Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with housing and rent

Questions to ask before renting a house?

Joannalaine — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:40:59 -0800

Whenever I go look at a house for rent, I draw a blank on what questions to ask the landlord. I've started a list from this site. What's missing? What do you wish you'd asked or looked at more closely before signing a lease? (Specifically for a house, if you can...) Particulars: Three girls and a dog looking to rent a house with yard somewhere in the 562 or 714 area of So Cal. I expect to be there at the very least a year. We have no appliances of our own, but furniture galore.

How to money off rent for time spent without shower and washing machine? (UK)

Urtylug — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:00:06 -0800

Looking for information about how get to get recompense from a landlord for three weeks spent without a working shower or washing machine. (UK) I recently moved into a new rented house. I'm sharing with 3 other people, none of whom I knew before moving in. It's decent enough, but a bit expensive considering its location and condition.

Two weeks after I moved in, I came home from a weekend away to find that the shower had been removed, and the washing machine disconnected. Apparently the takeaway downstairs had complained about water dripping down from our shower, and so the landlord came in and dealt with the problem immediately. After that, three weeks passed where we had access to neither a shower nor a washing machine. We were told that it was drying out. The washing machine was reconnected after two weeks, and the shower was fixed after three, although not very well - the hot/cold handle on the shower is fitted backwards, there's still plastic sheeting all over the place, and the landlord is now saying that he needs to re-seal it because someone used the shower before the sealant was dry. As far as we are aware, no one did.

I have been pressing the landlord for a rent reduction for the three weeks when we didn't have a shower/washing machine, both by email, phone and in person when he visits. I'm asking for a rent reduction of ~25% for all three weeks, although I expect to be haggled down a bit. The landlord's response has been to emphasize how hard he worked on fixing the problem, how he was unwell at the time, how it could have not been done any faster, how worried he was about us, etc. He has also claimed that there's nothing in the contract to say that we should get a discount, which is arguable. The most relevant-looking phrase in the contract reads: "The landlord agrees with the tenant... ...to keep the exterior and structure of the premises in good repair and to keep in good repair and working order the installation for water, gas, electricity and sanitation..."

What do we do here to stop him simply ignoring us? I feel that we have a clear moral case for some money back, and the contract appears to agree. One housemate thinks we should simply withhold a portion of our next month's rent, but that seems like asking for trouble. However, other than that, what power can be exert over the landlord to make him start taking us seriously?

I'm in England.

Do I want to live in Daddy Day Care?

andoatnp — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:56:42 -0800

What sort of agreements should I make or information should I consider before moving into an apartment that would be used as a daycare during the day when my roommate and I aren't around? I have a meeting in two days to potentially sign a lease for me and a friend to move into a 3 bedroom apartment as subletters. The apartment would be rented by young parents with a 1 year old son who live in a different apartment in that apartment building. During the day (from 7:30 to 4:30) they would hire a nanny who would watch that child and 3 other one year-old-children in the apartment in the living room and using one of the bedrooms. Theoretically, this will only be happening on weekdays when me and my roommate will both be out of the apartment at school. We would be able to make use of that third bedroom at night when they aren't around as some extra space.

Has anyone ever done anything like this before? What sort of agreements should we have in writing beforehand to guarantee a smooth year for us? After having four babies in our apartment for the day, when we get home at 5 do you think it would be immediately obvious that our apartment was a day care, or might we not even realize? [Is this an insane idea that we should avoid at all costs, and instead seek housing elsewhere?]

For what it's worth, we are in Israel, but all our previous real estate transactions have been similar to how they would be in America, so any advice that would apply in America would probably be helpful for us. I'm not looking for legal advice so much, as wondering about any agreements we should reach with the parents/subleasers beforehand that we should be sure to include in the lease. This is a slightly complicated situation, so please let me know if anything is unclear and I can clarify.

Any advice or comments about this situation would be a big help before we sign the lease in a couple of days. Thanks!

Can I salvage anything I've spent?

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:49:04 -0800

About to move into a huge (and expensive) house with a couple of friends when we broke up and she started going out with another housemate. I moved out even before I moved in. Can I recover any rent that I've spent on this place? Yes, I moved out, but still paid three months of rent for a crappy little room (that I hadn't expected to be living in anyway) until I found someone else crazy enough to pay the unreasonably high rent for it. I've got my security deposit back from the new tenant, but am still out about $2000. I realize I was legally responsible for the amount since my name was on the lease.

