Anyone ever taking in a boarder?

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

We're really stretched right now with our new mortgage and the rent I'm still paying in Boston. That and two cars (one in each state) and food bills in each place are just making things incredibly tight.

I would never consider a random from craigslist but I feel better if it's a visiting physician. We have no children and of course the person would have to be dog friendly since we have a puppy.

Because of our close proximity to the school and the hospitals, we're considering taking in someone who's doing an elective rotation. Has anyone ever done this? Obviously the pro is that it's extra $$, the con is that it might be really annoying to have someone living in our house especially because I work from home the weeks I'm in Cleveland.

[moonlight]

Re: Anyone ever taking in a boarder?

I have never done this since I've never owned a home, but I have done it as the renter! We move around a bit due to my husband being a fmg/med student. Finding housing has been... interesting. Earlier this year we rented a studio above a detached garage. Although it wasn't IN the person's house we were IN the back yard and saw the owners daily. Worked out great! Then when we moved to England this year for 3 months we moved into a two bedroom two bath apartment with the owner. Although I was really scarred about it he turned out to be a great guy! He would give us our British lessons every night while we all watched TV and hung out.

Although it's kinda a odd situation I wouldn't be afraid to do it! You'll have tons of visiting med students in that area. In fact, not our school but one of the other Caribbean med schools (Saba or St. Mathews or maybe both) send med students to Boston for rotations now. If you don't find a US student renter, then feel free to PM I can give you some sites/resources/info to get in contact with some desperate fmg/med students looking for housing during 3rd year rotations. Again, it's not their entire 3rd year, but maybe 1-2 rotations.

Best of luck to you!

[medpedspouse]

Re: Anyone ever taking in a boarder?

I have done it once and only once because it was the only opportunity. We took in a MS4 who was doing a rotation in our town. It worked out great. He was gone most of the time - working hard - trying to suck up to the program. Out of the 4 weekends, he was only there once. IF it had not worked out, he was only there a month and if things had been really, really bad - we would have asked him to leave. However, I think that you will be safe with this population - the majority are hard workers, trying to impress a program and are just thankful to find cheaper housing in a home rather than paying a monthly extended stay hotel bill. A colleague of mine does it all the time and makes quite a bit. If she ever is having family over or planning to be out of town, she just does not take in a boarder that month. It must be somewhat lucrative since there are several families that are on "the list" at the student affairs office.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: Anyone ever taking in a boarder?

We haven't done it because the visiting student/resident would have to have a car due to the distance from our house to the hospital. But DH gets e-mails on a regular basis about visiting med student/residents looking for housing. I think if you think the quality of visiting students/residents is high enough then go for it. I think visiting students really only need a place to sleep because they really should be working their tail off to show the program they'd fit in if they matched there.

[Tenacious_D]

Re: Anyone ever taking in a boarder?

We haven't done it but a few friends here at DH's school have done the sublet/boarder situation. My only advice would be to get some references, make sure you get a deposit and make it very clear what they can and cannot do, eat, etc. in your home.

Good luck!