msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 14:28:47 GMT -5
My husband and I have a three bedroom house. We live in one of the rooms, have a guest bedroom, and a third miscellaneous room (gym, books, etc...). I'm currently pregnant, but not expecting until November, so we have no immediate needs for the other two rooms. We can easily afford the mortgage payments on our own, but we like money and have been presented with an opportunity to rent out a room for a short period of time. My husband and I have discussed renting out this room in the past, but decided against it because we weren't interested in a long-term situation. We did discuss renting it to one of our friends at some point, but he ended up wanting housing in a different area. Any input/advice would be appreciated.
My work in bringing in two summer interns (May through August), who are both male, junior in college, from out of state. My office sent out an email asking if anyone was looking for a temporary roommate or had spare housing for either of these people. The interns would likely not have a car or bring any furniture with them. The intern would work in a different group, and I likely wouldn't have much contact with them during the work day. We live a mile from common public transportation and walking distance from grocery stores, etc... I have a 30 mile commute to work, and would benefit from having someone to carpool with. They would pay us a few hundred a month - not enough to really make much of a difference, but we always like having more money. We don't have any plans to use the spare bedroom, and if we did have a visitor, they could always sleep in the third bedroom. We have had roommates in the past, but not for a while - mostly living in 1 bedroom apartments.
This would likely be a somewhat informal arrangement, I'm not certain how much of a lease we would be able to arrange for. My husband and I are generally really easy going people, and we tend to get along with everyone. It would also be temporary, so if something didn't work out, it would only be a few months. I likely won't be able to meet either intern before making a final decision. Here are some of the pros/cons I've come up with.
Pros: -extra money (not really needed, but we are always happy to hav it) -carpool lane to/from work (and potentially sharing some transportation expenses like gas)
Cons: -potential for something to go wrong (they stop paying rent, don't clean up after themselves, etc...) I'm thinking this isn't super likely because these interns are probably not trying to piss off a permanent employee at the company they are interning for. If they did something really bad, they wouldn't be able to count on a good recommendation from our company. -sharing our living space with someone else (give up refrigerator space, can't wander around in our underwear)
What other major things am I missing? I think this has the potential to be a good idea (my husband doesn't really care either way), but there is also the potential for things to go wrong. Do you think this would generally be a good/bad idea?
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azphx1972
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Post by azphx1972 on Apr 27, 2011 14:45:07 GMT -5
I think you should think out more about the possible cons and how you might deal with them (or not):
-what if they want to bring someone home? are you ok with that? -what if they like to use strongly scented candles/fragrances/cooking spices? -what if they like to stay up late at night or get up super early in the morning and make noises? -etc., etc.
I think it might be unwise to assume that they'll be on their best behavior simply because they're interns. I've seen some interns that have no intention or desire of working for the company they're intern at, and some simply don't have socially accepted manners. I would definitely want references if I were to consider renting to a stranger, no matter what the circumstance might be.
Good luck!
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Apr 27, 2011 14:53:12 GMT -5
KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!! Can you share it? Bc I can't, even with my mother, who I have AWESOME relationship with. BATHROOMS!!! What if they don't clean it??? I would not be OK with it. Common areas: will they be allowed in your LR, DR? What about your backyard? It's summer, not many people want to be locked in a room and it doesn't sounds like they will know anyone in the area - what are they going to be doing nights and weekends and how will that impact you?? I would not do it, but then again, I am not an easy-going type and like things the way I like them Lena
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Apr 27, 2011 14:58:27 GMT -5
Would you be taking both or just one? If both are you putting them in the same room? Who is paying the rent, the interns or your company through corporate housing policies? If you are going to pursue this, I would try to negotiate a larger amount than $300. Is this $300 each or total? What else, if anything, would you be responsible for providing? Food, cable, internet, cleaning, fresh linens, laundry?
