Cost Effective Housing

We are in a bit of a funny spot right now with housing. We may have gone further down the road towards renting a house in Toronto than we should have, and we still might continue down the road, but I think we were being a little unconscious of the decision to rent a place and in our actions because of that. I have brought it up as something we need to make sure we are very clear on before doing. Now the rest is me hacking on the numbers for our next discussion on the topic, but I think the way it adds up right now is:

• Zak: Living at his parents house. Can live anywhere and can move anytime. Current cost above his parents contribution: ~$0 a month. Income: ~$0 a month.
• Steve: Living in an apartment in San Fransisco. Will move in a month or so, can live anywhere including his parents house and very likely my parents house. Current cost: $2,000+ a month. Income: ~$6,000 a month
• Mike: Living in his Mother's house. Needs to be in Toronto until he leaves his job. Current cost above his parents contribution: ~$1,500 a month. Income: ~$3,600 a month.

So, based on some very simple calculations, a previous estimate that living in Toronto together was going to cost us around $5,600 a month for everything, and starting at zero:

• Steve moves home with Zak, Mike stays with his Mom: + $3,600 - $1,500 = + $2,100 / month
• Steve moves home and Zak goes with him, Mike same: same
  • Note that the above 2 are somewhat time restricted. We would go squirrely there eventually!
• Rent a place before Steve leaves his job, Zak and Mike move in: + $9,600 - $5,600 = + $4,000 / month
• We all move into a place in Toronto after Steve is done: + $3,600 - $5,600 = - $2,000 / month
• We all move into a place in Toronto, and Mike quits his job: + $0 - $5,600 = - $5,600 / month
  • This is probably eventually inevitable
• Magical 5th option, we all move to Toronto and Mike works, with costs <= $3,600: + $3,600 - $3,600 = $0 / month

And now based on these numbers, to get a year of run living together with no-one working for real money we need to have at least $56,000 in the bank (or be very sure we can get it). To live together with Mike still paying the bills we need to have at least $20,000 in the bank per year. And to live at home and wait out signing a lease we need tolerance - and enough money to move out when we cant handle it anymore! Which I think means that signing a lease costs at least 20K, and realistically needs to be worth at least 56K to the company.My goal based on these numbers would be to raise the blood and angel money we have been talking about before diving in, and beg our parents to let us stay for as long as we all can handle it.