[1]Be precise, your room and roommate search will be easier.
By EasyRoommate.com
Searching for a room or roommates [2] is a bit more complicated than trying to find an apartment rental [3]. Apartments are easy, you find a place you like, and if you qualify for it financially, it’s yours (most of the time). With room rentals, and when trying to find a roommate for your spare rooms, you have to deal with other issues like different personalities, sharing bills and groceries — all in a small space. Before any lease is signed, you will have to meet your new roommate. Here’s are some tips to find the house mate of your dreams.
Nice to Meet You:
The meeting phase is usually toward the end of the room/roommate search, so how do you get there efficiently? Your first step is to start searching on a roommate service [2] that specializes on room and roommate matching. When you are entering your information on what and who you are looking for, be precise. When you’re looking for a room, if you are a smoker, enter it in your information as a smoker, if you have a pet that will come along with you, put that in as well. These specific attributes are important to note because they are not compatible with every person, however, there are people that would be a perfect match for you. Be sure not to leave any information unanswered; this will only waste your time and those of the renters.
Be Specific With What You Want/Don’t Want:
When renting a room out, the rules are the same, if you do not want a smoker, put down no smokers allowed if you don’t want pets, put that down as well. Of course, smokers and pets [4] are the primary examples I am using, but this applies to any aspect of your search. Some people don’t believe in this, where they put a very broad search criteria or advertisement, and wait for people to contact them. Does this work, yes, if you are willing to get numerous phone calls and emails of people that don’t match what you really want. Would you rather get 50 people contacting you, but then have to spend the time to turn 40 of them down, or get 10 contacts in which they are all good possibilities? Think of the time you will save yourself, and those searching.
Make a Roommate Contract:
Now that you have narrowed down your possible rooms and roommates, what do you do now? You should establish some basic guidelines — much like a contract — that you will discuss with potential roommates. Discuss their work hours, how the bills/rent will be paid, who will clean and on what days, talk about guests and what time they can come over, appropriate noise levels, etc. Again, these are just examples, but the key point is to bring up anything that you would be against right upfront before you actually sign a lease. It is better to discover that you will not be compatible roommates before are actually living together.
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