Looking for 3 new roommates to fill my much-beloved 4BR apt. in Davis

[disblfsuspender.livejournal.com]

Update: Landlord negotiations have resulted in new, somewhat-more-reasonable prices. These are tentative and could probably vary $25 either way once the haggling at lease-signing is completed.

My roommates are all graduating, but I really want to find a way to keep my apartment. It's 5 minute walk out of Davis Sq. on the Teele Sq. side, and close to both the bike path and Hodgkins Park. I'm looking for three new roommates:





Room#1 - 11x14, $750 (avail. Aug 1st, and possibly earlier)


Room#2 - 10x12, $675 (avail. Sept. 1st)


Room#3 - 7.5x14, $625 (avail. Sept. 1st)

The best situation would be three people who know each other or are looking together, to avoid the bad odds on 4 strangers being able to get along with each other. Failing that, the last two rooms are on the 3rd floor and have their own bath, and probably the ideal arrangement there is for a couple looking for a bedroom + study setup. That's what we have now. But, if you want to live close to Davis very cheaply, the smaller one is definitely livable, and there is plenty of storage space in the rest of the house for your stuff.


Living Room

Kitchen

It's a really nice place, which is why I want to stay so badly. It's spacious, has hardwoord floors, gets good light, and was re-furbed only about 5 years ago. It's on a fairly quiet side street, but very close to everything in Davis and Teele. It's also got a gas stove, dishwasher, garbage disposal, laundry in the basement, a decent-sized back yard and front porch, off-street parking, etc. Utils(gas, electric, cable/internet, poland spring) range from $70 to $150 a month, with the latter a worst-case winter scenario.

As for me, I'm 28, and work as a lab tech at MIT. I'm into the indie rock, politics, literature, the web, photography, writing, gaming, travel, soccer, and various other random stuff. I clean up after myself, but I'm not too picky as long as the place doesn't turn into a flophouse. I'm somewhat of a homebody and am around quite a bit, but I'm usually working on something or other. I'd like people who at least share some interests with me and can keep up a conversation, but I'm not looking for best buddies or anything. I'm not a big fan o' drama, of the interpersonal variety.

Lifestyle-wise, I have a beer once in awhile, sneak the occasional cigarette, etc. I don't mind cookouts and gatherings and people hanging out, but I don't want to live in party central. I'm gay-friendly, and probably pet-friendly, depending on whether I'm allergic or not. I know we are allowed to have a cat, but I'm not totally sure on dogs.

If you want to see more, I've put together a photo tour of the whole place, which also shows the available rooms in quite a bit more detail. I'll be happy to show it this weekend and throughout next week. Comment here or email jddunn at gmail dot com if you are interested.

Comments

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I'm sorry to sound like a jackass but you guys were getting ROOKED on rent. I lived in Davis proper (like a 3-minute walk to the train) and we each paid $600 for pretty big rooms too.

As attached as you are to this place, I suggest hunting around. I bet you find something just as good, closer and cheaper :)

[ad-lib.livejournal.com]

yea i was immediately shocked seeing how much each room is for such little space!

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Granted there were five of us in that apartment but at $800/room, I'd expect that to be a 2-bedroom place.

[disblfsuspender.livejournal.com]

I know these deals exist, but they seem kinda mythical to me. Hell, the last time I was hunting 3 years ago, the best I could find even way out between Porter and Union was 650 apiece for a kinda cruddy 3br with no dishwasher or onsite laundry. When I ended up in this place, most of the (many) places I looked at around Davis that were cheaper either had some fatal flaw or were much further away from the T than the people claimed. I realize the market has improved the past few years, but are landlords actually dropping rent that significantly? Ours has stayed steady for the 3 years I've been here. I dunno, it's probably significantly pricier than rooms in some of the huger townhouses around here, or in places that are a little dingier and more run-down, but there is a lot of space and it's in really good shape and has all the amenities. You get what you pay for, unless you are really lucky or super knowledgeable of the real estate market. I don't think I could take my 750-800 a month and go out and do much better unless I really lucked out, especially being on my own.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I definitely think you could take your $800 and get one half of a REALLY NICE 2-bedroom. We live in a very nice 2 bedroom that granted is a mile (up in Clarendon Hill) but's only $1100 and has on-site laundry, off-street parking, etc. Location sure is a premium but I've seen many a nice two bedroom for $1400-$1600 at the higher end they have things like jacuzzi tubs.

