Fresh Grads: Do You Really Need A Roommate?
If you’re a fresh grad looking for a new place in Houston (or anywhere, really), you’re probably chatting with friends, wondering if you should take that next step and become roomies! It’s a valid question and we’ve all been there before!
On one hand, you could have an amazing relationship with your roomie. What’s better than having a built-in going out buddy? Well…there’s also the chance they down your kombucha when you’re at work or commandeer the freezer with frozen meals they never actually make.
It could go either way, which makes you a bit nervous about signing a lease with someone. Before you go running into a lease with the girl who complimented your shoes in the coffee shop last week or running for the hills to live alone in the woods, Thoreau-style, take a step back and think to yourself: Do I need a roommate?
ROOMIES: Who Needs ‘Em?
Well, a good amount of people actually. In Houston, the average starting salary for a Bachelor’s Degree holdin’ graduate is about $29-33k annually. If we were to go with the higher end of that range, that would come to around $2,750 a month before taxes. Now, virtually all properties want you to make at least 3 times your rent each month. Meaning, that brings your budget, using the average starting salary, to around $900 a month.
But let’s say that you find a roomie…now your rent budget goes up to at least $1,800 for a two bedroom. The options that open up for a beautiful place in some awesome areas are amazing! You could live in Midtown with walkability to the nearby bars. As you may have guessed, the higher the budget you two have, the more options there are!
