House sharing forms lifelong friendships

04/21/22 • 38 min

Angela and Sherylanne have been house sharing for 18 months and have now formed a lifelong friendship. In this episode we’re talking about their journey, how they negotiated their rent offset, how they worked through any issues and their plans to remain friends for life.
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About Angela and Sherylanne
Angela is epidemiologist and a kidney specialist who works long hours. Sherylanne was building a dance school just before Covid hit. They came together just at the right time. Not only where they a great support for each other during the 18 months house sharing together, they were also able to support each other through Covid.

Benefits of having a housemate
Sherylanne helped to create a lot of stability around their home during covid. The consistency of having someone older and more mature around Angela’s son Felix, created a more solid experience for him and for Angela. She was also able to fill the gaps for Angela and be there as another adult to help raise her son.

Negotiating the rent offset
Sherylanne and Angela did a full rent offset. It changed over time as it was needed, and they constantly talked about their needs and the changes that were required to fulfil them. Their advice is, if you keep the lines of communication open, you’ll be fine. They also found our house share agreement helpful as well as our interview questionnaire.

House sharing with children in the home
It’s a natural concern as a parent to ensure the safety of your children. There are things we consider when someone is around our kids who might have any form of influence over them. Asking questions and being clear about your views as a parent is important and as a housemate you must back up the parents. Having another adult in the home can have a huge positive impact on the children especially if you are a single parent family. The additional support and adult opinion can sometimes help to divert arguments or issues that the children might challenge you on.

Lifelong friendships
The most beautiful thing they now have is a lifelong friendship. That’s what house sharing does. It creates friends for life. Sherylanne is now moving on overseas and Angela is looking for someone new. They are sad that the arrangement is coming to an end but they’ll be friends for life. There’s even talk of visiting Sherylanne overseas sometime down the track.

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Contact The Room Xchange

Tweet us at @theroomxchange and @LudwinaDautovic
Share a story on instagram @theroomxchange
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Previous Episode

Property Manager and Tenant Relationship with Karen Joseph

“My role as a property manager, first and foremost, is to help people.” Karen Joseph
Karen Joseph, Principal at First National Real Estate in Manly, Sydney has been in the real estate industry for 19 years and talks about how she builds trust and solid relationships between her property owners, herself and her tenants.
About Karen Joseph

With a reputation in the industry for having a proven set of skills, Karen Joseph provides her clients with extensive experience in both property management and sales.

As a consummate professional, she believes in being open and honest at every step of the process. She prides herself on being able to place the right tenant into the right property. This comes from doing her due diligence and caring for each house as if it were her own. It is also important that every individual ‒ both landlords and tenants ‒ is treated with respect.
What we discussed

2:56 – Good communication is vital to develop a good relationship with your agent.

My role as a property manager first and foremost is to help people.

2:56 – Good communication is vital to develop a good relationship with your agent.

6:19 – The rental market has changed and is governed a lot more now.

6:35 – The burnout rate for a property manager is about two years.

8:22 – The perception of the role of the rental manager and the reality is very different.

9:00 – It’s important to match the right tenant in the right rental apartment.

11:27 – Take the time to understand the life and person behind the agent.

12:32 – Covid has changed the world so much which puts even more pressure on agents.

We need good quality tenants to have great relationships with, so they’ll stay long-term and look after the owners' investment property.

14:00 – We can’t always get back to you right away, so you need to be patient.

16:00 – Moving can be stressful and we have e-books to help you with that.

18:26 – Realistic expectations of a tenant.

19:32 – The owner needs to have a budget and expect repairs.

20:24 – ‘As inspected’. You accept the property as it is. Don’t expect renovations.

24 :51 – Legislation now allows tenants to do certain things around the home like hang pictures and paintings. It’s better for them to do so as they’re likely to stay longer.

25:22 – What are the expectations of the agent when doing a routine property inspection?

1) Are you taking care of the property? 2) Is it in a reasonable state of cleanliness? 3) Is anything damaged?

28:30 – What is considered reasonable wear and tear?

Contact The Room Xchange

Tweet us at @theroomxchange and @LudwinaDautovic
Share a story on instagram @theroomxchange
Email us at [email protected]

Next Episode

The Future of Housing in Australia with Mark McCrindle

In episode 14, Mark McCrindle, social researcher and demographer, and Ludwina Dautovic, talk about the future of housing in Australia and how our CBDs are changing.
ABOUT MARK MCCRINDLE
Mark McCrindle is a social researcher with an international following. He is recognised as a thought leader in tracking emerging issues and researching social trends. Having developed his reputation across two decades as an award-winning social researcher, best-selling author and social commentator, Mark has appeared across all major television networks, radio and print media, and been twice invited to speak at TEDx. He has presented thousands of keynotes and workshops in all major industries including finance, technology, health, mining, energy and education for top global brands and organisations. His advisory, communications and research company, McCrindle, count among its clients more than 100 of the largest companies and leading international brands.
"One thing that we came to appreciate during the pandemic were their household members, friends and family with whom they were living and they reprioritised their life and values as a result. Moving out of it, I think that will remain core."

In this conversation, Mark McCrindle and Ludwina Dautovic discuss the future of housing in Australia. There have been multiple changes in our country as a result of Covid which has changed our housing landscape and the future of housing.

POPULATION GROWTH HAS REDUCED
Population growth is foundational to housing, and we’ve had a slowdown in population growth due to the pandemic. We've seen a slow down in immigration and arrivals from overseas. We’ve also seen a slowdown in birth rate in fact it’s been the slowest birth rate recorded. Considering the property market has been geared on population growth, this has caused issues. There’s also been an internal migration. Growth in regional areas and secondary capitals are growing faster and it’s creating a rebalancing of our population. But with the shift in population and more people working from home, these trends have changed.
LIFE CHANGES ARE MOVING THE HOUSING MARKET
The single person household is the fastest growing household category with both young people and the elderly. Delayed family forming, living at home phenomena, more investment over a longer period into education and career, have defined the life stages and therefore the d

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