[disblfsuspender.livejournal.com]

I just checked for rent by owner 4BR places on craigslist, and it looks like it is going for about 200-400 above general market for the 4BRs in the Davis area. But, I couldn't find much of a direct comparison, because none of the ones I found had the same sort of location / amenities combination. There should probably be a premium for that, but I'm not sure exactly how much. I'm definitely aware I'm paying more than average or than I could be, but I also just got tired of living in student-ghetto-esque housing and walking long distances in the cold, and was willing to pay extra not to. I have yet to negotiate anything for next year(can't really until I can recruit some people) so armed with that info it would probably be a good idea to try to get at 1 or 200 bucks knocked off the total rent.

[seaweedgirle.livejournal.com]

That's probably the way to go. Most local landlords know that rents have dropped a bunch over the past 3-4 years. If you've been a good tenant, they most likely will be willing to negotiate.

[ifotismeni]

that's been my experience too, any places cheaper i'd found were dumpy, had bad roomates, smokers, loud neighbors, no parking etc.

[jadia.livejournal.com]

You can come live downstairs from us on Paulina st. :-) I don't know how much they are paying but they just got their kitchen & bathroom renovated.

[cutieperson]

is the whole place being vacated, or just one room?

[jadia.livejournal.com]

Just one room.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I hate to be negative too, I lived in a five bed for years but we had a great deal, although it was dumpy. But we were always rotating through roomies. The quality of roomate went down each year. Finding people who want to pay 700 or 800 to live with 3 other people might be tough, unless they are students, especially international students going to tufts. I'd list it on the tufts housing website.

I agree, I think you could do much better for yourself with fewer roomies, hell for 800 - I'd rather spend a few hundred more and get a studio.

[disblfsuspender.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks for the input all. Better to find this out now than later, and now I have some good ammo to use on my landlord.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I apologize for being a bit harsh in my initial response. I've lived in a 5-bedroom and replaced 3 of the roommates with a co-roommate and it's a TON of work so before I see you go through all of that I just wanted to encourage you to explore other options. Rents have *really* come down in this area in the past few years but then again, I've never paid more than $600/room in any apartment I've lived in and that's been in big houses, small as well as very close to the square and as much as a mile out. I know no one wants to use a realtor but I will say that I've found my best places (and cheapest ones) that way.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Hey you. I was the other person in on_reserve's household and I agree it was a pain, but at the same time it was kinda nice meeting new people.

All that said I totally bet you could find a great 2-bed for a nice price, or get a better rate from the landlord. I know your place is awesome (to others reading this: it really is, I've been there, it's lovely) but I do think you're paying a few years ago's rates. Though your 4-minutes-from-the-train thing is nice.

We should talk... I've been wondering how you're doing lately anyway. *wanders off to email you*

[disblfsuspender.livejournal.com]

All that said I totally bet you could find a great 2-bed for a nice price, or get a better rate from the landlord.

Well, that implies having to find someone tolerable to share a 2-bed with, which is pretty tough. I'd actually rather deal with a group household than just one other person. If the latter goes bad, you are pretty much screwed, whereas in a group situation it's quite a bit easier to coexist even if some of you irritate each other. Or maybe it's just that the one 2br situation I was in imploded terribly, and I haven't had big troubles in group houses.

I do think you're paying a few years ago's rates.

This would make sense, since this lease has been continuous(with new people shuttling in and out) for at least 4 years now, and maybe more. It's like reverse rent-control. I think the first course of action is to go drive a hard bargain with the landlord, as much as I'm going to dread having to do that. Hopefully that will work, because aside from how much I like this place, I just really do not want to screw with moving along with all the other crap I've got going on right now(which I'll make sure to drop you an email soon to catch up on, etc.)

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

check rentometer.com to compare your rent with others in the area.

[turil.livejournal.com]

A suggestion, if you do consider looking for a cheaper place: you can always buy your own washer and dryer. You can either have the roommates all go in together, and tack it on to the price when new people move in, or buy it yourself, and take it with you when you move. Either way, it's just a one time cost, compared to a few hundred dollars extra every month.

We've got a small, efficient washer that we got for free off of Freecycle, so you might even get lucky and not have to pay anything at all.

And if you have to put a bit of your own money into fixing a place up (or ask the landlord if he/she will take some money off the rent for doing the work) you'll get exactly what you want. And it will be good practice for when you finally settle down and have to take care of your own home :-)