How to Eliminate Housing Costs

Here's an interesting concept for saving a bundle on housing expenses: live in a house rent free. The details:

They live in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, but Lisa and Taylor Halverson say they make ends meet by living in a spacious five-bedroom house with an ample backyard and stylish furnishings on a quiet tree-lined street. The kicker: They don't pay a dime in rent.

No, they aren't mooching off friends or relatives. The thirty-something Palo Alto, Cal., couple are house sitting for a Stanford University professor away on vacation. This is their sixth house-sitting gig since they moved to the area seven months ago from Bloomington, Ind., where they were paying $680 a month on a mortgage for a three-bedroom, 1,900 square-foot home. Rents for a modest two-bedroom apartment in Palo Alto, however, run about $1,500 to $2,000 a month. And to rent a comparable space as where the Halversons are currently house sitting would cost upwards of $3,500, says Taylor.

I did something similar to this in college. I was working in Washington, DC, paying what was a fortune to me to live in a youth hostel while serving an internship. Then one of the guys I worked with was going to be out of the country for two months and said I could pay him the same amount as the hostel and stay in his two-bedroom condo complete with pool, grocery store on the bottom floor, and all the luxuries of home. Granted, I didn't save any money, but I sure increased my standard of living. My roommate and I took him up on the offer and moved all our stuff via the metro -- three trips in all. Yeah, it was one of those things only crazy college students would do.

If you're interested, the piece goes on to tell how you can finds homes where a house sitter is wanted. Click through the link at the top of this post for the specifics -- it could save you some big bucks.

Comments

[Rhea]

In Boston, where I live, there are many historic properties that need in-house caretakers. So I know a number of people who live for free or low-cost doing that.

[Teri]

I grew up not far from the insanely expensive Palo Alto. I house sat for 6 months in college (friend went to Europe for 6 months), and the rest of the time lived with roommates to cut costs way down. I always roll my eyes though at pathetic attempts to live on minimum wage (Experiments) where they move into the crappiest apartment on the bad side of town. I rented a large house with roommates on the good side of town - had a room to myself even. But it cost 1/2 what a studio apartment would have cost me to live alone. just another strategy to save money in a pricey area. Doesn't have to be forever, but gets you on your feet.

Anyway, with the roomies I ended up doing lots of housesitting gigs for money as well - weeks/weekends. But yes it helps to get creative in expensive areas.

[ADC]

Living in other people's homes may be a way to get by and reduce one's living expenses, but you would be living a transients lifestyle, always on the move. However, if you can adapt to never having a place of your own and not knowing where you're going to be a few weeks/months from now, it's not a bad idea.