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$850 / 132ft2 - Seeking Housemate, private room (opt.help around house 4 reduced rent) (Brentwood)
34th St., Brentwood, MD 20722
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Ideally we hope to find someone who wants to help with babysitting and light cleaning in exchange for part or all of rent and utility costs; but a good fit for our house is our top priority.
We are a couple in our 40s with a 8 year old, 3 year old, plus a musician/engineering graduate student housemate, and two friendly cats. We like to talk current events, play and listen to music, dance, cook good food, go swimming, hiking, biking and camping. We like to have friends over for regular game nights, dinners and campfires in the backyard in fall and spring. The couple work as a carpenter and an organizer. If you love food, music and are environmentally conscious, you’ll likely enjoy living with us.
Our kids have grown up with housemates, we had the same two housemates for the first four years of their lives. The housemate who most recently moved out stayed for nearly two years before moving to France.
The value of the rent is $850 a month per room, plus utilities which average about $100 a month per person which includes internet and housecleaning 2x a month. The room is optionally furnished and is roughly 12x11 with a tall closet with shelving to maximize storage space.
We are seeking a housemate who will:
- ideally speak mostly French with our daughter and son, and the mother of the house (email us if everything sounds like a good fit except the French-speaking part, we know it's a tall order)
- join us for one meal a week. The meal requirement is so that we develop a connection with you. We don’t want a housemate who just goes to their room and doesn't interact with the rest of the house. If we find other times to connect regularly that can work instead.
- take a spot in the kitchen cleaning rotation on a night you eat, but don’t cook
- ideally cook dinner for the house periodically assuming you’re also eating with us, schedule permitting
For folks interested in the work exchange for rent and utilities:
We are looking for someone to help with kid drop off and light cleaning/ pick up 10 hours a week.
Work that would count towards the 10 hours of work per week includes:
- packing lunches for the kids
- walking with kids to the bus stop
- washing and folding the kids laundry
- cleaning up the house (picking up toys, vacuuming, cleaning up after breakfast)
- babysitting
We would set a schedule up together based on what works for you and welcome a combination of work and cash for rent for hours less than 10 hours/wk. Because of wanting things to be relatively stable for the kids we are asking for a one-year commitment to stay, though the work exchange need not last as long. Non-smoker preferred. You must have no criminal record.
We do have a fenced in backyard, and are ok to live with one relaxed and cat-safe dog. We don’t really want another cat, but we open to other pets.
Move-in date is negotiable.
The Neighborhood
Mount Rainier, Maryland is a diverse, creative, hippie enclave on the northeastern border of Washington, DC. It boasts the region's oldest food co-op, an awesome nonprofit dance studio/performance space, numerous art studios, lots of funky architecture and landscape design, a couple of restaurants, cute little green spaces and tree-lined streets, and proximity to the Anacostia River and its amazing trail network. A lot of great stuff goes on in town, but it's mostly quiet and peaceful at night.
We’re just a mile from West Hyattsville Metro and only a 10 min walk or 5 min bike ride to express buses that go downtown and to redline stations. It's an easy metro to Howard and Univ. of Maryland-College Park. It's also an easy bike ride into DC or to other places like Hyattsville and the University of Maryland.
We have great neighbors who take care of each other and celebrate diversity.
Both our house in particular and the Mt. Rainier/Brentwood community in general is welcoming to people of any race, gender and sexual orientation and the house has been a home to people of many different races, genders and sexual orientations over the years.
The House
The Urban Homestead is a four bedroom, 1917 craftsman bungalow with an awesome deck overlooking the forested backyard. We have free laundry facilities in the basement, Verizon FIOS wifi, and a great dishwasher, but no tv or central air conditioning (just window ac units) The house has been a group house in our friend circle for over fifteen years, changing residents only room by room since around 2008. We have had housemates almost the entire time we have lived here. Our kids have grown up with housemates and we all love living with people. One of us grew up with housemates in a very similar arrangement to what we are seeking here, and is still in touch with a few of those housemates. We are seeking a housemate who wants to be a part of the life of the house. We find that with respectful, open communication, many of our housemates become good friends and eventually like family, and hope this for our new housemate as well.