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Question to all you HNs readers... what's the situation in your city/country like when it comes to communal/shared living, particularly with 'strangers', i.e. t

Question to all you HNs readers... what's the situation in your city/country like when it comes to communal/shared living, particularly with 'strangers', i.e. two young professionals who share a home for economic reasons? Here in the Netherlands it happens but it doesn't seem to be the standard. It's extremely popular for students, and some of the leases remain after the students graduate and it effectively becomes a young-professional's home, and rooms get filled up when someone leaves, usually via FB connections. But actually applying to live with strangers say as a 29 year old is rare... either you have your own place, or one with a partner. The reason I ask is because, theoretically and often in practice, shared living is more space-efficient. The living room is shared, the kitchen, the bathroom, the washer, all the little things, and then you attach 4 bedrooms to it, and you can get a footprint that's smaller than 4 studios with a similarly sized kitchen/bathroom etc. But it only works if, culturally, people can stomach living together with other people they're not family or intimate friends with. While undoubtedly many people want their own place, in a time (and city) of scarcity of space, I wonder if part of the solution should not simply come from shared living, rather than more space efficient solo-living. What's it like in your town?

fatlasp 11y ago
Here in Boulder CO it seems like a temporary 'getting on your feet' type of move. Many of the listings I see for shared living are along the lines of "I just moved to Colorado and need a shared living situation while I get on my feet and find a 'permanent' living situation." Rentals are highly competitive in this area so it makes sense because many leases are filled very quickly - already living in the area helps when you're trying to find your ideal living situation.
showerst 11y ago
Here in DC (One of the most expensive US metro areas), it's super common to rent a room in a 'group house' in your 20s with 2-5 other young professionals or students. I'd say the majority of my 25-35 year old friend group started that way, and the single ones still do. That's partially a quirk of fast gentrification making housing super expensive, combined with lots of housing stock that fits well (row houses), and the fact that not many young people own cars, so parking isn't a problem. Given the choice I'm sure virtually all of them would prefer a 1br apartment, but that starts at $1800+/mo in the desirable parts of the city. Previously I lived in St. Louis, which is a much more spread out, cheap suburban city, and most of my friends had apartments. If I had to guess I'd say the 'group house' model (whatever the local nickname) is predominant in New York, SF, DC, Seattle, and a few other expensive, dense cities, and rarer in the more suburban cities of the midwest/south. In NYC people often share small apartments since even a row house is out of reach.
refurb 11y ago
SF has plenty of young professionals who are living with roommates. I would say a lot of that is driven by the cost of housing, but also because many young people like the community that comes with roommates. That said, I think there is a distinct inflection point in people's lives here where they either partner up or just get tired of not having a space that is entirely their own. The 2nd seems to happen to 30-35 year olds a lot.
switch007 11y ago
The dream of owning a house is out of the reach of many people under 40 in the UK: especially in large cities and towns it's common to share houses. It's not completely uncommon for people over 40 to be sharing. I'm paying €650 for an en-suite room (no, not London!) and that includes all bills, sharing with 4 others. I'm one hour from London by train (~40 miles/65km) Most one-bedroom flats in this area start at €975/mo, plus you need to pay €140/mo council tax and €100-150/mo bills (gas, water, electricity, Internet etc). Many couples rent for a long time before saving enough for a deposit to buy a flat/house. It's terrible. House prices seem to rise by the amount of deposit you can save in a year...
dinosammy 11y ago
It is very common in London. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford a place on my own, but almost all professionals seem to be living with someone else - either a partner or with roommates. I actually am thinking of switching to a roommate living situation entirely for social reasons, as this seems to be a tough city to make friends in. My ideal situation would be to have my own bedroom/bathroom, high end furnishings, but a shared living space (living room/kitchen). But alas, most people have roommates entirely for economic reasons, so this seems to be tough to find.
chiph 11y ago
I think it depends on your age. I had roommates through university and afterwards, and it was fine. But now they'd drive me crazy. "Are these your dishes that were left in the sink?" "I have someone coming over - can you go to the movies or something?"
cuddlybacon 11y ago
In Vancouver, it is pretty common. Housing prices here are pretty high, so it is hard for most to afford a place to live by yourself unless you make other compromises (eg long commute, living in the ghetto, taking on a risky amount of rent relative to your income, etc). Edit: When searching for a two bedroom apartment, I recall finding a good portion of the ads already had a second person living there who were looking to share.
samsonradu 11y ago
In Bucharest one can rent a 50sqm flat for about 400E per month (all expenses paid) in a decent neighbourhood. Prices have been steady since 2009. I shared a couple of bigger/smaller flats with 1 or 2 friends throughout college but now I live alone since I work from home (quite boring though). Usually people rent in groups in their early 20s mostly due to financial issues but afterwards they prefer to get a 30y mortage to buy their property since the cost is arguably the same and most see rent as wasted money (not necessarily true though, mortage definitely has its downsides)

