Help me pick a new place to live!

[placeholdername]

I couldn't figure out which subforum would be right for this, so I'm sticking it here for now.

Basically, I'm moving to a new place next month and I have a few options but I'm having trouble deciding:

Option 1) Total rent is about $430/mo.  Two guys living there, the house is nice but the room is kind of small.  It's a little closer to my campus, but farther away from groceries etc as well as my therapist.  One person goes to my college, one person works.  Only one bathroom and it's pretty small.

Option 2) Total rent is $260-$300/mo.  One guy will be living there, and potentially a third person moving in who I'm guessing would probably be male but I don't know.  The apartment isn't *too* run down or anything, but it's not as nice as option 1 and it's an apartment rather than a house.  Closer to my campus as well as in a more lively neighborhood than option 1 (bars and restaurants are about 1-2 blocks away).  One bathroom and it's kind of rundown.

Option 3)  Total rent is $460-$470/mo.  It's a big 6 bedroom house -- the layout is nice but it has the typical 'college kids have been living here a while' kind of look.  5 other people, 1 girl and 4 guys (the person moving out is a girl). 4/5 of the people go to my college, the other works.  The room is decent sized with a good window and private entrance to bathroom shared with one other person.  Also has a garage so I wouldnt have to worry about street parking.  It's only a couple blocks away from option 2 so right near restaurants/shops/etc.

Right now I'm leaning toward option 3, but option 2 being so much cheaper is also tempting.  The one thing with option 3 is the number of people -- I like being around people, but people can also make me anxious and 5 other people is a lot more than 2 other people.

The other thing in my mind is that I'm on the track towards starting hormones in the relatively near future (2-3 months? maybe?) and so I'm trying to have in mind the potential 'coming out' possibilities -- 2 people is a lot easier than 5 people, but the 2 people options are both all male, whereas option 3 has at least one girl (who I haven't met so I don't even have a guess as to how open-minded she might or might not be).

So yes, kind of random but if anyone has input I would appreciate it!

[Janet_Girl]

If you can afford it, option 3.  The reason is that with you an just guys might present a problem with the coming out.  Where as the 5 other people, one who is a girl and you will be replacing the girl.



JMHO,
Janet

[placeholdername]

Just to clarify, there will still be one other girl -- were two previously but one will still be there if I move in.

[Nero]

I would be careful not to put too much weight on the fact there's a female at one place. While it's understandable you'd like to share a place with someone of your gender, she could turn out to be a total b and not worth it. Unless there's a way for you to meet the prospective roommates beforehand and gauge their suitability, try to focus more on the place itself.

[rock]

I would be careful not to put too much weight on the fact there's a female at one place. While it's understandable you'd like to share a place with someone of your gender, she could turn out to be a total b and not worth it. Unless there's a way for you to meet the prospective roommates beforehand and gauge their suitability, try to focus more on the place itself.

very good point

[Hannah]

Ketsy, remind me, how do you present? Are you full time, part time, do you present as a gay male, what? Normally I would look it up but meh, I'm tired today.

If your'e nothing-time and closeted and plan on staying that way for a while, I'd go with the cheapest option. That extra $140-$200 a month adds up when yer paying for electro or doctor visits.

Otherwise the third choice with it finangled to where you are sharing the bathroom with the other girl is prolly the best bet.

[placeholdername]

"Nothing-time" is probably a pretty good description of my current status (although with my hair getting longer and wearing girl's jeans all the time I don't really know what other people think)  But at the same time I'm trying to move from nothing-time to something-time in the relatively near future (3-6 months?), which is what I'm trying to factor in when picking where to live .  I'm guessing that since the room I would be moving into is the one where the second girl is moving out of, that she probably shared the bathroom with the other girl, but with college people you never know .

And I agree that I don't know if this other girl is/would be cool or not so I'm trying not to give it too much weight.  But saving money from the other place won't help a lot if I'm depressed from living in a gloomy apartment building .

Thanks for the input everyone... I think I'm just going to have to give it a day to see what sinks in... but not much more than that because I have to move by January!