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For Caroline Li and Colin Wang, moving in together after dating for eight months was a fortuitous and urgent matter.
Last fall, while Wang, 28, was finishing his final year of medical school at UCLA, he discovered that the two-bedroom apartment he shared with roommates was filled with mold. He had to move out immediately, but had trouble finding a new place.
“It was very difficult to find affordable housing close to campus, especially during the school year,” said Wang, who has reached the three-year cap on his student housing lease set by UCLA, which means he only pays $1,425 a month in rent, while market rates would require him to pay $2,000 or more.
Meanwhile, Ms. Li, a 24-year-old registered nurse, learned that one of her two roommates would be moving out midway through their lease on their $5,000-a-month three-bedroom home near Santa Monica, Calif. Ms. Li and Mr. Wang realized that if Mr. Wang moved in with Ms. Li and her roommate, both problems could be solved at the same time.
Ms. Li and her roommate each pay $1,750 per month, and Mr. Wang pays $1,500.
“I think we had always planned to move in after Colin finished his residency, not after he graduated from medical school,” Ms. Lee said. “But I think the opportunity presented itself early on, and we were able to keep the apartment and save some money at the same time.”
Ms. Li and Mr. Wang are among many young couples who choose to live together in the early stages of their relationship to save on housing and living costs. Low inventory affordable housing, Fierce competition Between buyers and tenants, Rental prices slowly falling and Mortgage rates climbyoung people across the country are being forced to find creative ways to afford housing.
“The younger generation really has to find ways to be frugal and reduce housing costs, especially in the big cities where rents and home prices are still very high,” he said. Hannah Jonessenior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.
According to the recent Polls Data from Realtor.com shows that 80% of Gen Z respondents and 76% of millennial respondents (who are living with a partner) said finances or logistics, or both, influenced their decision.
Ms. Li and Mr. Wang’s apartment is on the top floor of a mid-rise building with an on-site gym. Their apartment has in-unit laundry and newer appliances and is close to the beach and major freeways. They share monthly utility and grocery bills equally with another roommate.
“When I moved here, they actually gave me some discounts because I had no salary until recently,” said Wang, who just started his residency training program and has more than $200,000 in medical school debt.
Ms. Li and Mr. Wang said that since living together, their communication skills have improved and they are more focused on spending quality time together. But they are still working on integrating their lifestyles.
“Even if you live with roommates, you have to respect each other’s boundaries and stuff like that,” Ms. Lee said. “But when you live with a partner, I feel like the space you share is much more intimate.”
While sharing rent has its benefits, living together early in a relationship can cause problems if a couple doesn’t already understand each other’s communication styles and conflict resolution techniques. Nicole Osquedaa licensed marriage and family therapist in Chicago.
Ms. Osqueda, who specializes in helping young people and young couples through transitions in life, said: “If there are big disagreements and we don’t have a basis for talking about difficult things, whether it’s financial or otherwise, then it can exacerbate some of the stress you’re already feeling.”
After seven months of dating, Caitlin Kadakin, 26, and her boyfriend, 28, moved into a one-bedroom apartment in a high-rise building in downtown Chicago.
Their apartment, which rents for $2,400 a month, offers many amenities, including a dog run, conference rooms and in-unit laundry. The couple decided to split the rent based on their income: Ms. Kadakin, an events manager, pays $1,000 a month, and her boyfriend, a practicing attorney, pays the remaining $1,400.
“When I first got here, I said, ‘I can afford $1,000 in rent,’ ” said Ms. Kadakin, who previously rented a two-bedroom apartment in another Chicago area with a roommate, paying $900 a month each.
Ms. Kadakin said that when her roommate decided to move out, she and her boyfriend agreed that it would be more cost-effective for Ms. Kadakin to move in together rather than rent an apartment on her own. Ms. Kadakin said she could afford to live alone but preferred to live with others to save money.
“I started looking into doing a master’s program this year, so finances were always on my mind,” she said.
When it comes to paying for utilities and groceries, the couple splits the bills. However, Ms. Kadakin said keeping tabs on their joint finances wasn’t always perfect.
“He’s very aware of his finances, which is not the case with me sometimes,” she said.
Ms. Kadakin’s boyfriend, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, said that although they did not set financial expectations well before moving in together, they have learned how to better set financial goals together and have become a stronger couple.
Ms Kadakin said that overall, living with her boyfriend has been a positive experience and she feels their relationship has room to grow.
She said: “I think living together has definitely been a test of our relationship, but it has also made it stronger and I feel very comfortable with him.”
But not all relationships survive once newlyweds decide to live together.
In June 2021, Eva Hirsch, 26, and her boyfriend moved to Philadelphia together after dating in New York for a year. In New York, they lived separately: Ms. Hirsch rented a small studio apartment for $2,000 a month, and her boyfriend rented a small one-bedroom apartment for $1,900 a month — a “COVID discount” that would soon increase to $3,200 a month.
When Ms. Hirsch received a job offer in Philadelphia, she persuaded him to move there with her. They chose a two-bedroom apartment for $4,000 a month and split the rent.
“Compared to what we pay in New York, it’s a steal,” Hirsch said.
Two years later, Ms Hirsch and her boyfriend decided to end their relationship and move out of their apartment, which meant they had to break their lease.
Ms. Hirsch, who now lives in Norwalk, Conn., said she felt that moving in with her boyfriend was “the next step.” They bought a car together and split the monthly mortgage payments; they also split utility and grocery bills.
“At the time, if you were in a relationship, everyone did the same thing because most people didn’t move out,” Ms. Hirsch said, adding that living with her boyfriend taught her more about herself and about future relationships. Looking back, she said, she wished they had waited longer to move in together.
“It was good to give it a try,” Ms. Hirsch said. “Now it’s going to take a lot for me to start another relationship.”
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