How to pick the right roommate

Finding a Roommate

How to pick the right roommate

It is important to screen any potential roommates for your apartment and find out what you have in common with them. Is there potential for conflict? People usually screen roommates to find out what sort of interests they have, particularly in areas such as their work habits, cleanliness, and social life. In addition to a potential roommate's interests, you will want to know about other more personal aspects of their life like: food, diet, sports, politics, and music. All of these traits should be taken into account when choosing a potential roommate for your apartment. It is important to meet in person and ask prepared interview questions, as opposed to just screening someone on the phone.

Advertising for a roommate

There are several good ways to search for a potential roommate for your apartment.

Ask around: Chances are, someone you know is looking for an apartment to live in. By asking family members, partners, and friends, you are likely to find someone. The positive aspect about this method is that your connection will have to vouch for the potential roommate, therefore letting you know that they are a good person to live with. However, people sometimes vouch for friends as a favor, and it may turn out that they are actually not responsible people. As always, you will have to conduct an interview to make sure you would want this person to live in your apartment.

Hanging up flyers: Hanging up advertisements gives you the advantage of pre-selecting the type of person you will interview. Include a description of the apartment, the people living there, and the expenses, and hang the flyers in places of commerce that you often visit. For example, if you like music and are in a band, you may want to hang a flyer in the local music shop. If you spend a lot of your free time in a local cafe, you could hang a flyer there. If you can avoid hanging flyers in common places such as convenience stores, you will certainly find a roommate for your apartment who has shared interests.

Internet advertising: While Craigslist or the local classifieds may yield the most potential apartment applicants, it also results in a heavy screening workload. Chances are, you will have to look through dozens of responses and carefully select applicants. While picking and choosing may lead to finding that "perfect" roommate, it is time consuming and is not always safe. You should always take necessary precautions when meeting someone from the internet, such as having someone else present for the interview.