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[quote=nannydebsays][quote=Anonymous]New to the forum, but I've searched around and couldn't really find relevant discussion.

Live in DC. I have a incredibly nice 2 BR garage apartment (850 SF, separate entrance, lots of windows looking over back yard in a leafy neighborhood) that I've been renting out for $2500/month here in DC. We are about to have a child and would prefer a live in Nanny situation, both as a convenience to ourselves but also as a perk to the Nanny. We were looking for 50 hours a week, weekends off, no house chores (cooking, cleaning etc) involved. We are of course offering 3 weeks of PTO and health insurance.

Now granted, we just started our search and only interviewed two prospective nannies who are looking for a live in situation, but both were still demanding anywhere from $18-20/hr on top of the free apartment and that just seems pretty high to me considering we are covering her largest life expense and giving her a separate roof valued at $2,500 a month. Spread over the 50 hours we are wanting, that "perk" as I see it is already worth about $50 an hour (or costing me $50 an hour to give it to a Nanny). All in the free apt, the hourly pay, vacation and etc would total out to about ~$80/hr.

Yeah, yeah...think of the kids. I get it, you don't want some unqualified hack taking care of your kids, but for an all in cost of ~$80 an hour, I would think I could get Mary Poppins...magic umbrella and all.

Is this what the DC market demands? Is this truly what a good nanny costs or am I getting the "NW DC" price quote? [/quote]

First, your math is way off on the "value" of the apartment. $2500 x 12 months a year = $30,000 and 50 hours a week x 52 weeks a year = 2600 hours a year That means if you want to assign an hourly value to the housing, you are looking at $11.54/hour, not $50/hour.

That said, I would think you have 2 options. First, accept that no one you'd want to hire is going to take $11.50/hour off their rate. Then consider whether the bonus of having a LI who may NEVER be willing to work additional hours for you spur of the moment just because she lives right next to you is worth the loss on the rent you currently get. I think the absolute most a good, smart, savvy nanny might accept as a housing deduction would be $4/hour MAX. That still leaves you paying $14 or so an hour, or ~$700/week. So you lose 30K in rental income and add 37 - 38K in nanny wages plus your employer costs...I'm not an accountant, but I think that means you'd be 70K or more in the red each year because you have a LI nanny who may never be willing to be a "convenience" to you.

Your second option is to hire a LO nanny, pay her $18/hour plus OT, and find 2 responsible college students or young college graduates who can afford a reduced rent in exchange for being available for 5 hours each a week of short notice babysitting. You'd want to be sure to either give them 24 - 48 hours notice of your need for a sitter or actually pay them a small stipend if you literally cal and ask them to be over to babysit in 10 minutes. The sitting time would be "use it or lose it", and you'd likely still be in the red, but not 70 worth. 1K to nanny, $150 for employer costs each week, 2K in rent plus 40+ hours of sitting each month - about 40K in the red.[/quote]

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