This is the first time I’ll ever be looking for a place on my own and I have no idea how to go about this. I’m desperate to move out of my parents house due to them both being very controlling and having ridiculous rules about what I should and shouldn’t be doing within their home. I’m working two jobs currently and trying to save as much as possible, but I’m not sure whether I can even afford to rent a studio apartment of my own because I’m still making not very much money. I’m considering renting a room somewhere but I don’t even know where to look for roommates and I’m terrified of ending up in an even worse living situation with people I don’t like. I’ve tried to seek advice from my family but none of them have anything helpful to say as they’ve never gone through this on their own like I’m having to. It also sucks because I currently don’t have any credit established so securing a place is going to be much more difficult I think. I don’t have any friends either that could help with finding a place or by rooming together so I’m just kinda lost.
If you have any advice or tips on what I should I do please let me know, I am very eager to get out of my parents place, I feel like I’m suffocating here.
Thanks <3
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I’m in the US in the Mid-Atlantic in a small metro. I’ve generally had good luck living with strangers. Granted, I’ve only ever had roommates who were 24+ in age and if I ever get weird vibes when touring a place, I turn it down.
Right now, I’m living with a couple other guys who I never met before and don’t have much in common with but we’re all chill, reasonably clean, and respect the common areas. That stuff is much more important than anything else with roommates. Shared interests and enjoying time together are important for friendship, and shared purpose is important for comrades. However, roommates are not necessarily friends or comrades; it is important to recognize this.
Craigslist and apartments.com are where I’ve had the most luck with finding apartments or rooms to rent in a house. Without credit or much money, you can probably still find a house renting a room or someone looking to split an apartment. Just email a few listings saying you’re employed and asking for a tour.
There are roommate specific websites, but they don’t seem well utilized in my area. Maybe they are in bigger cities.
Also: Never ever pay money to anyone just to see a place. You should only pay money after touring a place. There’s a lot of scammers, especially on Facebook.
Since the US doesn’t care about efficient housing, you’re probably gonna have to find a roommate or few. In a lot of areas studios basically don’t exist or are 70%+ more than splitting a two bedroom with someone.
If you don’t have pets it’s gonna be easier.
I’ve had decent success with Craigslist, Roomies, and Reddit once. I know people who’ve found stuff on facebook groups. You can of course look for the usual rental situations on realtor/zillow, but if you’re worried about getting approved, finding a roommate with a preexisting lease is probably easier. Just know that if your name’s not on a lease, your rights are gonna be limited.
If you go for a studio/1br with background check and everything, sometimes they’ll let another person cosign a lease you wouldn’t otherwise be approved for. I got a one-bedroom that way like a decade ago.
Ideally keep things decent with your folks so it’s a backup option if things go south.
Another note: it may sound like it’d be easier if you had a friend to room with rather than a stranger, but I’ve witnessed (and experienced) quite a few friendships ending after living together. It’s a whole different dynamic lol
I’ve had luck with craigslists when I didn’t know anyone in a place, found random roommates and mostly haven’t had an issue, nothing major at least, just a roommate not paying rent to the landlord. For your situation having no credit shouldn’t be a problem, it’s better than bad credit. That could depend on your area but I haven’t had an issue with no credit in the past.
Are you in the US? I usually found apartments/rooms via Craigslist. Usually if you’re subletting a room the current occupants will want to meet with you first, so you can both vibe check each other.
If you’re applying for a solo place, credit might not be super important if you can demonstrate income with paystubs and have the deposit (usually two months’ rent).
But also you should get a credit card so you can work on building credit.
Yeah I’m in the US. I’ve never used Craigslist to look for apartments or rooms to rent but I’ll give it a shot and see what I can find. I’d like to get a credit card as soon as possible and start working on building credit, but that’s also another thing I have no clue how to do.
Getting a credit card shouldn’t be much trouble. As regul said, don’t get something with an annual fee, and pay it off each month. Just use it for some normal day to day stuff because that activity helps build your credit score. Things like buying gas or groceries etc
Worst case scenario you can get a secured card. This is where for example you deposit $500 into an account and the bank gives you a $500 credit limit. You still pay your balance each month but the bank is covered in case you don’t pay. This will build your credit just the same, and can be easier to get if you can’t get a regular card. Try to get a regular card first.
Walk into the bank where you cash your checks (you have a bank account, right?) and tell them you would like a credit card. They will fall over themselves to give you one. Just be on the lookout for annual fees, make sure you pay it off fully every month, and generally just use it for small purchases.
If you do end up applying for an apartment by yourself, be wary of application fees. Definitely make sure to go look at any apartment in person before you apply.
So I can’t tell you anything specific since I’m the live in a trailer in the woods type and have no idea how to manage getting an apartment in california (you mentioned being there in another comment). I can give you some general advice though for making your money go as far as possible.
Big one is phone plan. Most people overspend on this. You can get unlimited call/text/1GB per month of data for 8$ per month with US mobile and I think Tello too? There are also similar deals if you need a bit more data. I just use wifi for most things so the data isn’t needed. When not at home I don’t use my phone for anything but calling, texting, music, and navigation. So I have Organic Maps downloaded to work offline, and mp3s stored. Cheap as dirt.
