Yours truly Sharing in DC
As a starving student in Washington DC and also when I graduated but wanted to live in "posh" neighborhoods on a shoestring budget, I racked up a lot of House and apartment sharing experience. I once lived conveniently across the street from my university's campus in DC with *Stanley from Tanzania who frequently cooked a funny smelling stew of anchovies, Rabiu* the kingpin 419 aka yahoo yahoo scam artist from Nigeria (he was considerably ‘disciplined’ and low key about his craft) and the rather cantankerous Ivorien-american chemistry PhD student who was also a member of the US army.
There was a also the down to earth Jewish dude (I forget his name) and the other conveniently reticent and compliant Californian (If I remember correctly) with whom I lived back-to-back when I had to sublet my sister’s room in our cool 2 bed apartment in Arlington. It was located conveniently 5 minutes from Reagan Memorial Airport and 7 minutes from the border of the US Capital. (I don’t think there will be much of a lull in that apartment’s value for years to come, it’s a shame that we don’t own it and neither is it up for sale yet).
More of yours truly, sharing in DC
Wow, looking back, I can say that I have been quite lucky with the individuals that I have shared apartments with. Some were slightly weird but I had no seriously eventful circumstances with any of them. After graduation, I ended up moving to 3 different apartments in 1 year because the I insisted on living in some of the coolest neighborhoods inside the Capital city and the only ones I could find withing my budget were shares and temporary sublets. There was the 60 year old African American investment banking Guru who had transacted business in Nigeria rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty of Shagari’s regime. He was down on his luck and sub- let his cool adams morgan apartment for $800/ month and after I left he told me that he has actually rented out the living room as well. (An Idea he attributes to a conversation I had with him about such situations being common in DC especially among students).
The list goes on to the Mongolian UDC student and the rather feminine and quiet ‘rocker’ guy who had a really attractive girlfriend . There of course, also was the young lawyer *Ralph who worked on capitol hill with a senator or congress man and the weirdo from eastern Europe or latin America (I saw him 2 times in all of the 2 months I lived 2 doors from the DC Convention center) who got Ralph arrested and charged (mistaken identity) because he ran into our 12 room house without paying his cab fare. (How do I know it wasn’t Ralph? Well because I was the “eye witness” who got Ralph off the hook . That was one situation where I was at a clear advantage for being black because several minutes after Mr Eastern Europe walked briskly through the front door and disappeared into his room, the Ethiopian Cab driver appeared with a policeman asking for the perpetrator. Long story short I couldn’t identify the Mr Eastern Europe because I didn’t know where exactly his room was and, the police officer didn’t have a warrant to search the premises. Later in the day, Ralph walks out and is mistaken for Mr Eastern Europe and gets arrested.)
On to Lagos
What a long digression. Any who, I ended up living in a total of about 5 different sharing situations and have since moved back to Nigeria. Having moved back to Lagos for some time now, I’ve found that flat, and house shares have become increasingly more common with young upwardly mobile individuals teaming up to rent multimillion naira homes in Lekki, VI and Ikoyi that would’ve otherwise been out of their reach. In some situations, one individual rents the house in his/her name and then rents out the rooms to others, (usually at a markup, becoming semi landlords without sharing any risk in the movement of value of the property within the period for which they have paid in advance) and in other situations, a group of people come together and have all their names on the lease. Landlords are not always open to shares, however, in this down market, Landlords are becoming increasingly flexible on their terms.
Should I consider a share
I am an advocate of shares in several situations
· If you are single and tired of living with your parents and a share will bring a desired housing option considerably within your reach.
· If you are spending way too much money commuting to and from work and your desired housing option comes within your financial reach if you share.
· If you have several rooms vacant in your current rental or home owner housing and are looking for another source of cash, letting out rooms can be a gold mine.
Perspective
Allow me to help you put all of this in perspective. I currently have a find of a 5 bedroom detached house in Parkview Ikoyi overlooking the lagoon, going for 5.5 million naira per year for which 5 individuals with a budget of 1.1 million naira each would be suitable . Each would get a 1 bedroom and 2 living rooms and a kitchen to share with 4 other people in the otherwise unattainable Parkview, Ikoyi location.
And for current renters with vacant rooms; say you have a 4 bedroom detached house in Victoria island for which you have paid N8 million, young professionals whose background can be reasonably vetted who would be willing to pay N1.5 million for each of your vacant rooms are becoming increasingly available to help you to recoup a significant part of your “investment”.
Well then folks, I’ve been long winded enough for another week. However, If you are interested in a house share of one type or the other, Lekki Real is in a good position to get you well situated. Be sure to give us a call on 08020741742 or email info@lekkireal.com
Till next week, have a happy holiday season!!!
*Not their real names for obvious reasons
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