August 21, 2006
At first, it seemed like a bizarre idea: offering to clean someone else's house in exchange for reduced, or even free, rent.
But with her lease expiring and having no idea where she was going to live, Katrina Chase, 20, took a gamble and posted on Craigslist, seeking a roommate willing to accept a modest rent and her cleaning services.
"I thought people would think I was crazy or something," said Chase, who works as a waitress at Mimi's Cafe while studying cosmetology.
Chase is not alone. Not in a metro area that has seen its housing costs skyrocket during the past few years, leaving many of its service-based workers scrambling to keep a roof over their heads. One recent set of data suggests that nearly half of the households in Orange County cannot afford to buy a home.
Not only have housing prices been on the rise, but a spate of condo conversions has claimed many of the region's once-affordable apartment complexes, further tightening the market.
Across Central Florida, people have turned to the idea of bartering for all or part of their rent. Other local postings on Craigslist, essentially an Internet-based bulletin board, include offers of landscape design, ranch help, baby-sitting and beauty services.
For Chase, a former University of Central Florida student, the offers started coming in immediately after posting -- she estimates that she still receives at least one response a day, more than three weeks after posting on Craigslist. She quickly agreed to move in with a Winter Park attorney with a lot of extra space on his hands.
"I just have to clean his house and buy my own food," said Chase, who figures she spends about five hours a week cleaning.
Though relatively new in Orlando, the idea has been picking up steam throughout the nation for the past two years or so, said Dennis Deschler, a manager with Roommate Express, a Phoenix-based company that charges a fee to connect roommates.
The trend is particularly active in areas of Florida, California, New York and other states where housing costs force lower-wage workers to look for ways to make ends meet.
"That's what happens. People just can't afford it, and they have to go in a different direction," Deschler said. "It's creative, but it's also necessary."
That certainly seems to be the case in Orlando, where wage growth has been dwarfed by housing-price growth. During 2004 and 2005, for example, the metro area's average wage grew 9.12 percent, according to state employment numbers. The median home price soared 58.9 percent during the same period, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
That disparity is pushing local leaders to develop solutions for a burgeoning housing-affordability crisis.
Some would argue, however, that the issue is not so much housing prices as it is the region's inability to provide higher-paying jobs.
"Is it really a housing issue? Or is it a wage-and-salary issue?" asked Judith Kovisars, director of the Central Florida office of Fannie Mae.
Kovisars said one recent report pegs Orlando as the third-least-affordable place to live in the nation -- in terms of housing affordability, based on home prices and area wages.
Given that, she said it is hardly surprising that area residents are increasingly bartering for their rooms.
"Whenever an area becomes high-cost, people start doing that," she said.
And as a relatively new practice, there is little reason to think it won't become more popular -- particularly as it becomes better accepted.
"People are pretty bold these days," said Deschler of Roommate Express. "And when they see other people put it out there, they assume it's OK to do."
Possible problems
That doesn't, however, mean it is necessarily the smartest thing to do.
Janet Portman is an attorney and a managing editor at Nolo, a California-based organization specializing in do-it-yourself legal solutions. She is the author of several books, including Every Landlord's Legal Guide.
Barter-for-rent arrangements can create problems down the line, particularly if there are questions about whether the person providing the service is living up to his obligations. Say that one roommate has agreed to do landscaping in exchange for a lower rent. But then he turns out to be a bad landscaper.
"What are you going to do then?" Portman asked. "That's where things get complicated."
There is, however, one big challenge awaiting anyone seeking to barter for the rent: You have to be offering something that someone wants.
Whereas Chase received nearly two dozen responses to her housecleaning posting on Craigslist, Wilson Quaintance of Sanford is still waiting.
Besides a reporter's query, he hasn't gotten a single nibble on his June posting offering music lessons for a break on rent.
Quaintance wants to get closer to the Florida Metropolitan University campus where he is studying marketing.
He says he specializes in the drums and the piano but could teach anyone just about any instrument -- with the exception of the clarinet.
"I don't like the way it sounds," he said.
For now, Quaintance is putting some thought into a second posting on Craigslist, hoping a little more exposure will do the trick. And he's optimistic.
"It's a survival technique," Quaintance said. "Hopefully I'll catch the right person's eye."