Rental Report: How to Find a Roommate

Editor’s Note: This biweekly sponsored column is written by Rick Gersten, founder and CEO of Urban Igloo, a rental real estate firm that matches up renters with their ideal apartments, condos or houses. Please submit any questions in the comments section or via email.

Finding a roommate is hard. Living with a roommate can be even harder. In the D.C. market, roommates are a must for many renters. In this three part series, we will share our tips to make the roommate relationship a little easier.

If you are moving to the area blind, you’ll either want to find a roommate first, or an apartment first. At a minimum, figure out what neighborhoods you like, set your budget, and determine your must-have amenities, and then you and your new roommate can apartment hunt together. (Check out: Apartment Hunting with a Roommate.)

You can use websites such as Roomster, Roommates.com and Craigslist to search for potential roommates. Or if you are starting at a new company, sometimes the HR department can connect you with other people moving to the area. Lastly, ask friends or family. They may either know someone looking for a roommate, or know someone you could ask about potential roommates.

If you do go the website route, make sure when reviewing listings you look for specific traits and qualities you will or won’t accept. Sometimes this involves reading between the lines. “Friendly, outgoing grad student” may mean exactly that, but it could mean they like to have a lot of friends over, or they want to be social with you on a regular basis. This works for some, but not others. “Loves to cook,” may sound spectacular if you don’t. But what do they cook? If they only cook fish and sauerkraut and that isn’t your thing, you might have a problem.

Some listings may include pictures. It might be a good idea to check those photos like a CSI detective. They can tell you a lot about the person. Cleanliness, hobbies, pets etc might be right there for you to see.

After you’ve selected a few you are ready to contact, you’ll want to come up with a list of questions or things to discuss. You may also want to sit down and really think about what they should know about you. What are your quirks they should know about? Are you really private, or are you allergic to dust? Those are important things to share with someone you may live with.

Safety Tip: Make sure if you are doing an in-person meetup, do it somewhere public and safe for the first time. If you are going to look at a place where they are just looking to add a roommate, take somebody with you not just for safety, but a friend may pick up on something you don’t.

The search is probably the hardest part. So once you narrow it down, hopefully the next steps go faster and easier for you. In the next article, we will cover questions to ask potential roommates.

Have a rental-related question you’d like Rental Report to answer? Email it to [email protected].

The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.