When you set out to find roommates, every aspect of your life hinges on the results of your decision. Sleep. Health. Sanity. Work. It’s all up for grabs. Will you find the perfect roommate who compliments your lifestyle, or will you get trapped in a nightmare situation with a certified crazy person who will slowly drive you over the edge? Here is some advice on how to find roommates in NYC:

To start finding Roommates in NYC, start with number one

The fastest way to find the wrong roommate is to have an unrealistic assessment of yourself. If you don’t have a clear understanding of who you are, how you play nice with others, and where your communal living skills could use some work, you’ll never be able to find that complementary puzzle piece of a person.

Identifying how good we are with people is the easy part for most of us. Yeah, we’re awesome. You want us to tell you how awesome we are? We can totally do that in glorious detail. Weaknesses, however, tend to be a little tougher to pin down. Do you do all of your chores? On time? Without fail? Be honest. Do you ever make loud noises, like letting the door slam behind you when you come home late, or making vanilla-chai protein shakes at the crack of dawn? Habitual actions are easy for us to tune out ourselves, but can be disruptive for those around us, and we don’t even notice.

Be extra-critical of anything you do routinely and ask yourself how it affects other people. Or better yet, just ask them. If it’s been irritating them this whole time, they’ll be all too happy to tell you about it. Also in glorious detail.

Even if you’re one of those rare people who can launch into a clear, grounded self-assessment, it’s still a good idea to ask some of your existing or previous roommates for a no-holds-barred critique. If you don’t have a history of roommates yet, ask your family. You might be surprised to learn that you always trample up and down stairs so loudly you sound like you’re storming a castle. Once you gather all the juicy data, use it to build an accurate description of your lifestyle choices, then add whether you have pets, your budget, and other roommate basics. Get it all typed into your computer or smartphone and have it visible when you are searching.

Use Roomi As Your Searching Tool when finding roommates in NYC

Roomiapp.com​ can help you find more than just rooms, it has a big focus on getting to know roommates. Apartment listings have more than just square feet and utilities. Roommate lifestyle choices are clearly labeled. So you can tell quickly which piece of plastic the current residents wear out first, their credit cards or their library cards. You can also search by neighborhood, which is a cool feature if being close to work is a requirement for you. Midtown, Upper East Side, Downtown Brooklyn, it’s all there, and you can compare average rent at a glance. Budget is a restriction for most of us, especially in NYC where the only thing higher than the

skyscrapers is the rent. Having all the average rents for all the neighborhoods right in front of you like that is a real time saver.

Get To Know Them With Roomi’s Secure IM Feature

Once you’ve narrowed things down based on who you are, your lifestyle, budget, and desired location, you can find roommates in NYC quickly, easily, and safely. In fact, it can even be fun if you use Roomi’s secure IM feature. You can text people on your phone and get to know them, a little at a time. You can feel out there sense of humor, activity level, interests, how late they sleep in, or if they are one of those full on party people who somehow manages to rejuvenate on the taxi ride home before they bounce into work. Take your time and have fun with it.

Follow those steps, and you are bound to find roommates in NYC who will happily share your experience of living in one of the most storied cities in the world.

D’you know what else Roomi does outside of helping its readers find roommates in NYC? With our ever-increasing lists of rooms and roommates across the world, we help you find your perfect match! Download the app here and hop on the easiest ride home, ever!