Choosing a roommate is a big decision that can greatly impact your daily life, so it’s important to think carefully before making a choice. Before relocating, you have to consider what factors are most important to you in a potential roommate.
From cleanliness and communication to lifestyle preferences and financial responsibility, there are a myriad of things to consider when searching for the perfect roommate in 2024. By taking the time to evaluate these key factors, you can ensure a harmonious living situation and create a positive living environment for yourself and your new roommate.
Related: 5 Tips To Find A Roommate You’ll Love in NYC
What To Look For In A Roommate: 10 Things to Consider
The fastest way to find the wrong roommate is to have an unrealistic assessment of yourself. Make sure you have a real understanding of where you stand on things like:
- Cleanliness
- Weekly routine
- Quiet hours/bedtime
- Partying/drinking/smoking
- Financials
- Visitors and guests
- Pets
If you want your potential roommate to be honest about it, you need to make sure you’re being honest as well.
1. Use Your Tools
You could drive around with a realtor and look at six apartments on a Sunday, or waste an entire Saturday hosting an open house, but what if a roommate finder website could do most of the work for you and provide verified listings in a verified community – all in one place?
The modern sharing economy has multiple ways to find a host of rooms and roommates online. Some are great and some are not so great – and while we won’t go through every single one, we’ll let you know what to look out for and introduce some of the tools that you can take advantage of.
2. Compatibility Matching
Source: Rambler
Answer a series of questions about yourself including your likes, dislikes, and other pertinent information to living with someone, and then search for someone based on their answers to the same questions. Not only will you save time searching for a compatible roommate, but you’ll also have a greater probability that you won’t be looking for a new roommate in a month. That’s a win-win.
3. Background Checks
While there are certain laws around employment and landlord background checks, for roommate checks, you’re kind of on your own to find a credible service.
The good news is that some roommate finder websites include background check options. On Roomi, for example, many of your matches may already have completed background checks so you can be more confident in striking up a conversation.
4. Lifestyle
Source: Unsplash
Lifestyle includes daily routines or habits, sleep schedules, food preferences, allergies, and more. You don’t need to have the same lifestyle as your roommate, but it’s good to know whether you’ll have the same or at least similar to theirs. This way, you’ll have an understanding of how they are at home and outside of work.
Related: How To Work From Home With Roommates
5. Cleanliness
Coming home to unwashed dishes, a dusty floor, and a full garbage can can be stressful. So, it’s important to find a roommate who takes cleaning as seriously as you do. Before committing to anything, make sure both of you are in agreement on how to clean your shared living spaces.
Aside from the cleanliness at home, personal hygiene is as important. You wouldn’t want to live with a person who doesn’t take their hygiene seriously and tends to smell after a few days.
6. Finances
Money can be difficult to discuss and if you’re splitting rent and expenses, it’s not a topic that could easily be parked and returned to when you feel like it.
Source: Unsplash
You may want to get proof of employment to ensure your future roommate will have an income to pay rent. Also, a simple credit check can not only tell you if a potential roommate has a history of paying their debts but can also uncover any prior evictions and mounting credit card debt – both of which may be red flags.
Here’s a tip: ask for a deposit. A deposit proves a roommate is serious and willing to put some skin in the game. It also protects everyone else if the roommate decides to flake out. Some sites like Roomi will help facilitate the first month’s rent to provide some extra security to all parties.
Related: Roomi’s Year in Review: What the 2020 Room Rental Market Looked Like
7. Guests
One of the most underrated things to consider when choosing a roommate is what they think about guests in the apartment. Like friends coming over to visit, family members, and even romantic partners.
If you like hosting small gatherings or parties, your roommates must be okay with it too. It also has to be clear on who are the guests coming over and how long they plan on staying.
8. Values and Priorities
Finding a roommate with the same or similar values and priorities as you is necessary to have a healthy co-living situation. Live with someone you can be friends with, someone you get along with easily so that you don’t encounter any problems in the near future.
Source: Unsplash
Make sure to talk about quiet hours in the apartment, how to handle household chores, boundaries, and everything essential.
9. References
Is your new prospective roommate looking for a new place because they got kicked out of their last apartment? Well, wouldn’t you like to know! It’s totally reasonable to ask for a few references from former roommates. Aim to get an email and phone number for 2-3 references, and be sure it includes past roommates. People tend to divulge more in conversation, so try a phone call first.
And with the finances section above, you should also consider using your prospective roommate’s employer as a reference.
10. Clarify the Little Things
I know you’re in a hurry to move in or fill the empty room but if you don’t do it right, you may be going through the entire process again in just a few months. Make sure you get all the little things on the table so everyone is clear on whether or not you have a good mutual fit.
- The exact cost of rent
- The estimated cost of utilities
- How long everyone is planning on staying
- What furniture to bring/not bring (including silverware, plates, etc.)
- Will any pets be moving in?
- Food and how the refrigerator will be shared.
- Parking!
- Significant others and sleepover frequency.
Time to Find a Roommate!
Choosing the right roommate can make a huge difference in your living situation. With these ten considerations in mind, you can find the perfect match for your living situation in 2024. From cleanliness to social habits, there are many factors to take into account.
Source: Roomi
To help you find the perfect roommate, Roomi can get you started. It’s a room and roommate finder with features and built-in safety measures that make it easy to find what you’re looking for a in a room and a roommate. Roomi uses a combination of human verification and modern advancements in machine learning to quickly and accurately filter out fraudulent listings. The AI, customer care, and security teams also work 24/7 to respond to and monitor for any suspicious user behaviors on Roomi too – where the community can also flag suspicious profiles for further Roomi investigation.
Roomi also verifies info for you and conducts background checks on your behalf. This way both parties can create a trustworthy relationship without giving away any protected information. It’s the best of both worlds, as they say.
Sign up today and start your search for the ideal roommate – someone who will make your living experience even more enjoyable in the coming year.
