long post incoming. wanted to include as much info as possible & be transparent about everything!

i’m looking for a housemate for a 9 month lease! one bedroom up for rent in my house. we would live together and share the house's amenities. lease... term is june 15, 2026 thru march 15, 2027. there will be an option to renew if we like living together/if circumstances allow! i bought this house three years ago. it’s my pride and joy and i would love someone to make it their home too.

**absolutely NO pets, no matter how cute. i already have a dog (very friendly to humans, not necessarily other animals and my long-distance girlfriend visits most weekends and also brings her dog)**

about the room for rent: $1100/month plus utilities. we'd split utilities 60/40 (you being the 40). while you'd be renting only one room, the house is a completely shared space (minus my room, my office, and my craft room), but you will have full access to all other areas of the house (full bathroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, backyard, attic & basement for storage, one car garage that we'd share in the winter, free street/driveway parking). utilities that we'd split are heat, electric, & wifi. for transparency, those bills combined are usually $125 in the summer (love holyoke's cheaper heat/electric fees!) and about $475 in the winter. so you'd be looking at contributing roughly $50/month in the summer-ish months for utilities and $190 in the winter-ish months. these numbers are not guarantees but are based on previous years. free netflix, hulu, disney plus, hbo, prime video; i cover water, trash, snow removal, house repairs (and i have a quick turnaround bc i live there too so that's a perk!), yard maintenance, house cleaner once/month (who will clean your room), and there is free street/driveway parking (very safe in my area!). an AC unit is provided. you are welcome to garden with me in my two plots if you have a green thumb!

more about the house: this is a 2 story home in holyoke with tons of light and a fenced in backyard with a garden, hammock, badminton, fire pit, and a picnic table. 1 full bathroom that we'd share. the neighborhood is very quiet. there’s plenty of storage space in the basement and attic that you are welcome to use. free washer & dryer in the basement. there’s a one car garage that can fit misc outdoor things too (bikes etc). in the winter time my housemate and i switch off using the garage when it snows. attached are pictures of the bedroom available for rent (empty & with things in it so you can have a sense of how much you can fit in it); shared kitchen, bathroom, living room, backyard, attic.

accessibility info: no elevator inside the house, not scent free (dogs that sheds (i vacuum regularly tho), will light candles on occasion), cigarette smoke free, w33d is fine but NO smoking in the house

covid precautions: if one of us has covid, we will quarantine/wear masks if we need to be in a shared space. pls test regularly until you are negative. covid testing is optional for parties during the warmer months and highly encouraged in the winter.

about me: i’m 31 and worked in higher ed. planning to go to grad school part-time this fall! i love making pottery, doing DIY and miscellaneous arts and crafts, community activism, plants, the outdoors, and my dog, Bea (pronounced bee) and my girlfriend's pup Stewie! i want to make sure my housemate feels safe & secure first and foremost, so i've worked to incorporate as many compassionate terms in the lease agreement as i can that protect my housemate/tenant as well as myself. my most recent housemate and i made a lot of amendments to the standard lease agreement most use- i am more than happy to share that doc with interested folks and am open to adjusting terms, so long as they are fair for both parties. for example, in the section that says I "may immediately terminate this agreement” (i.e. kick someone out), it now says I "may immediately terminate this agreement, but must give 1 month’s notice to the tenant to vacate the premises, contingent upon them securing stable housing to move into.” meaning if we aren’t getting along, i’d give you 1 month’s notice to move out but if you can’t secure new housing before the 1 month mark then you stay until you find secure housing.

what i’m looking for in a housemate: someone who likes to share food and meals (it’s more cost effective! but this is not a requirement - if you are open to it, awesome! if not, i understand!) is relatively quiet; enjoys community (i’ll host dinner parties and parties in the backyard during the summer occasionally, but definitely not every weekend lol); likes dogs; communicative, receptive, and responsive. Read More