Girlfriend wants to move in, how much should she pay?

So... if she's going to get a cut ANYWAY make her pay for that shit.

OneofOne_sl said:

Eomer that makes no sense to me. When you pay rent to a landlord you're paying into HIS equity, yet you don't expect a cut when you move... How is this at all different?

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If rents in your city are sufficient to pay the mortgage and bills completely then please let me know. I'll 'buy' all the property I can there by making other people foot the bill.

Landlords operate a profitable enterprise or at least try to do so. Typically this means looking for a return in the 4-6% range on your investment if you have competently assessed the market, not paying off a property completely just from unit rentals. Again, if this were the case then no one would invest in anything else.

I would think it odd if this topic wasn't brought up before moving in together, particularly by the girl. It really depends how formal you want to make it. If you just want her to "help out" with some stuff, then allocate some regular bills she feels are fair then leave it at that. I think its perfectly acceptable to charge rent if you want to go that route, but for me it would be too formal signing a contract with someone i was dating. I would rather setup a joint account and agree to deposit a certain amount each month, and then discuss how to spend it.

The stuff about common law i have no idea, nothing like that exists where I live.

For me and my wife, we have a different situation. As i hold a US passport, the tax laws are a fucking bitch. So we have a joint account and separate savings accounts. I gift the maximum amount I can to my wife each and every year since we got married, and all investments/savings are in her name, as she is not subject to global taxation.

I don't think common law actually exists in most of the States either. It's a custom, not an actual set of laws. I think they might still have commonlaw in the uk.

source: I'm a lawyer on Tuesdays.

Iannis_sl said:

I don't think common law actually exists in most of the States either. It's a custom, not an actual set of laws. I think they might still have commonlaw in the uk.

source: I'm a lawyer on Tuesdays.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-..._United_States

9 states and D.C.

That's interesting. And explains why you'll get pretty different answers whenever you talk about commonlaw in a multi-state setting.

You guys need to not live in shitty states with common law.

Northerner_sl said:

If rents in your city are sufficient to pay the mortgage and bills completely then please let me know. I'll 'buy' all the property I can there by making other people foot the bill.

Landlords operate a profitable enterprise or at least try to do so. Typically this means looking for a return in the 4-6% range on your investment if you have competently assessed the market, not paying off a property completely just from unit rentals. Again, if this were the case then no one would invest in anything else.

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Then come and start buying Mr. I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Butter! Rents for properties lacking my 2 car garage, 2nd structure studio, parking, and backyard space go for $200-$400 more than I pay for principle, interest, homeowner's insurance, and property tax. Maybe you want to take a look at what rentals are going for in your neck of the woods eh?

I've lived in several mid-sized towns, large cities are never like this in my experience, where a mortgage was cheaper than renting. You just needed to be able to afford the down payment. Most people can't do that, so better option or not, it doesn't actually work. Whether it remains cheaper after home maintenance is another thing, but taxes/insurance/mortgage being cheaper than rent? I've seen that a ton.

I skipped to the end: half.
If she's going to live with you, and makes more money than you, she takes on the burden of half the expenses of the house easily. So it's a mortgage. Who cares, living costs are living costs.

You need to go bang some other women, bro. She's getting her meat hooks into you, as deep as possible, for as little cash/skin as possible.

How do you think people that rent houses make money? They don't charge less than their mortgage, and they certainly (generally speaking) don't give the equity that was paid during the lease back to the tenant when they leave.

I own a duplex. I live in the second floor apartment and rent out the first floor apartment. The first floor is 1500 sq ft and I get $1500/mo for it. The funny thing about multi-families is, they hold their value well but they are also cheaper than a similar single family home. My mortgage payment is $1939/mo with everything included (I even have PMI because I only put 3.5% down on it). If I moved out and rented the second floor apartment I could easily get $1100/mo for it. That's almost a $700 profit every month.

Translate that into single family home dollars in my area. A 1500 sq ft cape cod or ranch would probably be somewhere between 1400 and 1600 a month. So why don't they just move out and buy a home instead of "throwing money away"? Because they don't have to worry about every other cost associated with the house. They don't have to replace a broken water heater, don't have to worry about bad electrical or plumbing issues. Don't even think about the roof or appliances, and in this situation neither would his girlfriend. That's why half the mortgage payment is still way more than fair.

1) It's probably well below market value for rent in the area since it's only half of a mortgage payment
2) She doesn't have to worry at all about all the other hassles, headaches, and spending issues that come with owning a house (and this can get very expensive very quickly)

If she pays some of the mortgage, it would be fair that she gets some of the equity.

If she pays a rent, it would be fair that she gets renter's rights.

If you don't want to give her renter's rights nor equity, she needs to pay nothing or you must make some sort of written agreement.

No matter what, utilities, groceries and chores should each be split evenly or should balance each other out.



Look at it from her point of view for a second: paying money for a place from which you can be instantly evicted for any reason whatsoever is not a very appealing proposition.





PS: Why didn't you move in with her?

I think your best bet would be not to get advice from a bunch of forever-alones and misogynists on the internet.

Couple of things:

Check on your state laws for community property and how all that works. You can open yourself to issues by having a GF or spouse pay for mortgage costs later on if the relationship lasts long enough for her to earn a right to part of it should you split. You can avoid that with a simple room mate agreement.

As for amount, split the bills 50/50.