People thinking of living in a share house often consider doing room-share as well. It’s said that room-share is cheap, but is it true?
In this article, we introduce the pros and cons of room-share as well as its the total cost. There are differences between room-share and share house.
How much does it cost to do room-share by 2 people?
The below is the cost of doing room-share with a friend in Tokyo.
- The initial cost: ¥500,000 ~ ¥600,000
- Rent: ¥100,000
- Utility cost: ¥10,000
The initial cost means security deposit, key money, home appliances, and such. It’s almost the same as renting a regular apartment.
However, the actual cost per person is a halt of the total cost above. It costs around ¥100,000 to rent a 2K room in Tokyo (in case of living by 2 people). The initial cost tends to be high for an apartment.
The total cost can be split in room-share
One of the pros in room-share is “the total cost can be split.” Everything including rent, utility cost, and even the initial cost is split.
Isn’t it difficult to actually put your moving plan into action because the initial cost is so high? It tends to be really expensive, like more than ¥300,000, for the initial cost to live alone.
However, the initial cost can be split, and you can reduce expenses a lot in room-share.
Less private time in room-share
On the contrary, there are cons in room-share. The total cost in whole gets higher than living alone.
You need more rooms because you don’t live alone. As a result, rent gets higher, and so does the initial cost. While the initial cost is around ¥400,000 for living alone, it’s ¥500,000 ~ ¥600,000 for room-share.
Moreover, there will be less private time. A living room and private room are close in an apartment. So, overhearing sound/noise from the living room is inevitable.
The initial cost is high for room-share
Compared to share house, especially the initial cost is high in room-share.
Depending on an apartment, but sometimes the initial cost is more than ¥600,000. On the contrary, it’s around ¥100,000 for share house.
It’s because room-share is to rent an apartment so that security deposit and key money cost a lot. You would need to pay the amount of rent for a few months just for security deposit and key money… Rent is higher than living alone in a 1K room because you would need to rent an apartment with more than 2 rooms like 2K type in room-share.
It costs around ¥300,000 just for security deposit and key money cost in room-share. You had better think you need ¥500,000 ~ ¥600,000 in total. Given that, now share house feels cheaper.
Room-share with your friend is recommended
If you want to do room-share, living with your friend is recommended.
Room-share is basically done by yourselves, so there is no intervention from a real estate or a management company. Real estate is involved only for a housing contract.
Thus, whenever troubles/problems arise, you must take care of them by yourselves. It’s easier for you to have more direct communication with your friend, even when something hard to say occurs, such as a problem related to money.
If you are not good at telling your opinions/thoughts clearly, doing room-share with your friend is recommended. However, doing room-share with your friend doesn’t work. In some cases, a friendship breaks down completely due to room-share, and some people are disconnected from their friends since then…
You should look around carefully before you leap.
You can live with strangers in a share house
When you can find no one for room-share, we recommend share house rather than room-share.
Most of the share houses have a style of living with people you don’t know. You might feel anxious/nervous when you hear “living with strangers,” but real estate or management companies are in charge of running share houses. So, it’s safe whenever you encounter a trouble.
Moreover, share house has an environment easy to make new friends because everyone doesn’t know each other. You can meet many interesting people working in a different field from which you have never had a chance the totalk to. People moving into a share house have different backgrounds so you can meet diverse people.
The total cost for share house is cheap
The total cost for share house is cheaper than room-share. Rent is around ¥50,000 per person, which is not so different from room-share, but the initial cost is just around ¥100,000 for share house. It’s around half of room-share and one fifth cheaper than living alone, so it’s very easy on your wallet.
In terms of both cost/life-wise, if you are thinking of room-share because you want to live someone, share house might be a right choice.
Summary: Cost is a bit cheaper for room-share
It seems people often say that the total cost is cheap for room-share because everything can be split, so it’s cheaper than living alone as a result.
However, if you take a look carefully, the initial cost is actually high because the number of rooms you need for room-share increases, as a result, rent, security deposit, and key money become high.
In share house, the total cost is cheap (around ¥100,000), and also you can have many new encounters. If you are thinking of room-share because you want to cut cost, we recommend you to consider share house as well.
If you are interested, please come visit our share houses.