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Apr 27, 2011 15:04:39 GMT -5
Just me, but I wouldn't want strangers in the house while I was pregnant, Then what if something goes wrong? Odds are you will have a smooth pregnancy that lasts till your due date, but what if you don't? What if you require a trip to the hospital? What if you have to be on bed rest at home? You should really discuss the "what ifs" of pregnancy if you are planning on housing other people in your home during that time period. Then I just liked having the free reign to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to be comfortable and not have to worry about a complete stranger walking in and seeing me standing in my underwear in front of the AC vent.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2011 15:07:42 GMT -5
You do need some kind of agreement even if it is a temporary situation. At a minimum, who is renting the room, for how long and how much. Also what happens if the rent is late, et cetera.
I also think it would be a good idea to put together a set of "House Rules" e.g. quiet times, when laundry can be done (who supplies what) cleaning, common area guidelines, et cetera.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:08:58 GMT -5
A few reponses. We would be fine with them bringing someone home or having an occassional houseguest - so long as it wasn't a live-in girlfriend for the whole time. They likely won't know many people to bring home, but I would not regulate their behavior in that respect. I would also say that we would ask them to let us know of any overnight visitorsthey have planned in advance , and we would do the same. As for the other 2 issues mentioned by azphx - we generally are easy going and don't mind whatever others do. If something bothered us, I would have no problem talking to them about it (and worst case it's only a few months). It generally takes a lot to bother my husband and I, and we've never had any roommate problems in the past. I know everyone is different, but I think often things are more communication issues than anything else.
For the kitchen, I would be fine sharing it, and I doubt the person would really use it all that much. These are college guys from out of state. We would make it clear to them that they would be responsible for cleaning up after themselves, and if it became a problem I would be able to talk with them about it. On bathrooms, we have 2 bathrooms - one directly off our bedroom. We would probably make it an ours and his situation. We would set up ground rules for cleaning - and if they didn't follow them, I would talk with them about it. I would give them full access to the common areas, I wouldn't expect them to hide in their room. If we were in the LR watching TV and they wanted to join us, I think that would be ok. They probably won't know many people and will have limited transportation, so I would imagine they would be around the house a lot. We don't really do too much that would be impacted by this - we normally just watch TVs/movies or play on our computers. The most eventful things we do are have a few friends over for a BBQ or a game night, which some of my coworkers come to as well.
I guess also, my company has a good knack for hiring respectful, kind people. I know things are different when you live with people, but in general if a person is respectful and it's only a few months, I think it's not super likely that things could get too far out of hand. I've met our summer interns in the past, and they were all nice, normal, respectful, responsible types - who while I wouldn't necessary be super friends with, probably could have lived with and been fine.
While I won't get to meet the person, I was able to get their email addresses. I would plan on sending them an email with a list of "house policies" - like how we would deal with cleaning, rent, living space, transportation, etc... to make sure they were on board with it.
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phil5185
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Post by phil5185 on Apr 27, 2011 15:10:30 GMT -5
How will you handle the added income at income tax time? And can you keep your deductable rental expenses separate from your personal house expenses? And depreciation - will you prorate the depreciation based on square footage of their room, or include some of the common space?
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Post by ty on Apr 27, 2011 15:12:46 GMT -5
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:14:14 GMT -5
i got a few more responses while typing that one. We would only take 1 person, and the rent would likely be 600/month (VHCOL area). I would also probably split gas with them if we decided to carpool. We would not provide food, but would include the utilities (including internet and TV) in the rent. They will have full access to our laundry, and we have sheets for the bed already, so I see no reason why they wouldn't use those.
And like I said above, I would probably run some house rules by the person, but I don't think we could have a formal/legally binding lease in place. We could probably draw something up ourselves, but I don't think it would necessarily be able to hold legally if something did go wrong.
