Young Person Renting By Themselves?

Fukuyama

Hi All,

Bit of an odd situation... It'd be great if any landlords or just anyone who might know could shed some light on this for me.

Basically, I'm a 19 year old male student. I also work for myself and have my own business which supports me. However living at home is kind of hindering the business (large family, can't get much done). So I've been thinking of moving out during the summer.

I estimate, that when living alone with enough time to get my work done I could be earning 1,600 per month during term. Even more during the summer.

I'd like to move into a house and I think I could support myself in doing that (open to criticism if you think otherwise with my projected earnings).

I'd be looking at something along the lines of this: http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=992438 And get the rent down a bit.

My main concern is that a landlord would take one look at me and think 'a 19 year old male college student, renting a house by himself? NO WAY!'.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Dean.

JuliusCaesar

Dean0088 wrote: »

I estimate, that when living alone with enough time to get my work done I could be earning 1,600 per month during term. Even more during the summer.

Projected earnings aren't actual earnings. You might need to prove your ability to pay, by showing money going into your bank account (ie your bank says you have it)

Fukuyama

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Projected earnings aren't actual earnings. You might need to prove your ability to pay, by showing money going into your bank account (ie your bank says you have it)

That shouldn't be a problem.

Bank statements or anything else could easily be gotten at a moments notice. I'm going to get some savings built up over the coming months and work harder from home (as difficult as it is) in order to boost my income up to maybe 70% of what I could be earning when living alone.

The main thing though, is that if I was a landlord, I'd be wary about renting out a house to someone my age. Maybe I'm just being naive in thinking so... a tenant is a tenant? I mean students rent apartments by themselves...

pigeonbutler

Rule of thumb is generally not let rent exceed about 1/3 of gross income. Also you're not considering tax. If you're self employed you're gonna have a big bill to pay every November.

But you're really on the landlord point. If you're happy to tell them you're self-employed, provided they can understand your business easily (I.e. It's something tangible) you should be ok. If you're vague or the business is something modern and trendy like iPhone app developer you might have more bother convincing them.

wyndham

Have you considered the other costs of moving out of home besides the rent?

ESB, Gas/Oil, Internet/Sky/NTL, TV Licence, Food, Transport, Contents Insurance, Bin Charges, etc

Victor

It sounds a bit over-ambitious. It would probably be better to restrict your rent to 30-40% of income. Also factor in transport for work, college and entertainment.

Realise that living alone is disproportionately expensive as you have nobody to share expenses with and you are cooking alone. "Start-up" expenses are also an issue, like bed clothes, kitchen equipment, crockery / cutlery.

Make a list of everything that you use for the month of January.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055786512

silja

As a landlord, your age would not bother me, nor that you are a student (assuming you are willing to sign a year lease, not just until May/ end of academic year). Your self-employed status with no record of earnings you hope to make would concern me (ie you say you'll easily make 1600, but would only be able to show 1100 ie 70%), and the high percentage of your earnings that would go into rent. The others have mentioned start-up costs and bills, but I would also be worried about the "up and down" nature of self-employed earnings, especially in the current economic climate. If I was looking for a 450 euro rent, I'd probably rent to you, but not if I was looking for 650+/

delllat

i wouold look for something half that price if i were you ,even if it meant sharing a 2 bedroom house with someone

an entire house is a lot to take on on your own and u will have a lot more overheads than the rent itself

Moonbeam

maybe moving in to a bigger house shared wiht other studnets might be a better idea as rent and bills will be shared.

shoegirl

I recall, for various reasons, taking on a tenancy by myself of about 600 per month when my net income was 1600 a month, that included free electricity and there was only electric heating which essentially came free.

I know I really struggled to pay the rent and the very small other bills I had on that income. Unless you are living in a very rural area, you would find it hard to find somewhere that isn't seriously substandard at a rate that would not break your bank. At your income level, 500 a month would be the most you should commit to. And in Dublin that would mean sharing, often with cotenants that are far more distracting and less sympathetic than your family might be.

Hard as it might seem, it might be better to stay put until you are working full time and then move out.