Living arrangements
So, the new job will be starting in 3 weeks, and FWA/ATLX madness is in two weekends. The question now is, where am I going to live after Tom moves out?
Let's back up. Tom is my friend from high school, and is graduating from Berkeley at the end of May. He offered to move out June 1, but could stay as late as August before he starts grad school Somewhere Important. (One of UNC, University of Colorado Boulder, Cal Tech, or MIT. He's scary smart.)
We've been living in this nice North Berkeley apartment, about a block from University Ave, and five minutes' walk from the North Berkeley BART. The rent is crazy low, all things considered...it's a reasonable 2bd/1ba apartment for $1300, with a coveted Berkeley off-street parking space. (The manager explained when we visited that they hadn't found any tenants to their liking; it seems the landlady would rather set the price low and choose low-stress tenants. Not a bad strategy.) The landlady is certainly very kind, the neighbors are nice, my grandmother and aunt are a ten minute walk away, and my brother is up at Cal finishing off his freshman year. Plus, Berkeley is very walkable and pleasant. Anyway, suffice it to say that we love it here.
But when Tom moves out, I have three options: move out, get another roommate here, or stay here alone.
If I move out, then I get the possibility of living in San Francisco (closer to my new job), and with more awesome people (presumably). At the same time, rent (per bedroom) is probably going to be more than I have now, I'd probably have to deal with driving and parking in the city, and there's always the risk getting roommate or landlord drama.
At the same time, someone could also move in here, and the someone would likely be current-coworker-and-all-around-great-guy Jo3hn. I could easily see myself living with him without trouble, except that this place is a bit smaller than his current room/house.
Finally, there's the prospect of living alone. I didn't do well living alone for my junior and senior years at Cal-too lonely-but things might be a bit different now that I have a car and a lot more friends around here. Plus, the room Tom's in right now would make a spectacular work room for programming and fursuit work-but the cost for that luxury is close to $700 MORE per month than I'm paying right now. That's $8,400 of my after-tax dollars per year. I could do it, but I don't know if I want to.
So, those are my options. What do you think?
Let's back up. Tom is my friend from high school, and is graduating from Berkeley at the end of May. He offered to move out June 1, but could stay as late as August before he starts grad school Somewhere Important. (One of UNC, University of Colorado Boulder, Cal Tech, or MIT. He's scary smart.)
We've been living in this nice North Berkeley apartment, about a block from University Ave, and five minutes' walk from the North Berkeley BART. The rent is crazy low, all things considered...it's a reasonable 2bd/1ba apartment for $1300, with a coveted Berkeley off-street parking space. (The manager explained when we visited that they hadn't found any tenants to their liking; it seems the landlady would rather set the price low and choose low-stress tenants. Not a bad strategy.) The landlady is certainly very kind, the neighbors are nice, my grandmother and aunt are a ten minute walk away, and my brother is up at Cal finishing off his freshman year. Plus, Berkeley is very walkable and pleasant. Anyway, suffice it to say that we love it here.
But when Tom moves out, I have three options: move out, get another roommate here, or stay here alone.
If I move out, then I get the possibility of living in San Francisco (closer to my new job), and with more awesome people (presumably). At the same time, rent (per bedroom) is probably going to be more than I have now, I'd probably have to deal with driving and parking in the city, and there's always the risk getting roommate or landlord drama.
At the same time, someone could also move in here, and the someone would likely be current-coworker-and-all-around-great-guy Jo3hn. I could easily see myself living with him without trouble, except that this place is a bit smaller than his current room/house.
Finally, there's the prospect of living alone. I didn't do well living alone for my junior and senior years at Cal-too lonely-but things might be a bit different now that I have a car and a lot more friends around here. Plus, the room Tom's in right now would make a spectacular work room for programming and fursuit work-but the cost for that luxury is close to $700 MORE per month than I'm paying right now. That's $8,400 of my after-tax dollars per year. I could do it, but I don't know if I want to.
So, those are my options. What do you think?