Anyone with a room for a hybrid worker in the Charlottesville Va area?

[the_hobbitish]

I'm commuting to Charlottesville VA for work a few days a week and would like to find a small room to stay in 1-2 nights a week. A lot of rentals in the area are geared toward students because of the college. As a middle aged professional, I want something calmer and quieter than sharing a house with college students. Does anyone have or know someone who'd like to make a little extra money by renting a room?

I'm looking for something that's cheaper and quieter than staying in a hotel. I don't need much space or amenities beyond a place to sleep and maybe occasional access to a kitchen.

I know it's a long shot to find something inexpensive enough to make it worth staying overnight instead of sucking it up and driving home, but thought I'd take a shot on the mmm network...

[uniwelder]

I just saw this posting.  Sorry you haven't had any comments.  I don't live in the area, but I'm not all that far away, and am actually in another (rival) university area.

What did you end up doing?  My suggestion would have been to contact someone with an Airbnb and book through them for the first stay.  Then you'd have a feel for the place and host, so you could approach them to ask about a recurring stay each week.  Another option would have been to look on a Facebook housing group for the university.  Just because it's geared towards students, doesn't mean everyone there is.  Plus they have the medical school and other graduate programs, so your roommate may likely be a single person with a 2 bedroom apartment that is there even less time than you.

[the_hobbitish]

Thank @uniwelder So far I've been driving back and forth and occasionally staying in a hotel. The cost benefit of getting a place didn't work out.

I couldn't find housing that was cheaper than a hotel for 4 nights a month (around $600). There aren't a lot of cheap places that aren't a bedroom in a 4 bedroom student apartment in a heavy student part of town. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's likely to result in more exposure to parties and lack of sleep than I want. I imagine I might be able to find a place that was doable at a 6 night a month rate, but at that cost I'd rather drive home. I couldn't bring myself to spend $1000 a month to avoid driving.

I do occasionally feel guilty putting so much mileage on my car when I used to drive less than 20 miles a day.

I did find a newer/quieter hotel in at the same price, so that's been nice.

[LiveLean]

As a senior at UVA - or "fourth year" as the snooty UVA elitists like to say -- I paid $110 a month, utilities included, for a room in a wonderful dusty old former boarding house a block from the hospital in 1991. That house is now a boutique hotel that charges $345/night for my old room, two-night minimum on football weekends. With taxes, etc., that comes to about $900. So a football weekend in my old room costs the same as I paid for the entire school year. (It's possible to find a room there for $159/night in non-football times.)

I guess that's a roundabout way of saying I'm not optimistic about your housing search. Sorry.

[the_hobbitish]

@LiveLean yeah that sounds exactly like the experience I'm having. I thought maybe I'd get lucky with someone in the forum who liked the idea of a few night a month commuter, but I always figured it was a long shot.

On the bright side, I'm coast fire and SO gets his early out with pension next year. This job is great and fits in our life well enough for now. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up full FIRE within a year of him retiring once we've had a chance to test the budget.