The rent is too damn high! It's time to cut your losses and find a roomie to share your bills and your tiny apartment with. Luckily, you can make the whole experience sting a little less by using social media to find and research a suitable and sane roommate.
Find a Roommate
Social media is all about connection, so it makes sense that you can use social sites to find and meet roommates.
Below are some tips for making the best of popular social sites to find roommates. Look through these strategies and consider what menthod might be the best way to reach a potential roomie. A good suggestion is to think about where you personally might look for a roommate, as you're likely to find somebody who shares the same lifestyle qualities as yourself.
As always, social media is a minefield. There are lots of crazies out there, so as you search for a housemate, be careful not to reveal any personal information about yourself or your home publicly on the internet.
Facebook
• Post a status update asking if anybody in your city is looking for a roommate. Combing friends and acquaintances you already know is a great way to find a compatible roommate.
• Post to the Facebook page for your city or the apartment complex or neighborhood you're looking to move in to, seeing if anybody needs a roommate.
• Post to the Facebook page of groups you're interested in, asking if anybody wants to rent your room. This is a great way to find a housemate with similar interests.
• Take out a Facebook ad advertising the room you have available. Facebook's targeted advertising makes it easy to make sure only certain demographics (age, gender) see your ad.
Twitter
• Tweet that you're looking for a roommate to your followers. Add a hashtag for your city to reach potentially even more people.
• Use Twitter's search feature (or the search feature of your favorite Twitter client) to find people in your city looking for roommates or places to live. A search for "need roommate miami" might turn up some great leads.
• Some brokers or apartment sites run Twitter accounts aimed at connecting potential roommates in certain cities. Do a Google search to see if there's a Twitter account where you live.
Craigslist
• Scan the ads for people seeking roommates under the "Room/Shared" section of Craigslist. The "Sublets/Temporary" section could turn up some great leads as well.
• Post an ad yourself in Craiglist's housing section. Once you've heard from a few possibilities, use other social media tools to filter out the spam and people who aren't a good fit.
Research a Roommate
Once you've selected a roomie, or at least narrowed down a few choices, ask your potential roommates to give you their social media names and let them know you want to check out their Facebook page or Twitter stream to get a better idea of their personality and your hit as roommmates (you can offer up your own account links, too). Also, checking out a potential roommate's profile on Facebook or LinkedIn will allow you to cross-check the info you've been given about their school or work life.
(Roommate image: ApartmentRatings.com)
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I would actually be very leery of looking for a roommate on craigslist. Especially in larger cities. Maybe I watch the news too much?
When I had planned to get some roommates myself before I sold my house, I went and posted a flyer on the cafeteria wall, and couple student common areas at one of the local colleges.
I posted what I wanted and was very specific since I didn't want smokers or parties happening in the house, how much they would have to pay each month, what the additional benefits would be, etc. I also posted that they must be in their second year of college to weed out the 17-18 year olds who might be there.
Had a number of visitors but had to take the flyers down because I sold the house before I got the roommates.
Now, if only that could work in finding a wife ;)
Hey residentgeek where do you live? ;-)
I found my roommate on craigslist and couldn't be happier! I made sure to do intensive screenings via email and facebook (even before meeting anyone or inviting anyone to check out the apartment).
I live in LA and was terrified of craigslist at first, too. But, all turned out quite well!
@RESIDENTGEEK: Craig's List is easily the best way to find a roommate situation here in San Francisco. There are sufficient people using it that you have to send out a TON of e-mails to a TON of people, then do interviews.... but you get a lot of choices on who you want to live with. I've had odd experiences, but nothing unsafe.
In my experience, housemates are better found through craigslist than through friend circles. Reason being that you can ruthlessly screen and not compromise on what you must have and can't live with in a housemate. That being said, social media is a Great way to research a potential housemate.
And as for TONS of emails, if you write an ad that fully describes who you are, what you must have, what you can't live with, and what you are looking for - you will only be responding to real possibilities.
Much more about how to write a good ad and how to screen housemates on my website: SharingHousing.com. Also has a housemate questionnaire to help the screening process. It's free.
lol @starprincess Pac NW
In the past I've found that it isn't how you find a roommate, but how you screen and what kind of agreement you have with them. MyMove has a great guide about how to make sure you aren't going to end up with a nightmare roomie
Edit: Found it! http://www.mymove.com/tips-advice/lifestyle/roommates/how-to-screen-potential-roommates-questions-to-ask