It’s what many baby boomers are doing, according to Andrew Colagiuri, Founder of Bright Residential and FLK IT OVER.
“Last year flatmates.com.au recorded its largest increase ever in house sharers in the 60-64 age bracket with 43 percent growth and I expect the trend to continue,” he said.
Why? Andrew blames the high cost of renting on your own – as he points out, finding a flatmate to split the costs of renting a two- or three-bedroom home with is cheaper than a one-bedroom.
“People who have lived in their own home for most of their life have been forced out of the property market through a messy divorce, redundancy or sadly they’ve become a widow and they’ve got no choice but to become a tenant again to remain in the same neighbourhood,” he adds.
But there is good news with a host of websites now dedicating to matching people up. Andrew’s site www.flkitover.com allows people to sign a lease agreement for shared accommodation on their smartphone – so you don’t even need to be in the same place at once.
It also makes it easy to renew an existing lease or add new tenants to the agreement.
Most boomers will rent a house with strangers or a room from a friendof family member, such as Kathy Daddo. Aged in her late 50’s, a rental increase forced her to leave her home two years ago and look for a flatmate. Luckily, she didn’t have to look far – renting a room from her sister Christine who lived nearby.
While they don’t have a formal tenancy agreement, they do set an equalamount for groceries and bills and share the cleaning and household maintenance.
“I’m saving around $600 a fortnight from when I was renting and Chris doesn’t have to worry about finding funds for household costs so it’s a win-win for us!” Kathy says.
Even though she and Christine are sisters, Kathy also recommends house sharing in general to other boomers looking to save money – and for the company.
“It’s a very lonely existence if you’re just going to work and coming back to an empty house because doing other things, socially, costs money you don’t have or energy you can’t find,” she says.
With just 31per cent of people now owning their homes outright – the lowest number in 70 years – it’s certainly a trend that’s sure to continue.
Picture: Can you go back to your younger, house-sharing days? Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon get back together again in the 2002 film ‘The Banger Sisters’
