I am hoping for a bit of advice. College senior D has a great job (yay) and is moving to a new city for it. She has found a roommate (they will be at the same company). They begin in late summer but D will be out of the country for most of it, so we are going to this city to look at apartments/neighborhoods later this week (neither of us know it or have family there). Roommate can’t join us and is leaving it to D to send pics videos discuss, then they will decide. Both women have generous relocation $ from the company.
D lived in a 4 year residential college and I never dealt with leasing agents, etc for myself, so we are both new to this.
I assume they’ll both have to sign the lease and be “jointly and severably” responsible. I guess there will be security deposits and first/last or both.
What should D and roommate do to protect themselves should the other get fired, become ill, be a poor match or anything that makes paying half the rent an issue? A friend suggested a two month rent-amount escrow account they both contribute to, to give the other 60 days just in case the worst happens, but I have no clue how to advise D (or them) to set that up.
Do young adults do roommate agreements?? D had those in college.
What else does she need to look out for as she tours apartments and discusses terms? These will be fairly large apartment buildings with leasing agents, not small landlords, in a city with a couple of universities and many young professionals. She’s read some online reviews of these buildings and some tenants (usual caveat that anyone can post reviews on google) raise various concerns about maintenance and dealing with agents to get issues addressed.
I appreciate any advice from those who have done this themselves or who have helped their kids do it.
DS2 kept eyeing distance to emergency exit / stairwell
maybe their HR or employer social media have some recommendations
visit prospective neighborhood on an evening or weekend (it's great you'll be there while school is still in normal semester, if they follow that calendar -- you won't get a false quiet impression)
take a look at local transit info, schedules, routes, etc.
Congratulations to your daughter, and happy next stage!
Also, I would be worried about a potential roommate who can’t find time to decide where she wants to live? That should be a pretty important priority for her, and I would be concerned that leaving it to photos, etc, is likely to result in her unhappiness with the actual arrangement and lack of commitment to it, regardless of what she signs.
@housechatte thank you, very helpful points, esp as to ground level and stairways and such.
@roycroftmom - thanks for raising those. Roommate selection is above my paygrade here, that’s on D. (Theoretically, roommate could complain that because my D will be gone all summer so is having to look too early - roommate is still at college, that’s why she can’t join us this week.)
I didn’t mention that because of roommate’s summer schedule, she wants to move in a month before D, and has offered to pay the entire rent for that month. D will arrive in the new city just a week or two before job starts.
We advised our daughter to set aside the equivalent of six months of living expenses. Other than that, she took care of everything else herself, including buying furniture on Craigslist or at IKEA and hauling it in her car. She signed a lease with two other friends.
A lot of what you will see will vary by area. I wouldn’t expect to see a parental guaranty but maybe in some areas of the country they are common. Kids I know who have gotten apartments (including my son) have done so by simply showing evidence of their job offer and start date. And required deposit amounts will vary as well.
I agree it makes sense to get an agreement with the roommate that if one pays more than her prorate share of the rent (or for damages/repairs by the other), the other roommate will reimburse the first roommate. Particularly if they do not know each other.
Rent slush fund sounds good. Though working it out so it cannot be abused may well take more effort than its worth. They could just set up a combined account for rent with 2 full months rent in it. Each month they both pay 1/2 rent into that account and pay the rent from it. Account would always have 2 months rent deposited into it. But either could get access to the funds for other purposes.
Roommate may also be easy to get along with because she is practical. I know kids who found apartments online because of distance/travel issues. They are just renting not buying.
@saillakeerie thank you, great suggestion on the account, something to consider. “Escrow” sounded complex for this purpose, not sure what that entails.
I think job offer + date will suffice here as this company is a major employer in this city with a large college recruited “class” coming in every year. And those recruits likely all have signing bonus/relocation $.The company has a relo service that may be a resource for some of this too.
D is just not able to wait to do this since she’ll be gone soon (and up until a short time before job start).
Not sure if this helps or not, but when D1 moved across the country and got her first apartment, she rented a room in a row house with 4 other women. She had her own room, as did the other roommates, and they shared the kitchen, bath, and living room. Each woman had her own lease with the landlord. The woman who had rented there the longest time was in charge of “organizing” a shared cleaning schedule etc. I’m not sure how utilities were handled.
D2 is still at university, but she lives in an off-campus apartment and is in a similar rental situation. 3 women total. Each has her own bedroom. Share everything else. Each one has her own lease with the landlord & parents were required to sign as well. Again, not sure how utilities are handled.
When my D rented her first apt with two roommates, they had a separate lease. One of them lost her job half way through the lease but had enough savings to patch things over. The other roommate moved to another city after several months but kept up with her rent payment. They didn’t have a roommate agreement but there was no financial issues.
