Roommate Recipe

The process of finding a roommate is like cooking - some people follow a recipe while others make up their own rules as they go. For some people cooking is easier than for others. Success is both dependent on one's expectation and the amount of effort and planning put in.

Regardless of how someone chooses to go about finding a roommate, roommate services recommend beginning by determining what type of roommate you want. Knowing one's own needs and boundaries will help in conducting a more productive interview. It is also important, in the interview, to find out what other people will expect in return if he or she would move in. Important topics to discuss are parties, smoking, privacy, pets, shared belongings, and bills.

Most people will begin their search for a roommate by hanging flyers on every telephone post, corkboard, or bathroom stall around their neighborhood in hopes of getting some responses. Though this is an age-old recipe for finding a roommate, it takes a lot of work. After the flyers are plastered around town, hopefully you will receive phone calls and will later interview potential roommates. Hanging flyers however does not guarantee a roommate will be found. One important tip is to be as detailed as possible on the flyer in order to eliminate some extra phone calls.

If the legwork involved in designing and distributing flyers is too much, there is the option of placing an ad in the newspaper. While the Sunday paper is popularly read, the price can be quite steep. To place an ad in the Boston Sunday Globe for example, the paper charges $12.15 per line, and there are 22 letters in one line. Considering that on average an apartment ad consists of 7-11 lines, an ad could easily cost more than one hundred dollars.

While both of these paths are effective, some however choose to go through a roommate referral agency, where someone else places the ad for the apartment or home and finds computability between two people. One such agency is Matching Roommates, which has been matching compatible roommates since 1966. Individuals either looking for a roommate or looking for a place to live must fill out a form consisting of characteristics anywhere from sex orientation (which is optional) to whether you own a pet. Matching Roommates charges $85, which includes guaranteed satisfaction. If within 30 days things aren't working out, you will be put back on the list for a new search, no charge.

The ads, the flyers, and the roommate referral agency have brought many prospects. Choose carefully regardless of whether you are moving into somebody else's place or someone is moving into your home. It is an important decision, one you will have to live with.

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