I am surprised that expecting to have a roommate is surprising. All the young folks I know have roommates (well, apartment mates; they do have their own rooms.) Isn’t that the norm? (Both kids did not want to live alone, even beyond economics. They like the company.)
D always had at least one roommate in at times undesirable living situations, so I was not surprised she wanted to live on her own for a time. I think as others have mentioned, she realized she missed the company.
Of course a safe neighborhood is a given. Both want to find roommates, which I understand completely. We’ve taken care of start-up wardrobe costs. We would likely pay for car insurance for the first year and we are keeping them on our cell phone plan. The one in the public transportation city gets to choose whether the car is desired or whether would prefer the cash equivalent (call it $20k for sake of argument). Both are inherently savers, not spenders so it’s not a fear that they will go hog-wild.
I pay for car insurance up until 25, it’s insanely expensive before the age of 25. But if your kids move out of state that might not work as well.
S1 pays about 50% of his takehome…just moved into a slightly bigger apartment (maybe 750 sq ft) but his utilities will be a little higher and since his employer refuses to pay work-related expenses like his phone plan (not uncommon for professions where your connectivity is everything) we have picked that up to help him make ends meet. Truly nice apartments in our college town are unaffordable for workforce housing; the market is priced for 4-5 students with a sq ft per person of about 75 sq ft.
S2’s roommate is interning in NY and is renting a room in a realtor’s basement, found on Craigslist. About 40% of his takehome (which as an intern, is small).
“. D1 didn’t have a lot of disposable income after paying for rent and such, so I did give her $500/mon for entertainment until she got her first bonus.”
I hear you on wanting them to have some fun money after working so hard. We had always said we wouldn’t do allowance anymore once they had jobs but H came up with this idea - whatever they put away in company 401k/match, we would give them back in cash. This would encourage them to put away the max for the future and take advantage of compounding, but not decimate their budget. This would also be a way of transferring $ to each kid without gift tax. Thoughts?
ETA: obviously they won’t be able to get to the max-max of $18k at this point.
Speaking of which, how do you all feel re finding roommates on Craigslist? I’m told by all the young people that that’s how it’s done nowadays. Neither of them know anyone to room with in their cities.
Post #25, I do that with kid #1 to some degree but probably not with kid#2 because she will be earning lots of money. There is no need to give her more , she will waste it.
I wonder if there are any facebook alumni groups for their respective cities - that might be worth exploring as a way to make housing connections. I know people use Craigslist but I personally would not be comfortable with it. Of course I am a worrier by nature!
S2 is in an expensive city, with no car, and spends around 40-45% of net income on rent and utilities. I’m not sure of the exact percentage since his utilities vary throughout the year, and I’m not sure of his current rent. He has 2 roommates in a 3 BR townhouse. They also rent out their parking space to offset some of their expenses.
When my kid got her first job, she freaked out a bit about how she’d pay for everything. We did a detailed budget – we even found a website that estimated her take-home pay after inputting her zip code. I guess this was working backwards – it helped her figure out how large a car loan to take out and whether she could afford the going rate for apartments.
Her apartment, including utilities, took up about 25% of her gross income. She did have car payments and a huge gas bill (she had to drive a lot). She saved a fair amount of money.
Second job in a new more expensive area – she looked at apartment shares in a wide range of prices. She ended up again paying about 25% of her gross. She knows people in NYC, and knows she’s paid significantly less than them.
As for roommates – she knew no one in her second city when she moved there and her job was no help. She used Craigslist and housing websites run by local colleges. She found her first roommate through Craigslist. When that girl left, and she had to find a new roommate, she used Craigslist to find one. It worked out very well.
Neither kid is in NYC or SIlicon Valley - the one in a city is in a major city but not an outrageously priced one compares to those.
Can you give us some close-enough hint? Maybe the general metro area.
One kid in a major Midwestern city that has plenty of young people / apartments / potential roommates and is a great place for a young person. One kid in a state capital that is a small city - cheaper cost of living, but not as “young person friendly” as the state government and tourism are the major employers.
I look at it this way if a kid is sharing an apartment and paying more than 750 a month in rent,for their share or a studio, it’s an expensive place to live on an average starter salary. I’d be uncomfortable with them going over 40% of their pay after taxes. My oldest wanted to live alone for a year so he found a studio apartment then moved into a nicer, bigger place with a roommate. I had a studio apartment for my first place because i wanted to live alone. 450 square feet felt like heaven after college living.
Some of DS’s friends just rented a studio in a safe area in Boston (near MGH, in a tall apartment building I think) for $2000 a month (if I remember it correctly.) The income is just about $50K a year. Not sure how much her family will likely help her out because of this modest income. Will an additional $500/month be enough (like oldfort gave her D before)? Of course, this is not my concern today, but I think we will face the same issue in the future (likely in a high COL city but not necessarily Boston.)
One of DS’s college friends spent $3000/month for his apartment in NYC after he just graduated from college many years ago! Everybody’s starting point is different, independent of his starting salary.
Of my group of friends who all are recent graduates in this area, 1 is married and has an apartment with his wife, 2 others live alone, 1 lives in someone’s house with a few other renters, 4 (including me) live in 2 bedroom apartments with one roommate (so our own room but share the apartment). However rent isn’t that expensive here generally, so it’s much more feasible to live alone here than it would be in San Francisco or Manhattan.
As for safety, how many places where people are moving for work do you really have to worry about safety? Just Chicago? Maybe DC? I guess I live in the “bad” part of town but the city I live in is safe in general, and I never worried about safety.
Having a roommate is like adding more fun, I know my daughter and her roommate are best friends. They were sorority sisters but now they are closer than the previous best friend. Shared cost and lots of activities together. Interesting the roommate’s family and our family are pretty much similar in almost everything, no wonder they get along well.
If DS ends up in NYC as his first job city, I am not sure whether he could get help from his alumni group in NYC. They have a lot of alumni in that city. Last time we looked at it (when DS had a need to stay overnight in NYC), they had an alumni building (likely a floor only) next to the Grand Central Station.