Overview
Currently, I am living in a one-bedroom apartment close to my workplace.
Now that my friends are graduating and accepting job offers, we are looking to move in together.
QUESTION: How do we find a living space that is in a central location, and how should we split rent in a "fair" way?
ANSWER: SplitRent
The creator of this webpage is developing an algorithm that uses locations and preferences to identify and sort reasonable living spaces.
SplitRent "Fair" Principles
The 50-50 split should only be implemented in "perfectly fair" conditions.
The person who lives closer to their specified location(s) should pay more; they spend less time on the road and less money on gas.
Rent should be cheaper per person when the total number of renters increases.
Rent Calculations
Example Scenario 1: Two Roommates
Reagan and Bradford find a potential living space between their two workplaces.
This living space is 20 minutes from Reagan's workplace and 30 minutes from Bradford's workplace.
QUESTION: How should they reasonably split rent?
ANSWER: Let's derive SplitRent equations.
Round-trip, Reagan drives 40 minutes a day, and Bradford drives 60 minutes a day.
Between the two of them, they spend 100 minutes on the road.
Reagan accounts for 40% of the drive time whereas Bradford accounts for 60%.
To make things more "fair", their portions of the rent should be inversely related to their drive times.
--- Reagan should pay 60%, and Bradford should pay 40% of the rent. ---
Example Scenario 2: Three Roommates
Lyn also wants to move in with Reagan and Bradford.
The same living space is 50 minutes away from Lyn's workplace, so Lyn would drive 100 minutes a day.
Between the three of them, they spend 200 minutes on the road.
- Reagan: 40 minutes || 20% of total drive time.
- Bradford: 60 minutes || 30% of total drive time.
- Lyn: 100 minutes || 50% of total drive time.
Now that there's three people, splitting rent isn't as easy as swapping drive time percentages.
Here's a new idea:
- Subtract each persons drive time percentage from 100%.
- Add these new "inverse percentages" together to determine a "dividing factor."
- Divide everyone's "inverse percentages" by the "dividing factor."
Inverse Percentages
Reagan: 100% - 20% = 80%
Bradford: 100% - 30% = 70%
Lyn: 100% - 50% = 50%
Dividing Factor: 80% + 70% + 50% = 200% = 2
SplitRent Percentages
Reagan: 80% / 2 = 40%
Bradford: 70% / 2 = 35%
Lyn: 50% / 2 = 25%
--- Reagan should pay 40%, Bradford should pay 35%, and Lyn should pay 25% of the rent. ---
Future Improvements
- Derive equations for drive frequency adjustments.
- Derive equations for hourly wage adjustments.
- Derive equations for square-footage adjustments.
- Add an interactive map.
- Connect to a housing database.
- Develop backend operations for user interactivity.