She feels "responsible" for the situation, but when I asked her exactly how she plans to act on it, she clammed up and has refused to speak to me since, doesn't respond to emails, and avoids my calls.

The other housemates are varying degrees of friends that I can't reasonably avoid.

Is there anything I can do now? How do I start a conversation with her when she refuses to listen?

Is $1350 a month reasonable for an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan?

oldlies — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:50:10 -0800

Is $1350/mo reasonable rent for an apartment on W 107th St. & Broadway (Upper West Side of Manhattan)? One bedroom, ground level, furnished, clean, utilities and cable included. Can you tell me anything about the W 107th & Broadway area? Nice? Stuff to do? Safe? If I had to pay for utilities + cable in Manhattan, approx. how much would that be per month?

What are the cool areas to live in Melbourne?

Silentgoldfish — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:31:36 -0800

Need advice from people in Melbourne, or familiar with it about where to live. So as sort of a followup to this question I've gotten a job at the Royal Melbourne and start in June. Since I don't know Melbourne at all, geography wise, I don't really know what the good suburbs to be looking to live are.

The Royal Melbourne is in Parkville, which I understand is basically downtown (though I could be wrong), and my ideal place would be as close as possible so that I could either walk or catch the minimum of public transport to get there. Where I live right now is a 10 minute walk from where I work right now and in a perfect world I'd have the same set-up in Melbourne.

I'm looking for share-house accomodation (mostly cause I don't know anyone in Melbourne yet and it seem the fastest way to kickstart that!) and going by the share-house websites I've been looking at there's lots of choices. I just don't want to wind up with a 3 hour commute by looking in an interstate suburb! Also, I'd prefer to avoid slum areas.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

barrakuda — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:58:33 -0800

In the mornings, there’s no hot water in my apartment – same thing happened lest year and the year before. Management doesn’t react. Help! Winter has officially started in Washington, DC, today, with the first snow. What else has started? The hot water shortage in my apartment building. When I went to take a shower this morning the water was at best lukewarm. Now, I am dreading the rest of the winter. The same thing happened last year and the year prior. After 7:45 there’s no hot showers, they’re at best lukewarm and at worst plain cold. This happens every (other) day and is seriously pissing me off. I have complained to the building management last year and due to the intensity of my annoyance I requested some sort of rent refund – they explained that they had problems with the boilers, this and that, blah blah blah and essentially told me they would get back to me regarding the refund. They never did, the winter ended, I let it go. This year I am not willing to let it go. It’s difficult enough, getting out of my bed each morning without having to imagine a cold shower.

My apartment building is in the District itself. It’s a large building with 150+ units. So, help me, what are my options here – notifying DCRA (what’s the process and the likely outcome)? Can I get any of my rent back for the unnecessary suffering (cold water is torture)? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated as I’m sitting here grumpy and unshowered.

How much is your w/d worth?

hattifattener — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:17:36 -0800

How much is it worth to you to have a washer/dryer in your building? All else being equal, how much cheaper would an apartment have to be to make up for not having laundry facilities in the building? There's not a laundry in the immediate neighborhood, but you do have a car (and there are plenty of laundries in the city).

I'm asking because I find myself in the awkward situation of having sublet half of my space and, halfway through the lease, losing the w/d the sublessors are using. So, assuming I can't fix that, I'm thinking of offering to reduce their rent a bit to compensate. How much is fair?

Rent - Now on Broadway (and 170th)

jake — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 00:41:38 -0800

How can a freelancer with a decent but sporadic income convince someone in NYC to rent to him and not just point and laugh? Fellow freelancers, help a brother out!

My fiancee and I would like to move into northern Manhattan from North Jersey in the next year, but my self-employed status will surely complicate things, even though I'm making twice what I did at my old office job, and we're looking at apartments in the same price range as we pay now.

I get paid infrequently from different clients in large lump sums. The money goes into savings, and we transfer some over to checking as needed. Thus, I don't have any sort of pay stubs or "employment verification letters", but we can certainly make rent with no problem every month, and new work is rolling in all the time.

My fiancee makes 30k/year as a computer technician, which wouldn't cut it alone for a 1500/month apartment. She has excellent credit, mine is so-so.

I'm not a registered business yet, so I can't write myself checks and thus prove "steady income". Would that be a wise / legitimate course of action, anyway? What do you guys do, or what would you do?