I guess I'm not too worried about being pregnant at the time of this - If I end up at the hospital or on bed rest, that person could easily take public transportation into/from work.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:18:03 GMT -5
phil - I haven't quite figured out how we would deal with the taxes. I'm really organized about our finances, so I think we would be able to do the basics, but I probably wouldn't try to account for things like depreciation for a 3 month tennant. I'm guessing we won't have much in the way of rental expenses - at least things that are in addition to what we would already be paying for us ourselves. My initial plan had been just to count the income and not have any additional expenses/deductions unless something major came up where we had a significant expense solely due to our rental agreement.
kreepy - those are some great pictures... I would hope my company would have a better screening process for applicants where none of those people would get hired...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2011 15:18:53 GMT -5
"I would probably run some house rules by the person, but I don't think we could have a formal/legally binding lease in place. We could probably draw something up ourselves, but I don't think it would necessarily be able to hold legally if something did go wrong."
Put it in writing. Better an imperfect written agreement than none.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2011 15:20:52 GMT -5
We have always had success having interns and foreign exchange students and work exchange students stay with us... but except for a high school foreign exchange student (where ultimately i had some kind of 'authority' because they were still teenagers) no one has stayed that long... Its a great experience to meet new people from different places.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:21:15 GMT -5
bonnap - yes, I would have it in writing. We would probably email them the rules, make sure they agreed to them before coming out, and then have them sign it once they were out here.
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Post by ty on Apr 27, 2011 15:23:13 GMT -5
i got a few more responses while typing that one. We would only take 1 person, and the rent would likely be 600/month (VHCOL area). I would also probably split gas with them if we decided to carpool. We would not provide food, but would include the utilities (including Internet and TV) in the rent. They will have full access to our laundry, and we have sheets for the bed already, so I see no reason why they wouldn't use those. And like I said above, I would probably run some house rules by the person, but I don't think we could have a formal/legally binding lease in place. We could probably draw something up ourselves, but I don't think it would necessarily be able to hold legally if something did go wrong. I guess I'm not too worried about being pregnant at the time of this - If I end up at the hospital or on bed rest, that person could easily take public transportation into/from work. Some people are just determined to learn the hard way. as soon as one thing is misplaced or missing then all of a sudden you will have confrontation brewing. If you don't need the money, then I suggest you forget about this idea in bringing a stranger into your home, especially if you are pregnant. I know someone that did this and then later left on their own accord with all their personal information and credit card numbers and such. They finally caught up with her, but she and many people's names on fake ID's and SS cards to match. Leave it alone, and if you are pregnant, then you really don't need to be opening the door to strangers that could bring harm to you and the child.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:24:23 GMT -5
oh - also, I keep saying "they" or "them" - i guess because there are two and I don't know which one would be with us. But it really should be "he" or "him" because we only would have one with us.
Also, I missed an earlier question - my company would not be responsible for the rent, the intern would pay us directly.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:28:51 GMT -5
Kreepy - I guess I'm a bit less worried because this is someone my company has interviewed, reviewed references for, and decided to bring on for an internship. My company only hires a few interns each summer, so they are generally well-vetted. And in previous cases have turned into permanent employees. Having met our previous interns, they were all great people and not likely to cause any of those types of problems. We also don't really have much in the way of "items" to steal - they could make off with a few movies we got on sale. We have a safe where we keep our important documents. While there is no guarantee that anyone wouldn't steal, in this situation, I don't think it's a very high likelyhood of happening.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:30:15 GMT -5
oped - do you have any tips or ideas on how to go about this with a higher chance of success? Any advice?
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Angel!
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Post by Angel! on Apr 27, 2011 15:33:12 GMT -5
NO, NO, NO!
Don't do it. If you weren't pregnant, then I don't really think it would be as much of a problem. Odds are it would work out ok, but what if it turns into a disaster. You really don't want more to worry about when pregnant.
We had a roommate for most of my 1st pregnancy & it was literally the worst time of my life. I was so unbelievably miserable. If I was home, then I would just lock myself in my room, which is a horrible feeling in your own house. When I was at work, then I would dread going home. I cried many nights on my drive home from work.
