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Creative Solutions: How'd they do it?! ^# A0 U1 L# ~2 S6 _& M1 g
Nothing says home like the living room couch
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Alexandra Zabjek
+ N0 o# H" E4 [$ s3 RThe Edmonton Journal! J. F3 n% ^( h! M: _
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Sunday, May 20, 2007) ^6 I- R! B7 v
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Student apartments aren't typically luxurious places, but soaring rents in Edmonton are forcing some students to pare down their living arrangements even more than usual.
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- Y" q7 Z7 ~4 A& R4 A6 [At Steve Li's one-bedroom apartment near NAIT, the living room is a bedroom for his roommate, Bill Chadwick.
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Li and Chadwick, both students, split the $600 rent almost evenly -- Li gets the bedroom for $325 per month, while Chadwick pays $275 per month to put his bed in the living room.
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" M3 ^0 ~; a4 d. \ l$ j) V"I receive approximately $700 per month (in grants) to go to school," says Chadwick, 32. "So when $275 comes into the picture, it works out quite well."
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After spending time couch-surfing with friends, Chadwick says having a "defined space" is great, even if it isn't a proper bedroom.
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! c6 w4 }0 N# i+ Q+ ESharing a one-bedroom apartment is a common arrangement amongst Chinese students studying in Edmonton, says Li, who has been living in Canada for the past seven years. It's a big change for many of these students, he says.
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"The people who can afford to send their kids to Canada to study are quite rich," he says. "(Their) apartments in China are big."7 r1 D; j" `- \& Z5 B$ H+ L
+ j9 n( f7 D% J+ b+ A, Z, u8 _Splitting the rent on a one-bedroom apartment, however, make things much easier for students with limited budgets.1 |: E: Y4 _$ q$ i B/ r; Q* h5 F
$ P6 X% U/ ? O! y8 _"I wouldn't say (it would be completely) unaffordable, but this way it's much more economical," he says.
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SOMEONE IN THE BASEMENT TO HELP PAY THE MORTGAGE6 o/ i1 F9 Z5 F* L) \$ g
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When Caitlin Crawshaw and her girlfriend bought a bungalow in Bonnie Doon last summer, it wasn't just the location that sold them on the 1950s era house. It was also the basement suite.
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: v* b* H9 y# d( F"It wasn't originally part of our plan," Crawshaw says. "But as soon as we started looking at houses and seeing what the market was, we thought that maybe we should consider it."* F2 r; M3 c8 w9 u
0 E; t @2 O) v5 I0 M6 H" H) \Their tenant pays $500 per month for the 750-square-foot suite. The money helps the couple pay down their mortgage more aggressively and provides a cushion in case either loses their job, says Crawshaw.
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The arrangement has worked out well, especially because the tenant was already living in the house when they moved in and has proved to be a "fantabulous" tenant who often spends time gardening in the yard or raking leaves, says Crawshaw, 25.
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The downside, however, is the lack of space. The couple and their two cats share about 750-square-feet on the upper floor of the house.
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"It would be nice to have more space and to have another bathroom," she says.$ o* M3 d- v& J3 o+ W+ U/ @
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"But it does work out quite well. I don't regret it. But I don't want to do it for more than five years -- I don't think that anyone does."" z) c% H d( a& T
© The Edmonton Journal 2007 |
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发表于 2007-5-20 07:27
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