I'm terrified that strict requirements with most agencies/brokers will mean I'll get rejected outright, even if I have money in the bank. It seems that people around here are way more cautious, even owner-listings on craigslist tend to be very stringent.

The good news is we're not in a hurry - this is not under a strict timeline, just "soon as we can". So any suggestions that require a few months to get rolling will be appreciated as much as any short-term ideas.

Incidentally, any NYC people who help out, if you live in the city, I'll totally take you out for drinks. Hopefully hit some meetups and whatnot, anyway - this move is mostly to increase my happiness, and that means more friends! I'm a shut-in over here, it's got to end.

Anyone got a two bed/one bath in san diego for rent?!?!

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:02:35 -0800

Renting - It's been a while and I'm afraid we're gonna look bad on paper. Mid/late twenty year olds (one a musician) without a huge amount of $$ or history - are we screwed? I'm out of college and have been working at a great, professional job for about a year. My roommate is out of college and also has a great, professional job. Together, we have been living in a house owned by my family. I've been paying no rent and he's been paying a paltry sum. Have I mentioned my family rules? They do. But, its time to leave.

Should I lie about renting from family for no money? Should I tell my family to act like I'm not kin (we have different last names)? I've been here about 7 years. I dont even remember who I rented from last. Do I really need to dig up that info?

Lastly, the third roommate is my boyfriend, who is a working musician and artist. He takes jobs that he can quit when he goes on tour. He's coming back from tour this week, so technically when we are looking for a house, he will be unemployed. Will a grand in savings be enough to convince the potential landlord? He'll have no problem finding a job soon enough, but we simply cant wait.

We'd be great tenants. We're considerate, kind, and would be consistent with the bills/rent. How can I get this across on a rental application?? There must be a best way for us to go about this.

Thanks everyone!

An unhappy move

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:02:14 -0800

I'm being kicked out of my apartment, but I've done nothing wrong! Can I do anything? I live in a fairly nice, large downtown apartment which is run by a building manager who answers to the building owner. I've met and deal with the manager on a monthly basis, but have never met or spoken with the owner. There are 6 upstairs units in the building and one downstairs business area for lease. I've lived in the unit for 1 year now. When I originally signed the lease, it was for 6 months with the understanding that it would go month to month after that (a big mistake, I realize now). I had been planning on leaving the city around this September, though that never panned out, so I was planning on staying in the apartment for at least another 6 months to a year. That's just not going to happen, now.

On August 1st, the building manager and I had scheduled a maintenance man to come repair my dishwasher. I told him to come in if I wasn't there--as usual--and he came and fixed the appliance, also dropping off a notice that my lease is being terminated and that I must leave in 30 days.

I immediately tried to call the building manager, as this was a total shock to me. I live 2 blocks from where I work, I no longer own a car, and I pay my rent one month in advance. I've had no problems with the unit, had everything repaired promptly and have kept it immaculate, regularly cleaning the carpets and obsessively washing/dusting/wiping down everything else. All of the tenants have become great friends of mine, and life is, as they say, good. The manager would not answer her phone. I called 6 times in the span of 2 hours before getting a response, and she feigned ignorance. She knew I was being kicked out, but couldn't tell me why.

She would not give me a reason for the eviction, stating that I have been a great tenant and that she would gladly give me a recommendation, but that the owner has decided he wants the unit for "other purposes" and that she doesn't know what's going on or why he wants it. I demanded to speak with him but he is conveniently on vacation and I have been unable to reach him by cellphone. The building manager--despite our regular contact--made no indication that this would be happening anytime soon, and has never once mentioned that my apartment might be needed for something else. In fact, in the morning I had spoken with her about the dishwasher, and she conveniently forgot to mention that I was being evicted, but managed to have a nice conversation with me about everything else going on in my life.

This is what I strongly suspect happened: the downstairs business tenant was a record store, and they relocated. The new tenant is a sandwich chain opening their first store in my city. They have been working on construction for about 4 months now, and are planning to open in another month or two. I think that the owner has decided to give my apartment to someone affiliated with this store so that they can live and watch over it--and have some nice digs.

Neither my building manager or owner has told me why I'm being kicked out and it is infuriating me. This is the worst possible time for it to happen: I have been trying to dedicate this month, August, to studying for the GRE which I have scheduled for mid-September. Now I will have to concentrate on not only moving, but finding a new place, within walking distance of work. I also happen to live in a college town, and all of the units in the city are pretty much rented up now, as August is when school starts and consequently the worst month to start an apartment hunt. Also, I have no car. After a few days of calling, I've realized that all downtown apartments are full, and I'm simply not going to get one.