I probably could have handled the situation just fine if I wasn't pregnant, but as it was, it was horrible. Granted, there were reasons he was so horrible - he was messy, not just leaving stuff about, but god-awful messy - like would spill a soda & not bother to even try to clean up the carpet. We had mice living in his room (no problem in the rest of the house) because he always ate in his room & couldn't help but leave crumbs everywhere - I didn't even realize how bad it was until he moved out & the room was littered with food bits. He chewed & smoked, didn't smoke in the house, but would chew in the house. I never knew it, but chew stinks, especially if you just spit it into water bottle that you leave sitting in your room. The room started stinking after just a few months. We had trouble getting him out, his room was going to be the baby's room & when the time approached that he was supposed to move out he had "money problems" & wasn't going to be able to get his own place yet.
When we finally kicked him out we had to replace the carpet & paint the walls to fix the room up. The carpet was stained & I couldn't even get the smell out after spending a total of several hours trying to clean the carpet.
Would this happen to you, probably not. But, if there is even the slightest chance that they could make your life hell by not giving you personal space, not cleaning up after themselves, being obnoxious, etc, then I wouldn't do it, especially not when you are pregnant. I had a fairly easy pregnancy, but the stress of the situation made me miserable & I hated being home, when my home should have been my sanctuary.
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tloonya
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Post by tloonya on Apr 27, 2011 15:34:32 GMT -5
/We would make it clear to them that they would be responsible for cleaning up after themselves, and if it became a problem I would be able to talk with them about it./
Do you really see yourself doing this? Being pregnant and all? Are you sure they will listen? What if they are just easy going not caring about anything people? What's than? you need to be calm to give birth to a healthy baby.
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 15:49:40 GMT -5
Angel - that sounds really gross - and I see why you weren't happy with that. Neither one of them was a smoker (that was one of my first questions). And the room has hardwood floors, so it would be hard for him to do too much damage in 3 months. We are planning on painting that room after he would leave anyways - we didn't paint it when we moved in and are planning on using it as the babies room. I'm a bit less concerned about him not leaving - he has to go back to college in a different state in the fall. This isn't to say something like that couldn't happen, I just don't think it's particularily likely.
tloonya - we've had a number of roommates before (males and in college) and when we decided it was time to clean up the place, I would normally just tell the roommate that it was their turn to clean X, and if they could do it in the next week it would be great. We never had a problem doing it that way. One of our roommates wasn't very naturally clean, but anytime he was asked to do something, would always do it. And once again, because it's only 3 months - so if we had problems, they would be gone quickly anyways.
We haven't made any decisions either way, but it is useful to hear others feedback to help make a decision. I guess, I'm a bit less concerned with the "worst-case" and not very likely to happen instances and mostly concerned with the more-likely to happen things. That way we can weigh out our thoughts on those things and see what makes sense (and if we do decide to go for it know what to discuss with them ahead of time).
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Apr 27, 2011 15:52:25 GMT -5
I just liked my privacy when pregnant. There were days when I just wanted to cry and days when I was a psycho bitch. Poor DH nearly got killed because he bought the wrong kind of baked beans. It was bad enough having to monitor my mood swings at work, but doable. No way I wanted to have to monitor them in my own home because I have a guest living with me. I agree with Angel that my home was my sanctuary while pregnant. The behavior I exhibit when alone or with DH is TOTALLY different than what I exhibit when there is a guest. I couldn't have handled having a houseguest and feeling like I always had to be on my best proper behavior. Which is also why we didn't have anyone stay with us afterwards either.
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tloonya
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Post by tloonya on Apr 27, 2011 15:55:03 GMT -5
It seems like your mind is already set on renting out. You rented before. So what can we tell you you don't knbow already? So why do you bother people with questions than?
