{"id":5003,"date":"2024-03-28T12:47:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/got-an-empty-bedroom-how-it-could-help-you-make-money-and-retire-in-style\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T12:47:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:47:11","slug":"got-an-empty-bedroom-how-it-could-help-you-make-money-and-retire-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/got-an-empty-bedroom-how-it-could-help-you-make-money-and-retire-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Got an Empty Bedroom? How It Could Help You Make Money\u2014and Retire in Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Brenda Rose<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Brenda Rose<\/strong>, 63, has found her forever home.<\/p>\n

The retired nurse shares half of a comfortable 1950s home in a sought-after neighborhood of Portland, OR. It\u2019s walkable to a grocery store, public transit, tree-lined parks, and the hip restaurants and cozy coffee shops that Stumptown is known for. Rose and her 72-year-old roommate, Gayle<\/strong>, garden together. They eat dinner together. Even their dogs\u2014Rose\u2019s small \u201cfoofy\u201d dog and her roommate\u2019s 80-pound pit bull\u2014get along.<\/p>\n

This idyllic lifestyle, which has undeniable \u201cGolden Girls\u201d DNA, costs Rose only $900 a month. How is that possible, when the average monthly rent for a Portland apartment is two or three times higher?<\/p>\n

Rose found her home (and roommate) through a national house-sharing platform called Silvernest.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where I would be without [it],\u201d says Rose, who struggles with long COVID-19 and lives on a fixed monthly income of $1,500. \u201cHonestly, I would probably be back in Pennsylvania living in my mom\u2019s basement.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to make aging affordable<\/h2>\n

As Americans age, many might worry they don\u2019t have enough money saved to retire comfortably. The median amount for people aged 65 to 74 comes in at $200,000<\/a> stashed in accounts ranging from an IRA to a 401(k).<\/p>\n

This can make aging in place, or finding an affordable smaller place to call home, humbling at best, panic-inducing at worst.<\/p>\n

But the solution might, quite literally, be next door.<\/p>\n

According to an analysis<\/a> of U.S. Census data, 33.6 million<\/em> bedrooms across the nation are sitting empty. Silvernest taps directly into that opportunity.<\/p>\n

On the site, homeowners list their available space and home seekers indicate the monthly rent they\u2019re willing to pay for it. Like online dating sites, an algorithm suggests matches between the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on the verge of people rethinking the way that they live, especially as we age and we\u2019re living longer than we ever had anticipated,\u201d says Amy Ford<\/strong>, Silvernest\u2019s vice president of strategic partnerships and business development.<\/p>\n

And in the wake of the waning COVID-19 pandemic, when many were forced to physically isolate, \u201cthe pendulum is swinging back toward shared spaces, shared community, and shared housing,\u201d says Ford. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot in this world that\u2019s so much better when we can rely on others.\u201d<\/p>\n

A win-win situation<\/h2>\n

Home sharing has allowed Brenda Rose to stay in Portland, OR, which she calls her \u201chappy place.\u201d It also enables her roommate, Gayle, to meet her mortgage payment.<\/p>\n

Brenda Rose<\/p>\n

Started in 2015, Silvernest operates nationwide, although most housing options tend to cluster around city centers where the rental market is noticeably pinched. Like other home-sharing sites, such as SpareRoom.com, the basic service is free. (Silvernest\u2019s paid premium plan includes background checks and access to a legal home-sharing contract.)<\/p>\n

Like its name hints, Silvernest\u2019s focus is on mature users, but anyone over 18 can use the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had users as young as 19 and over 100,\u201d says Ford.<\/p>\n

On average, Silvernest users tend to be women in their 50s and 60s like Rose. During the pandemic, she said goodbye to both a photography business and a 15-year relationship. As a result, her finances were tight and she ended up living in her sister\u2019s RV for 15 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter spending 50-something years of my life being a professional working person, I couldn\u2019t believe that would happen to me,\u201d says Rose. The experience gave her a new perspective on the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who need housing \u2026 are regular people who need a little bit of help,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Home sharing has allowed Rose to stay in Portland, which she calls her \u201chappy place.\u201d And it enables Gayle, a massage therapist, to meet her $2,500 mortgage payment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a win-win,\u201d says Rose.<\/p>\n

Sharing more than space<\/h2>\n

Homeowners might initially rent out a room because they need more income. (Silvernest estimates their renters earn around $10,000 a year doing so.) But many often discover that sharing their space comes with other surprising perks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may find out, \u2018Wow, it\u2019s a lot nicer when someone wonders when I\u2019m going to come home,\u2019 or \u2018If I have to travel, I don\u2019t have to board my dog,\u2019\u201d says Ford. \u201cAll the practical components of having someone else around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jocelyn<\/strong> is one of those people. After her husband of 47 years died, she wasn\u2019t hurting financially. Still, friends urged her to think about finding a roommate to share her spacious two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in a desirable section of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was truly reluctant,\u201d says Jocelyn, who had never had a roommate, even when she attended boarding school and college.<\/p>\n

Soon after listing her apartment on Silvernest last spring, Jocelyn met a potential match, a woman in her mid-50s who works for a nonprofit. Over coffee, they confirmed that they shared key interests like traveling and reading, and the same political leanings. After several more meetings, Jocelyn invited the woman to sign a lease and move into her unused furnished bedroom.<\/p>\n

The arrangement saves Jocelyn thousands of dollars each month, but more importantly, it has earned her a friend. Together, they celebrate holidays, attend the opera, and catch up over coffee on Saturday mornings.<\/p>\n

Now, Jocelyn really can\u2019t imagine a life without her roommate, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s lovely to share things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other comforts of home<\/h2>\n

Silvernest research shows that 44% of older homeowners would consider home sharing, and 26% are more likely to consider it now than they would have five years ago. That\u2019s good timing, as the number of older households who spend more than half of their income on housing expenses<\/a> is expected to rise 42% over the next decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to look at other ways to house and to have relationships, and I feel like that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing,\u201d says Rose.<\/p>\n

Before Rose moved in with Gayle and was still living alone, she passed out one night and hit her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t ever want to have that experience again,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so comforting for me to be aging in a home that\u2019s comfortable, and know there\u2019s somebody else here who could call my family if I have a problem or take me to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cGolden Girls\u201d references she inevitably hears about her living situation are accurate, says Rose, who thinks many people her age and otherwise could benefit from embracing the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cMature women living together, mutually supporting each other into old age is a wonderful thing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The post Got an Empty Bedroom? How It Could Help You Make Money\u2014and Retire in Style<\/a> appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brenda Rose Brenda Rose, 63, has found her forever home. The retired nurse shares half of a comfortable 1950s home in a sought-after neighborhood of Portland, OR. It\u2019s walkable to a grocery store, public transit, tree-lined parks, and the hip restaurants and cozy coffee shops that Stumptown is known for. Rose and her 72-year-old roommate,…Read More→<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}