Is there anything I can do here? I feel that I have been evicted for personal reasons. I'm the only tenant under 25 and though I am established, with a good job and a college degree, but I hardly fit the stereotypical mold, so to speak. On top of all that I have said, two units came available in the apartment complex just last month (an incredible rarity, as these apartments are highly valued and in a great location), and one was rented to a couple, the other to a single female. Why wasn't that used for whatever purpose mine will be used for? Why wasn't I offered a chance to switch apartments?

I realize that on a month-to-month lease, I can be kicked out for any reason at all, but this just makes no sense to me, and the timing couldn't be worse. I want to have some kind of recourse but I feel completely on my own and unprotected. Is this simply a case of "life isn't fair, move on?" or is there something I can do, legally, or not? Even if I cannot keep the apartment for another year, what can I do to make this landlords life hell? Can I stay in the unit for another month past the eviction? Can I hold the keys? Is there anything? Am I just whining? Sorry for the long post, but I'm in a bad spot right now.

I'm in Nebraska, if that matters at all for the legal aspect.

Two Against One. Can We Drop Someone From Our Lease?

SansPoint — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:02:29 -0800

How do I/how hard is it to take someone off a lease? Okay, About two months ago, I moved into a 3 bedroom house with two friends I go to college with. All three of us signed the lease, and it was cosigned by my father, who put up the third required month's rent towards the security deposit.

One housemate, J, has been nothing but a pain with regards to financial issues. We had to cover his first month's rent, a pro-rated payment coming to slightly over half a regular month's rent, as he had no money left. Admittedly, he had been having trouble finding a job, though was employed at the time. He did not receive his first check until after the rent was due, but he did not offer anything he had. We threatened to take him to small claims court unless he paid us back^1..

When J paid me, and the housemate back for this payment, he did it exceedingly grudgingly, and said he would take out a loan to cover his remaining share. We agreed under the condition that he not throw fits over paying bills.

When I informed him of cable and gas bills that arrived two weeks ago, he said he did not get paid until that coming Sunday. I informed him the bills were not due for two weeks. He still complained about being TOLD of the bills existence. Similarly, when the second month's rent was due, he threw a fit when I asked him for a check, as the loan had not come in yet.

Ultimately, I had to embarrass him in front of a friend he had brought over on Saturday to get his $15 share of that cable bill, and get the $45 he owed me for the first cable bill, and a SEPTA Transpass I bought him to get to his summer class^2.. This, he had owed me, for nearly six weeks, even before the first month's rent was due.

He is leaving for California today, coming back August 1st, the day rent is due. I asked him to leave a post-dated check, and he exploded, calling his mother to get her to help him convince me to let him slide until his return, so he could pay all his remaining rent in one lump sum, as the loan he took out was delayed. He, essentially, accused me of extortion, even though this would be a post-dated check made out to the property managment company, not to me. Also, he left a threatening note to the other housemate, R, and I, causing R to fear for his life. Rather than live in a Demilitarized Zone, I told him that we're taking him off the lease ASAP.

So, first, do I have a case here? Secondly, I have contacted the property management people we are dealing with, and left a message explaining my situation: what can I expect to happen when I talk to them? Third, will I be able to take his person off the lease?

^1. We only did this because of his cavalier attitude. It felt like he wouldn't pay us back.

^2. A class he routinely showed up an hour late to—and failed, and then blamed me for it, saying he should never had taken the class by my suggestion.

Cheap/Dangerous places in NYC

iamck — Sun, 27 May 2007 13:51:07 -0800

Where do the poor folk live in NYC? Rent in the city seems prohibitively expensive. But where do the working class, poor folk live? Where are the dangerous slums? Did gentrification push poverty out of the city?

Renting a Room in Redwood City

Maia — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:03:18 -0800

I'm looking for a place to live in Redwood City in 3 weeks. Can anyone give me some information about good/bad neighborhoods, or any other advice?

