House sharing forms lifelong friendships

Update: 2022-04-21

Description

Angela and Sherylanne have been house sharing for 18 months and have now formed a lifelong friendship. In this episode we’re talking about their journey, how they negotiated their rent offset, how they worked through any issues and their plans to remain friends for life.

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About Angela and Sherylanne
Angela is epidemiologist and a kidney specialist who works long hours. Sherylanne was building a dance school just before Covid hit. They came together just at the right time. Not only where they a great support for each other during the 18 months house sharing together, they were also able to support each other through Covid.

Benefits of having a housemate
Sherylanne helped to create a lot of stability around their home during covid. The consistency of having someone older and more mature around Angela’s son Felix, created a more solid experience for him and for Angela. She was also able to fill the gaps for Angela and be there as another adult to help raise her son.

Negotiating the rent offset
Sherylanne and Angela did a full rent offset. It changed over time as it was needed, and they constantly talked about their needs and the changes that were required to fulfil them. Their advice is, if you keep the lines of communication open, you’ll be fine. They also found our house share agreement helpful as well as our interview questionnaire.

House sharing with children in the home
It’s a natural concern as a parent to ensure the safety of your children. There are things we consider when someone is around our kids who might have any form of influence over them. Asking questions and being clear about your views as a parent is important and as a housemate you must back up the parents. Having another adult in the home can have a huge positive impact on the children especially if you are a single parent family. The additional support and adult opinion can sometimes help to divert arguments or issues that the children might challenge you on.

Lifelong friendships
The most beautiful thing they now have is a lifelong friendship. That’s what house sharing does. It creates friends for life. Sherylanne is now moving on overseas and Angela is looking for someone new. They are sad that the arrangement is coming to an end but they’ll be friends for life. There’s even talk of visiting Sherylanne overseas sometime down the track.

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