For food Chicken Quarters are a great hack to get meat for cheap. You can buy a 10lbs bag for 8.99$ where I am atleast. Just take them out and bag them up individually (You’ll want large ziploc freezerbags for this) and put them in the freezer to use when needed. Pair that with some rice with a bit of peanut butter mixed in and you’ve got a very filling meal for dirt cheap. Season it however you want. If you mix up the rice recipe and do the chicken different each time (like use bbq one day, orange sauce another, lemon pepper another, etc) it keeps a lot of variety while staying quite cheap.
For clothes you can sometimes find bulk amazon returns of stuff for sale. Like I got a pack of t shirts that are normally like 35$ each that just had a few strings or other minor defects. It was 12$ for 10 shirts. Just sent to me in a big bag. I snipped off the strings and washed them and theyre serving me well.
Don’t pay for subscriptions or any digital content. There are other ways to get that. Purely Education link unrelated
A dollar saved is always better than a dollar earned. Be frugal as fuck in all things, and good luck.
Good advice so far in this thread, and it sounds like you have a decent baseline (job + car) to start with in the USA.
I would start with using various websites to search around for roommates - in the Midwest we use craigslist and facebook groups/marketplace a lot for this, but it will probably be different in California. What you’re probably looking for is someone who had a previous roommate move out, and are looking to sublet. They’re out there, and they’ll be happy to have you. Having a source of income is more important than credit right now, IMO.
Living with strangers as roommates is pretty normal. Sometimes roommates are kinda shitty, but there are various degrees of it - I don’t think it’s something to be terrified about. You might even find yourself bonding with these other people who you’re living with.
Moving out of you’re parent’s house is an opportunity to change the dynamic with them for the better. Call them, tell them about your week, visit them every so often… but as your own adult person.
You’re building up the pyramid of financial independence right now. Make a basic spreadsheet with your income, and all of your monthly expense - writing it down makes it real, and shows you how much you can afford.
Can you give us some ballpark numbers for your monthly budget?
How much could you reasonably pay per month for rent?
Do you live in a city?
Do you have a car or other transportation figured out?
I take home about 3K a month, I’d of course like to spend about a third or less than that but I’m not sure if that’s possible.
I’d say 1,300 is probably the most I’d like to pay with utilities included.
I live just outside of a decently sized college city.
I own a car, so I do have my own transportation.
I think you should definitely be able to find at least a studio for that much, if not a bit less. I used rent.com to check a few “college cities”, and it seems pretty doable. Apartments usually require a few things up front, like a rental application/fee, proof of employment, deposit, renters insurance, etc. if you can cover that, you should be good. Search for some apartments in your area, then go check out some of their available apartments.
The thing that sucks is that I live in California and the amount of listings for studios that are under 1300 a month are very few. There are people charging more for just renting a room out of their house which is ridiculous as hell.
Most legit landlords aren’t going to rent a studio to someone with no credit or rental history. You’re getting roommates, friend.
Between gas, car insurance, rent & utilities, food, entertainment, you’re going to be spending $2k/mo to exist. Is living away from your parents worth $67/day to you?
Yeah I didn’t think renting my own place with no credit or rental history would be realistic. And living away from my parents isn’t a choice for me, they’re basically pressuring me to move out in the next few months
It might make sense to move a little further out, if you can still manage to get to your jobs with a reasonable commute. I only ever lived in the same town I worked in once when I lived in California.
Yeah it’s very unlikely you’ll find a studio for that price unless you are in semi rural area of some kind. Craigslist and local Facebook groups for a room mate situation and just really make it a point to meet all the potential roommates and make sure it seems like a good fit. Also it’s really helpful to get into some local scenes, community and word of mouth is going to get you the best odds of landing reliable situations.
The harsh reality: you probably will end up living in not great situations for awhile going this route. In most US cities, moving in with random people is more than likely going to end up with a situation that you won’t want to be in forever. The more roommates, the cheaper the rent and the more odds one or more of the people will have some grating issue that makes the whole house suck. I’ve seen this happen dozens of times, there can be a whole house of people who mostly get along and one roommate going through a hard time can spiral into hostile living situations. You’ll be rolling the dice until you find something that works, so always be working towards a goal of some kind. Right now it’s getting out of parent’s house, after that it could be building credit and income to get a studio or to move to another area entirely.
Put together a budget in an excel spreadsheet. A realistic one that allows you to put 10% towards retirement and maintain one year of living expenses as savings, plus any upcoming expenses such as a car that will die within 5 years or even just need a new compressor/repair, etc.
Now factor in how you will afford a 10% year after year rent increase, because that’s the legal maximum in California and no landlord I’ve ever had in that state went any lower. 1800 a month turns into 3300 after 5 years.
What does that budget look like after 5 years of inflation? 5 years of compounding 10% rent increases? Will you get promoted at work? What if you need an ER visit or your car breaks down?
3k take home is a decent amount. Can you try moving to a low COL area and maintain that income? Bakersfield? Fresno?
If at any time the logic loop breaks, return to start. Keep saving and investing. Can you have a conversation about those rules in exchange for paying rent (if you don’t already)?
Roommates are the cheat code.