Am I obligated to find a replacement roommate?

|n$eCur3 — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:44:59 -0800

Do I have the common courtesy obligation (ie, this is NOT a legal question) to find a replacement roommate on a month to month lease? What if my current roommates are being picky in terms of who they are willing to live with? At what point am I free of courteous obligations to find someone? I found appox 4 people who were interested. One of the people was really quiet and shy which is a clash of personality when compared with my current roommates. Another liked to smoke pot, which bothers my roommates and a third was generally disliked in my estimation for no reality-based reason (they were getting weird vibes from this individual). The fourth was perfect, but we offered and he decided to go with another place.

So I would like to keep these roommates as friends because they are cool. What is a fair way to determine who is financially responsible to pay for my room starting Jan 1 without getting lawyers involved?

I should state that the three people that we turned down were very much interested in the place. And while I probably would not have wanted to go out of my way to live with any one of them, I do believe that they were all capable people.

Where can I look to find a rental in Santa Barbara?

k8t — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 12:01:26 -0800

[SantaBarbaraFilter]I can't find rental housing in Santa Barbara. What's the trick? Here's what we're looking for (in order of importance): accepts pets (cat and large dog, with references), easy to walk to a bus line, broadband available, cell phones get reception, ample closet space, 1 or 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom is fine, would like a fenced-in yard if possible (for pets), laundry would be nice, parking would be nice, pretty views would be a plus, walkable to groceries would be a plus.

And we're willing to pay up to $2.5k for this, but it'd be nice if it was cheaper, of course.

My boyfriend is a professional, I'm a PhD student. We're in our late 20s/late 30s. He owns a house already (trying to sell). I have good credit, he has great credit.

I obsessively look at the SB Craig's List, we look at the 2 SB newspapers, UCSB's rental listings, rent.com, and Yahoo! housing... and nothing comes up.

Is there a trick? Should we be working through an agent? Any advice from former or current Santa Barbabarians? Any recommendations for neighborhoods to check out?

Also, are the housing prices totally insane or is this just California and I'd better get used to it?

As renters, is it reasonable to ask a form of compensation for our landlord's constant open houses?

FearTormento — Mon, 08 May 2006 01:37:59 -0800

Our landlord has decided to sell his house. As renters, is it reasonable to ask for some form of compensation for the constant "open houses" that we must partake in? We're about halfway through a 1 year lease on a 2 unit house in Southern California. We rent one unit, our landlords live on site in the other one. A couple weeks ago, without any notice, we discovered our landlord had put the house on the market.

So far, they've had two "open houses" conducted on Sunday afternoons, during which we had to make our unit available for people to walk through and inspect. Again, this weekend, we're awakened by our neighbors informing us that in TWO HOURS they intended to have yet another open house. And during a discussion with their realtor, we find out that (unbeknownst to us) next weekend they're planning another open house extravaganza on both Saturday and Sunday.

We've already resolved to pay a visit to our landlord this week to discuss their need to give us reasonable advance notice of these open houses. However, we're becoming increasingly annoyed by the frequency of these open houses, since each time we're expected to make ourselves scarce so people can tour our unit.

I don't want to be difficult, and I realize what it takes to sell a house in this market, but I feel like asking us every weekend to let people tour our unit is intruding on our privacy.

Are there any renters/sellers out there that have experienced this from either side of the fence? What have you done to accomodate your landlord's/renter's wishes?

To reconcile our needs, I've considered approaching our landlord to ask that in consideration of our time and effort to accomodate their open houses, they credit us a portion of the rent. (For example, 4 open houses = 4 days or credited rent.) Does this seem reasonable?

Rent negociations

saffron — Fri, 05 May 2006 04:50:24 -0800

How to negotiate a good deal on rent with an owner inexperienced with the rental market? I heard through the grapevine that a neighbor (who owns her condo) is moving and would like to rent it rather than put it on the market. My "source" tells me she doesn't know how to determine the rent, and was curious what mine is. I'm considering approaching her since I'd love to move in there (it's in better condition and has more light), and I'd like to use her inexperience with the rental market to my advantage in negotiations. It's slightly larger than my unit (one more bathroom plus a study) so I'm hoping she won't just tack on 30% or somethign to what I'm paying. How can I negotiate myself a good deal? Compare assessed value of her and my units? Estimate her mortgage payment? What should I keep in mind when I approach her?

What do I need to know to live in NYC for the summer?

