When living in a big city, rent tends to be quite high, especially if you would like to live in a convenient area with public transport and entertainment nearby. As a result, many people who are still single end up looking for a roommate, or several of them, in order to lower living costs.
But selecting who you share a living space with is a very important decision to make as it has the potential to greatly improve or damage your quality of life, depending on who you end up choosing. That means many things need to be taken into consideration. Use of only the best background check service should be your first priority, but where do you go from there?
How Many Can You Put Up With?
Joint living situations can vary greatly, from just subdividing a studio apartment with another person, to having your entire college inner circle in a townhouse, and everything else in between. Comfort levels must be fully assessed before landing on a number.
Being a people person can pay in the long run as you would be able to allow for more roommates, and therefore spread rental costs over more people. It also helps if you know your roommates well prior to moving in.
The more reclusive type might only allow for one more, and only for the sake of bring down living costs. This means more privacy for you, but less cost sharing, and it might mean sacrificing other factors such as location desirability as well as a sense of community.
Ultimately, the number of people you wish to share your space with cannot be taken in isolation. Other factors need to be added into the mix and given weighting in order to come up with a number you are comfortable with. Otherwise, you might find disappointment later down the line.
What Qualities Should I Look For In a Roommate?
A person's cleanliness is very important. It might not be important to get the cleanest roommate, but maybe one that has the same standards that you have. This way, both or all of you will not find this a point of conflict in the future as you all agree on what is acceptable.
What a person's hobbies are should not be overlooked. This is simply because having similar hobbies can give you something to talk about and relate to each other with. This will of course help you get along with your roommates on a personality level and help improve your relationship.
The subject of pets should definitely be brought up. Whether to have a pet or not can be a deal breaker for many people. This also might expand or narrow down the number of viable rental locations depending on the type of pet and the preferences of the rental property.
Ultimately, one of the best steps to qualify a roommate is how similar you are to each other. This alone will save you potentially a lot of headache. By sharing the same interests and values, you simply get along better and have the same expectations towards each other, which makes for a more harmonious life.
What Are the Financial Settlements?
All the dreaming and scouting in the world will not matter if the places you choose are financially out of reach. This is especially true for college students on a limited budget. This should usually be something that is well established before looking too hard for a place.
If the people involved are willing to spend some money for a quality location, more options will naturally be available. This could also mean not having to reach out to that extra person that you might not know too well. Either way, money does help in this case.
If the living space is in a big city, it might be wise to examine a potential roommate a little more carefully if he or she is from a smaller city or even the countryside. This is simply because the smaller living spaces might come as a shock to them and might cause problems down the road.
The question of money is something that needs to be squared away very early in the process. It ties into many of the other factors and indeed determines how important the other factors become. Sometimes it does require quite a bit of research and a thorough investigation to be done.
Find the Right Roommate Today
As more and more people flock to the city, property prices and rent look poised to continue to go up, and more and more people will find themselves in need of roommates. This is a question that will not go away for the foreseeable future, and so it pays (sometimes literally) to give it some thought.
It must be understood that this is a question of who you share a dwelling with, and as such must be carefully planned in order to ensure a good quality of life and a non-toxic environment to spend your spare time in. The more thought you put into this process, the better the result will be!