@OHMomof2
I advise that under ANY lease your DD signs, she or her roommate be allowed to sub-lease to others. My DS was the master tenant for his 3 br apt in Pasadena when he was in grad school, and had quite a few friends / classmates sublease from him when his original roommates moved out during course of the 7 years he lived there.
They are aiming for two bedroom/two bath with as much similarity as possible so things are equal. This is doable in some, not others…many on their list are renovated loft type spaces but a few are newly built buildings.
Theoretically they could both afford the entire apartments they are considering solo, they just want to live with a roommate for camaraderie, and save $.
I really appreciate all the suggestions and experiences!
@menloparkmom - I will add that to the list, thanks!
My D just went through this although she’s still in school (upcoming junior). The leases varied by where they were looking, some required all parents, some put it all on ONE parent, some were students only, but I believe that all had the roommates jointly and individually liable for the whole rent amount. Meaning that if one stops paying, the other is responsible. The solution we found to this was a roommate agreement that states that each roommate is liable for their share (amount spelled out), This won’t supercede the lease (and most landlords weren’t willing to change or addend their leases), so they way it would work is that if a roommate A stops paying, the remaining roommate (B) is liable on the lease for the rent, so roommate B would use the roommate agreement to go after A’s share of the rent. But in the meantime, B has to pay the rent. There are plenty of other things spelled out in roommate agreements and you can find them online.
There is a way to do this within the apartment lease itself, called an apportionate agreement, but it is an addendum to the lease and we found no landlords willing to do this (and why would they).
Other issues that we thought about as parents was renter’s insurance. The more minor details, like how to buy furniture and split it up, the girls are working all of that out.
My son shared an apartment, his roommate was pretty local to the area so he picked the apartment and son moved in sight unseen. It was in an apartment complex near their job, sorry but one complex looks like another and we had no problems.
My niece on the other hand was the person who had to find the apartment for her roommates, as they lived across the country and she was close. It has been difficult to say the least. The biggest problem is that one of the other roommates is a control freak and the bedrooms were not the same size. The parents (not my nieces) got involved as to how to pay for the bigger bedroom and there was much much drama.
So if there is any way to find an apartment with equal sized bedrooms, I would try. Make sure to measure the size of the bedrooms and see how a queen sized bed would fit. How will the rent be divided? % of square footage of bedrooms or divide 50/50?
How will packages be accepted? My girl child gets tons of packages and safely getting those packages is super important!
What amenities are important? My kids and niece are into streaming, not cable but have had roommates who want cable and they have to divide. (I know, who has cable these days but it was a problem)
If there is a compatibility problem, how to approve sublets?
And parking spots if needed, seem to be a big issue?
Edited to say that both of my kids and my niece were down to their almost last penny when they started their first jobs. Neither has a rich parent who had an extra 6 months of expenses for their children after paying for college. So a slush fund is not always a practical idea. Even with a signing/relocation bonus. My nieces co-workers used any extra signing bonus to travel before starting their very demanding jobs.
If you are going to be in a big city, I would expect to need a guarantor. There is usually a factor (often 40) multiplied times the monthly rent of the apartment. Thus, if the apartment rent is $3,000 per month, the income of EACH tenant has to be at a salary level of $120,000. Ds and his roommate’s combined incomes exceeded the factor X rent amount, but not individually. So, they required a guarantor.
@hoggirl Good to know! As I calculate it they’d be fine if that were the formula. The city is not a huge one, cost of living is relatively low, and their starting salaries are quite high.
They are wanting to be roommates for company, not financial necessity. And in D’s case, to save a significant % of income.
If they have cars, check out parking (garage/covered/open air/on-street) or and if there is an additional fee for that. If there’s public transit, how close is that, are schedules conducive to work hours, is it safe to walk home from the bus/subway/train at night? Investigate all this at the appropriate time of day/night.
Do the roommates agree on whether there will be pets (assuming landlord permits it)? How will any pet fee/rent supplement be split?
My daughter and her boyfriend did not need a co-signer or guarantor for their first apt. It’s a new apt, near the beach, with a gym and all the goodies, so rather high rent (IMO). They both had jobs with good salaries.
I was more concerned with them breaking up than one losing a job. They took the risk.
They looked for apts on the internet and then a college friend went to look at it, said it was okay, and they each arrived from OOS and moved in. I think my daughter slept on the floor for a week waiting for her boyfriend to arrive, then they bought a bed and sofa. Really, they had nothing and now 9 months later they have everything, including a dog.
I wouldn’t recommend opening a joint checking account. Either party in a joint account can take all the money without the other’s permission and the bank will release the money, so it isn’t a safe guard.
I think you are looking at trusting the other person to pay half the rent. If they can each afford the entire rent, then they can each afford a smaller apt solo. If they are making the choice to live in a nicer two bedroom, they have to trust the other person.