhattan) and, as my parents got older, they spent several months at a time with each of us. We always knew we had a home to go to for as long as we wanted to stay, and I intend to do the same for my children.</p>
<p>Depends on the circumstances and the kid. The oldest is only graduate so far and graduated into a terrible job market. He was working part time and was good at saving money. I saw no reason to charge him rent just to save it for him. He then moved out but may be back after his current contract ends - he doesn’t want to move home but I bet he has to for a while. </p>
<p>If I had a kid that did not manage their money well or save it or a kid that seemed like he was going to live at home forever, we might charge. Most kids want to start their own lives and get their own place. I would rather my kid manage their own money and use the period of living at home as an opportunity to save up for their future. If I started to feel taken advantage of, if the time of living home started to be measured in years, or if the kid was spending it all, I would probably feel differently. </p>
<p>Ktsai, if you are an adult, and you don’t like the idea of paying rent to your parents “to live in your own house” you of course have the option of moving out and paying rent on a place that truly is your own.
Also have you considered the fact that perhaps your parents can use that money – maybe they have let bills run up or neglected saving while putting you through college.</p>
<p>We told our D that she could live at grandmother’s house - rent free - for 3 months while she looked for a job. After that, she was expected to pay her grandmother rent. Probably below market. but still needs to pay something. She has chosen to rent a house with friends. She will end up paying WAY more than grandmother would charge, but I’m sure she will have more fun. (Btw, she can’t live with parents as we are overseas and she doesn’t have a work visa).</p>
<p>I would never charge rent to a family member.</p>
<p>We would open our home to a child after college but expect several things. First, he/she would need to be working at a job or actively, dilligently looking for a job. If no “good” job worked out, we would expect him/her to take a minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant or cleaning houses, anything to make some money. Second, he/she would have designated household chores – i.e. cook meals several days a week, mow the yard, clean bathrooms, etc. – a share of the stuff that we do all the time. I doubt that we would charge rent unless we had a child with a less than grateful and cooperative attitude.</p>
<p>One of my friends has a son who had to save money for college but couldn’t find a job after high school. Their home needed a lot of work, so he took that on, painting the house, replacing fixtures, and building shelves. He did so well at his work that he eventually decided to become a handyman. I’d be happy to have a child do that for us!</p>
<p>i will have a stroke if D hasn’t secured a full-time gig before graduation but if that happens and she comes back home, I will probably allow 2 months free - this scenario has not really occurred to me. That two months will also be the max time she can go without a job and moving out. We don’t really have grown children living at home in my family - no one has ever wanted to!!!</p>
<p>My friend charged her kids below-market rent after they graduated…but gave it back to them when they moved out.</p>
<p>This is very situational. More and more kids are moving back home after college. But it really depends entirely on everyone’s circumstances. I don’t think I would charge rent and give it back, though. I also don’t think I would pay rent for them to live somewhere else. But, people do that, too. And, even that might make sense in some very unforeseen situation.</p>
<p>My parents didn’t charge me rest when I moved back home, but my father. God rest his soul, was such a control freak that he didn’t want to give me the semi-adult status he thought paying rent would confer. S1 just graduated and is now home doing an unpaid internship. We are not charging rent, and have not discussed it further. But if he ends up working locally and staying at home, I’d rather he put “rent” money toward his student loan principal. He can stay on my insurance too, but he will be expected to take over his car insurance and cell phone, though.</p>
<p>I really think this is extremely situational. In my neighborhood of 2400+ sq. ft., 4-bedroom houses (with full basements), many–if not MOST–of the college grads who remain in the area return home to live with their parents until they get married and/or buy their first homes. I have no idea if the parents are charging rent, but I’ve always thought this to be a very prudent way to manage money–assuming the kids are saving for down-payments on future homes, paying off student loans, etc. </p>
<p>I know it’s a popular meme in US society to disparage kids (especially guys!) who return home to “live in mom’s basement,” but I just don’t get why this should be an embarrassment if the folks and the kid are content with the arrangement. Obviously, if the kid is a sloth, and mom and dad are struggling, the kid should kick in and help pay some of the expenses. But if the house is paid off and mom and dad have a big “empty nest,” why not have them live with you?</p>