Alterscape — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:17:45 -0800

MovingToNYCFilter: I'm soon to be a college grad, and I'm in the running for a 6-week internship in NYC that may become long-term employment. Please help me figure out what I need to know to live in the big city. I assume that for the time frame I'm looking at, I'll need to either rent a room from someone, or short-term sublet all or part of someone's apartment. I don't know where exactly in the city I'll be, but I know I'll be working long hours (6am-9pm .. ish) five or six days a week, and I'll need access to my car.

I've never rented alone, or an apartment -- for the past three years, I've been renting various houses in my small college town, with a close-knit group of relatively like-minded friends.

Where can I look to find out about commute times, distances, etc so when I find out where I'll need to be, I can have some idea of where I want to be looking for housing around there? Besides Craigslist, where should I be looking? I hope I'll know within about a month if I get the gig, and where I'll be working; theoretically the internship begins the week before July 4th, and runs through the middle of August.

What other questions am I not asking that I should be, and what are some possible answers?

I feel pretty overwhelmed with everything right now, but I know I need to take this internship to get my foot in the door in my industry of choice, and I want to avoid looking like an idiot and not making it to work on the first day or something crazy like that.

It's called couch-surfing, not couch-living-on-forever-and-ever

hamster — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 15:05:27 -0800

Help me get my recently-evicted friend off my couch and back on his feet. A close friend recently moved onto my couch after being evicted from his Minneapolis apartment. He's been at my place for two weeks, and he's genuinely not a hassle for me--however, I'm concerned that my taking him in perpetuates a major problem with denial.

He's awful with money--he makes a fair bit, but he overspends and can't budget. There's a lot of ostrich-in-the-sand behavior, which is what led to the eviction. (He's been out drinking every night; alcohol abuse is probably a factor here, but let's address the immediate problem.) He isn't telling me the whole story, partly out of shame and partly because he's in denial that things really are very bad for him. I've been gentle so far (pretending I don't know that one isn't just evicted overnight; I know he's missed at least two months' payments, but I've been letting him tell me it's a big misunderstanding). He can move in with his grandmother, but it's not a fun prospect for him. I'm hoping to help him get into a place--and out of mine, soon.

He has no plan to speak of for moving forward, and it's time for me to step in with some answers and tough love. I need to know the following to help him:

1. How should he go about getting his things out of the old apartment? He's currently locked out by the sheriff's department and telling me that the management company is no help.

2. How should he go about finding a new place to rent? This is on his record, but there must be options.

3. Are there resources for evicted renters that might be able to help him?

4. Any ideas on how to iniate this conversation?

Thanks in advance.

Affordable, but cool places to live?

weston — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 08:50:45 -0800

Affordable, but cool places to live as a career/lifestyle choice: If your work/career/next life project is portable, could you find a place where a two-bedroom apartment is $300 a month? Houses for under $50 grand? Cultural opportunities a resonable drive away? Would you do it this way? Why or why not? [more inside] I've had a few acquaintances recently talk about an interesting life strategy. It first came up discussing Brian Kershisnik, who's making a living as a painter. While his background includes some time in major metropolitan areas, he settled in Kanosh Utah. Fixed costs of living are pretty low, and yet it's not too far from civilization -- Southern Utah University (which has a decent arts program) and St. George are within an hour's drive, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas within three hours (not to mention proximity to fine national parks). Artists rarely start making tons of cash, so the low fixed cost of living seems like a much smarter idea than starving in an NYC loft, especially if you also want to have a family.

Another acquaintance has a friend who's decided Arkansas might be a good place to start a software company. I guess he can get a decent house for under $50k. An old girlfriend told me her rent in Waverly Iowa was $325/month for a two bedroom last year.

So my questions are these:

(1) What do you think of this strategy?

(2) If you were going to do this, where would you pick? Bonus points for combining (a) low-cost living and (b) reasonable proximity to a decent college/university or other cultural center...

Where can I find temporary lodging in the D.C. area, quickly?

schoolgirl report — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 16:29:13 -0800

HousingFilter: I'm desperately seeking to sublet/rent a room in the D.C. area, where I'll be interning from June 14th through August 6th. I've hit up Craig's List, Roll Call, The Hill, Roomates.com, Sabbaticalhomes.com, and the Weekly Paper. I've tried the various universities, but I don't relish the idea of sharing a bunk bed. Anyone got any other bright ideas about where I might look on such short notice without actually having to be in D.C.? Barring that, anyone got a room for rent that's even slightly accessible to Dupont Circle? Sabbaticalhomes.com, by the way, is really great. Check out the last line of this listing.