Roommate, as Economic Necessity
New York Times
August 24, 2003
By Melinda Ligos
Janel Steinberg thought her days of having roommates were long behind her. But last June, Ms. Steinberg, 33, found herself reluctantly welcoming a boarder into her home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. She lost her job as a marketing executive late last year and was struggling to cover the $1,650 monthly mortgage payment on the two-bedroom condominium she bought two years earlier.
Her roommate is a friend, Sarah LaSpisa, 35, an advertising executive who is also out of work. Ms. LaSpisa, who brought along her miniature Doberman pinscher, pays $600 a month in rent. Both women agreed to live together for a year, hoping that by the end of that time they would have permanent jobs and be able to resume living on their own. Right now, both are making ends meet by doing freelance work.
"Neither one of us really wanted to do this," Ms. Steinberg said, "but we didn't have many other options."
National statistics are hard to come by, but housing experts say that more homeowners have been taking in boarders. Some, like Ms. Steinberg are out of work. Others include retirees on fixed incomes who have suffered losses in their portfolios.
"Our clients are definitely getting older," said Yannick Pons, president of EasyRoommate.com, a roommate finders service that is based in White Plains. The service, which started in 1996, typically catered to college students or recent graduates, but the median age of the company's clients is now 36, Mr. Pons said. "We used to not have any clients in their 50's at all; now, we get them every day," he said, adding that business had more than doubled in the last year.
Linda Roberts, co-owner of Preferred Rentals and Roommates, an apartment and roommate finder's service in Santa Barbara, Calif. said her company had also found an increase in the number of homeowners - particularly, retirees who live in large houses - who are seeking roommates. "Some people have been hit so hard by the stock market that the only other option would be to sell their home," she said.
Some older homeowners may choose to have tenants as much for the companionship and security as for the financial payoff, Ms. Roberts added.
While taking in a roommate can help case the financial burden of home ownership, housing experts say such arrangements can be rife with problems.
The first concern can be legality. Some local governments restrict the number of unrelated people who can live in a house, said Pate Schillinger, a partner at the law firm Schillinger & Finsterwald in White Plains. Mr. Schillinger cautions homeowners to read the fine print of local zoning laws to make sure that they are allowed to have boarders.
Homeowners who live in a co-op or in a community governed by a homeowner's association should scrutinize the rules of those organizations, added Christopher Hitchcock, a partner at Ohrenstein & Brown, a law firm in New York that represents co-op boards. He noted that some boards prohibit boarders, while others require approval in advance. "If you violate the rules of the co-op, you could be facing eviction," Mr. Hitchcock said.
He advises homeowners to draw up leases that spell out when the rent is to be paid, allowing for time for the check to clear before the mortgage is due. (You may be able to pick up a standard lease from a real estate broker, property management company or even some office supply stores.) Mr. Hitchcock strongly recommends collecting a security deposit to protect against damage to the property.
Other legal and housing experts recommend researching a potential roommate's background - checking employment references, for example. Roommate-matching companies and real estate brokers can provide this service, along with credit and criminal background checks, for a fee. Many online sites provide background and credit checks, for fees starting at $25.
Handling all those matters, however, is only half the challenge of having a roommate. Homeowners also have to deal with the fact that they will be sharing their personal space.
For the last three years, Caren Browning, 45, rented out the second bedroom in her Midtown Manhattan co-op apartment. Ms. Browning, an actress and part-time acting teacher, wanted to supplement her income so she could meet her $1,800 monthly mortgage and co-op fees after her partner of 13 years moved out.
But the transition proved more difficult than she expected. While she had come to think of her apartment as a place to decompress after work, it sometimes became a place to avoid. One of her tenants spent a significant amount of time hanging out in her living room wanting to socialize, she said. Another, an aspiring actress, was always cornering her for advice. "These people wanted to be neighborly, and I wasn't having any of it," she said.
Then there was the roommate who was always on diets and "was regularly running the blender at 5:30 in the morning," said Ms. Browning, who lives on her own today.
Such arrangements can be difficult for anyone, but they can be particularly troublesome for those who are accustomed to living alone, said Ms. Roberts, who runs the roommate-service company in Santa Barbara, "You're used to having a certain amount of personal space," she said. "It can be tough to swallow."
Then there is the issue of protecting your property. "Now that I have a vested interest in this place, I'm very picky about stupid stuff," said Clare Kelly, 31, of the condominium she bought in Arlington, Va., last year. Ms. Kelly, a lobbyist for the National Association of Children's Hospitals, recently took in a roommate to help subsidize her monthly mortgage payment of $1,400. "Who would have known that once I got the walls painted, I would be this crazy woman yelling about marks on the wall?" she said.
Ms. Steinberg acknowledged that she was a little annoyed when her roommate's dog urinated on the carpeting. "It's different when it is your home," she said. Luckily, she said, her roommate is "very respectful" of her property, and the two had agreed up front that Ms. LaSpisa would pay for any damage.
Such agreements are essential to making a roommate arrangement work, Ms. Roberts said. She counsels her clients to set up explicit ground rules, like which rooms in the house are off limits to a Tenant or whether smoking is permitted. "You've got to put everything in writing, even if you're friends with the person," she said.
Neil Binder, a principal at the Bellmarc Companies, which manages more than 4,500 co-ops in New York, says some of the worst roommate disputes occur between friends, and in the absence of formal rental agreements. "You've got to have a plan in place in case you don't get along," he said.
Some legal experts recommend establishing a month-to-month lease, so a homeowner can evict a Tenant if the situation is untenable - or if the homeowner's financial situation improves so that he no longer needs a boarder.
Having a roommate can have benefits, too. Ms. Kelly said her roommate, Kristen Hackler, 30, a public relations executive, had put a significant amount of "sweat equity" into her house, painting her own bedroom and installing carpeting. Ms. Heckler also cares for Ms. Kelly's two cats when she goes out of town. "Having a roommate that you can trust in that way is a great asset," Ms. Kelly said.
Ms. Browning, for one, has decided to go at it alone for a while, even if it may be a financial stretch. She recently was hired to play a small, recurring role on the television series "Law & Order: SVU" and figures that if she lives frugally she will be able to manage on her own. She has already put a futon in her spare bedroom and plans to give the room a fresh coat of paint.
"The truth is: I'm too old for this" she said of her roommate days. "My preference is to make a mature living so that I don't put myself in that situation again."