<p>When I lived in southern CA, I always admired the immigrant families who pooled their resources and lived multi-generationally to buy a home and share each other’s burdens. The grandparents helped with the young children, while the parents worked, etc. It just seems frugal and practical in a lot of ways, if everybody in the family is on board. I hope some day, should I be lucky enough to be a grandparent, I won’t feel the need to charge for my babysitting “services” either, but I can understand why some folks might need to.</p>
<p>Yes, we want our kids to gain independence, but wasting money on rents they can’t afford doesn’t seem all that prudent either. Of course, I would want my kids to help around the house and share responsibilities, but I like to think they’d help me if I needed it and I’d help them in return. </p>
<p>I do like the idea of charging them rent that gets put into a savings account to be used for a down-payment on their own home one day. Great idea and one I will definitely consider in the future!</p>
<p>We intend for our kids to graduate debt free so we do plan on charging them rent if they move back home. We hope they’ll get their own places. However, I think a lot of kids we know who move back home have 60k to 80k in loans, which they only got with mom and dad’s approval so I don’t think most of them have the money to pay rent. </p>
<p>I was one who wanted to move out after college and did - to the other coast. It was great and I wouldn’t change a thing. However, financially it would have made a lot more sense to live at home for a couple of years and pay off my loans instead of paying rent. I shared an apartment with cheap rent. Like the cost of college, the cost of renting in many places has outpaced the growth in salaries. I still think there is a lot to be said for moving out on your own, certainly within a couple of years of finishing college. </p>
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<p>So long as there is no parental abuse, there is no rent, minimal chores - maybe occasionally load or unload the dishes in the dishwasher, etc. </p>
<p>I recommended that D save the extra money for living better for future grad school, or saving for a home. </p>
<p>She will still be on our health insurance because we have to buy the family plan anyway to cover our younger daughter and it’s the same price, but she will pay her own out-of-pocket. She has a good job. </p>
<p>She lives in an apartment now while she finishes college in a faraway city. She likes it. </p>
<p>I don’t expect her living at home too long. She can definitely afford an apartment. She just hasn’t found roommates she likes better than us yet and prefers not to live alone. That shouldn’t take too long. </p>
<p>We aren’t there yet but I think it would depend. Our D will be graduating with 12K in student loans (if she/we aren’t able to pull it down during her years at school.) Part of allowing her to take on that debt for the best fit school was giving her the offer to live at home post graduation rent free for 18 months. She knows she’ll need to take over her car insurance, wireless phone and incidentals (we’ll keep her on our health insurance until she ages out.) We’d require her to put the money she saves on rent/food/utilities toward an <em>extra</em> loan payment each month. If she could knock out even half of that student loan in a year, she’d be much better off as she sets into the world alone.</p>
<p>Unless her personality changes drastically, I don’t see this as a problem for us. She’s never been one to ask for money. Been working for her spending since she was 10. Of course, if she does a reversal and comes home lazy and wasteful without putting the saved money towards getting out of the loan faster, we’d have to change the terms and she already knows that.</p>
<p>Yes, my parents said after I turned eighteen, I needed to find a job and either pay rent to them to live in their house, or move out and pay rent ($300 either way, I split with roommates). I chose to move out. Keep in mind that I wasn’t some rebellious, horrible kid either, I didn’t even go through a rebellious stage as a teenager. They/I just saw it as part of growing up and becoming an adult.</p>
<p>Our policy is that our children can live at home for a year rent free. However, as they pass the one year mark, they have to start paying rent. Even if we have the room for our adult children to live at home, I still believe it is important to learn responsibility. Also, if they never have to pay, there will be very little incentive to ever move out. I believe living on your own is an important step in reaching “full adulthood”.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from college last year and she is moving out in a few weeks, just in time to avoid paying rent 
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<p>My kids were only home for a few weeks after graduation so the issue never came up. They also paid for their own rent out of their paychecks (although we have been known to cover security deposits and the occasional bad paycheck month). We will help D3 with expenses in grad school if her scholarship and job(s) don’t cover the full price…but she had a full ride for undergrad, so we’re able to help out a little more now.</p>