fatlasp 11y ago

Here in Boulder CO it seems like a temporary 'getting on your feet' type of move. Many of the listings I see for shared living are along the lines of "I just moved to Colorado and need a shared living situation while I get on my feet and find a 'permanent' living situation." Rentals are highly competitive in this area so it makes sense because many leases are filled very quickly - already living in the area helps when you're trying to find your ideal living situation.

showerst 11y ago

Here in DC (One of the most expensive US metro areas), it's super common to rent a room in a 'group house' in your 20s with 2-5 other young professionals or students. I'd say the majority of my 25-35 year old friend group started that way, and the single ones still do. That's partially a quirk of fast gentrification making housing super expensive, combined with lots of housing stock that fits well (row houses), and the fact that not many young people own cars, so parking isn't a problem. Given the choice I'm sure virtually all of them would prefer a 1br apartment, but that starts at $1800+/mo in the desirable parts of the city. Previously I lived in St. Louis, which is a much more spread out, cheap suburban city, and most of my friends had apartments. If I had to guess I'd say the 'group house' model (whatever the local nickname) is predominant in New York, SF, DC, Seattle, and a few other expensive, dense cities, and rarer in the more suburban cities of the midwest/south. In NYC people often share small apartments since even a row house is out of reach.

refurb 11y ago

SF has plenty of young professionals who are living with roommates. I would say a lot of that is driven by the cost of housing, but also because many young people like the community that comes with roommates. That said, I think there is a distinct inflection point in people's lives here where they either partner up or just get tired of not having a space that is entirely their own. The 2nd seems to happen to 30-35 year olds a lot.

switch007 11y ago

The dream of owning a house is out of the reach of many people under 40 in the UK: especially in large cities and towns it's common to share houses. It's not completely uncommon for people over 40 to be sharing. I'm paying €650 for an en-suite room (no, not London!) and that includes all bills, sharing with 4 others. I'm one hour from London by train (~40 miles/65km) Most one-bedroom flats in this area start at €975/mo, plus you need to pay €140/mo council tax and €100-150/mo bills (gas, water, electricity, Internet etc). Many couples rent for a long time before saving enough for a deposit to buy a flat/house. It's terrible. House prices seem to rise by the amount of deposit you can save in a year...

dinosammy 11y ago

It is very common in London. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford a place on my own, but almost all professionals seem to be living with someone else - either a partner or with roommates. I actually am thinking of switching to a roommate living situation entirely for social reasons, as this seems to be a tough city to make friends in. My ideal situation would be to have my own bedroom/bathroom, high end furnishings, but a shared living space (living room/kitchen). But alas, most people have roommates entirely for economic reasons, so this seems to be tough to find.

chiph 11y ago

I think it depends on your age. I had roommates through university and afterwards, and it was fine. But now they'd drive me crazy. "Are these your dishes that were left in the sink?" "I have someone coming over - can you go to the movies or something?"

cuddlybacon 11y ago

In Vancouver, it is pretty common. Housing prices here are pretty high, so it is hard for most to afford a place to live by yourself unless you make other compromises (eg long commute, living in the ghetto, taking on a risky amount of rent relative to your income, etc). Edit: When searching for a two bedroom apartment, I recall finding a good portion of the ads already had a second person living there who were looking to share.

samsonradu 11y ago

In Bucharest one can rent a 50sqm flat for about 400E per month (all expenses paid) in a decent neighbourhood. Prices have been steady since 2009. I shared a couple of bigger/smaller flats with 1 or 2 friends throughout college but now I live alone since I work from home (quite boring though). Usually people rent in groups in their early 20s mostly due to financial issues but afterwards they prefer to get a 30y mortage to buy their property since the cost is arguably the same and most see rent as wasted money (not necessarily true though, mortage definitely has its downsides)