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Post by debtheaven on Apr 27, 2011 15:59:20 GMT -5
My problem with this is that I fear that y'all aren't going to be on the same "wavelength". You are a couple expecting a baby, and these are two college kids who may be great, serious, respectful, smart and hardworking, but at their age, they certainly want to "hang out" and have fun when they are not at work. They'll probably get home late at least on certain nights. Can you just go to sleep or are you going to feel anxious until they come in and you're sure they've locked the door properly? I'd also feel uncomfortable about expecting college kids to contribute fairly if I was employed by that company and they were just interns (maybe not about the rent, but about food, gas, etc). It would be great to have help with fuel costs, but if I was driving to work anyway, I'd feel odd about asking interns (ie college kids) for gas money. This said, it's totally possible that I feel that way because I'm a middle-aged women with kids that age. Since you're younger, it may totally be a non-issue. This said ... they generally far prefer to live with people their own age. Do you know if these interns are even interested in living with you and your DH? My DS1 once lived with his boss and his boss's wife during a six-month internship, and it worked out great. But there were many reasons DS1 was very happy to make an exception (one of which was, his accommodations were extraordinary, and free). Good luck whatever you decide!
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 16:03:02 GMT -5
tloonya - we haven't decided either way. My husband and I are going to discuss it tonight before we make any decisions. I want to go into the situation with all the typical issues in mind before making a decision. A lot of what I'm doing is just responding to people - who bring up good points with my take on those situations and why it may or may not be too much of an issue. If you ask if I see myself asking a roommate to clean up after themselves, and I have already done that in the past - I think that's a relevant response. Just because I've encountered that particular situation before and dealt with it, doesn't that I don't want advice or that I've already made up my mind.
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tloonya
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Post by tloonya on Apr 27, 2011 16:08:16 GMT -5
I bet you will decide to rent. Anyone wanna bet?
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 16:08:18 GMT -5
debt - good point about the gas money. They are paid interns (not as much as I get paid) but they do get paid a reasonable wage for working. I just assumed they would want to chip in for gas money if they were getting rides. I've carpooled (aka driven) a few coworkers to work before (both right out of college) while I lived in my last apartment and both felt badly asking for a ride if they didn't help out with the gas money. I also would expect them to want to have fun while not at work. I was assuming if they wanted, they could take public transportation into a bigger city to have fun if they wanted. But, they also will not really know anyone in the area, so I would be surprised if they wanted to throw wild shin-digs at our house .
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msgumby
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Post by msgumby on Apr 27, 2011 16:12:37 GMT -5
drama - on the mood swings, did you find that they generally were better or worse during the second trimester. So far, I've only had 1 mood swing (started crying randomly for no reason) and it went away in 5 minutes. The person would be staying for the end of the first trimester and then a few months into the second trimester. I guess I didn't give them too much thought, because I only had one so far, and it didn't last long. I was also assuming I wouldn't be in the huge/uncomfortable phase yet because I would still not be near my third trimester by the time they left. I'm not really that different with/without guests - but I do worry about having to put on pants on the weekends.
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Post by debtheaven on Apr 27, 2011 16:20:08 GMT -5
If they are paid a reasonable sum, I can understand expecting that they'd want to share gas costs. But if they didn't offer I'd have a heck of a time asking for it LOL. But, they also will not really know anyone in the areaThey will meet other people their age, probably sooner than you think. Personally I wouldn't be worried about the shin-dig, I'd be more worried about comings and goings at all hours. That's another thing ... would your agreement be binding? What if they move in with you, and within a few weeks decide they'd rather live elsewhere? How would you handle that? (I don't need to know, you do LOL. I'm just giving you food for thought.) Remember I don't know where you live, how populated it is, how easy it is for a college student to find housing, etc.
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rileyoday
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Post by rileyoday on Apr 27, 2011 16:26:15 GMT -5
So the last time for you and your husband to have alone and you want a roommate and you don't need the money Sounds like you think they will quietly sit in their room every night. Rent the room . You will learn something either way it goes.
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