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Advise me about roommates and apartments and stuff
DirtyDirtyVagrant
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm trying to move out of where I'm living now, because it's shitty and dangerous and sometimes terrifying.
So I'm looking for a roommate or something, and I have to be totally honest here, I don't have the first goddamn clue what I am doing.
I have been advised by my dad not to "get fucked", but uh...it's hard to dodge a bullet when you don't know where the shooter is, you know what I mean?
Can you guys help me out here?
So I'm looking for a roommate or something, and I have to be totally honest here, I don't have the first goddamn clue what I am doing.
I have been advised by my dad not to "get fucked", but uh...it's hard to dodge a bullet when you don't know where the shooter is, you know what I mean?
Can you guys help me out here?
DirtyDirtyVagrant on
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Honestly you should avoid this at all costs.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Look at your friends like a different person (a banker mostly) and think if you could have the patience to put up with them.
Also if friends have good credit they will tell you, if they don't they either don't have any or have bad credit.
Avoid those friends.
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
I've seen some of the threads. They are scary.
Room-wise, I wouldn't recommend it unless it was a friend you trust. I shared a room off-campus with a friend of mine and we had a blast cause we kept our distance but we were both open to share stuff and play games together. When he went abroad, his friend wanted to bring his rent down (he had his own room in the same house) so he shared the room with me and he was all bad. I didn't know this guy other than "hey he's a smoker and a friend of a friend" and that lack of knowledge made me more willing to leave the house at the end of the lease.
But yeah, if you can totally ask people you know and trust if they would be up to it. It's better than looking this stuff up last minute on Craigslist or something.
Always assume that no matter how well you think you know the person you might be living with, they will have at minimum 5 habits that will piss you off to no end. Also assume that this person may leave you in the lurch, meaning you should be able to afford at least 2 months of rent and utilites on your own until you can find a replacement.
But yeah, as someone with a roommate. My biggest problem is personal space and noise. I stay up and out late at night (5am here), and he's more of a day person. So at night I need to keep quiet for him, and during the day I get woken up by him. We also have thin walls, and he (Not his girlfriend which would make it much much less awkward) is loud during sex. What I'm getting at is, make sure you move in with a compatible person.
Go nuclear early.
A lot of pitfalls. But, if you find the right roommate you might end up with a really good friend.
My new motto...
Don't you want lime?
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
I'm not big into the whole roommate thing, too much drama. Try finding a studio. Studios are basically a large room with a bathroom. Nicer Studios have a half kitchen (minifridge, microwave, sink), or a full kitchen.
Think of this as a "Choose your own adventure" moment
-If you talk to roommate directly and politely about what bothered you and why, go to page 72
-If you leave a passive-aggressive note for roommate on their bedroom door, go to page 34
-If you retaliate by doing something that pisses roommate off, go to page 65
I swear to god, the happy ending is always on page 72.
I owe around $3000 in misc bills, plus another ~7k in student loans.
I do not plan on paying them in their entirety before I do anything. I merely want to at least get the student loans by themselves before I start setting some money aside for tuition and stuff.
It would be really nice if I could find some way to pay them off more quickly.
Wasn't obama talking about some kind of tuition credit during the elections? in exchange for community service or somesuch?
If you want to pay off your bills faster, get a second job. Sell some stuff you don't need.
And I take it you were in college but left, and are now wanting to go back?
Yeah, obey colour-coding.
Lime = :^:
Red/Salmon = :v:
Brown = Bullshit
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Especially male roommates, because your average 20 something male roommate who can't afford his own place and doesn't have a girl to shack up with likely has some lovely qualities that make this the case. I used to live with a guy who would punch his CTR monitor against the wall if he got killed in Day of Defeat in a way that displeased him. Way to go there, shooter.
My best advice would be to first investigate renting a room from someone who owns a property like a house or condo and is looking for a tenant. Usually these situations are month to month and if the person actually owns the property it is cheaper. I imagine there's a lot of this going around with the economy like it is, and people needing the extra cash.
Whatever you do, do not share a 1 bedroom and/or 1 bathroom apartment.
Just don't.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
When looking for a roomie just put what you're looking for in the ad. In my case it was a female grad student like myself who didn't mind cats and was low maintenance. I met with some people until I found a girl who was that. Meet with multiple people for a coffee or something and see what kind of vibes you get from them. If you're still in the same city as your school check with off campus housing to see if you can find other recent grads or current students (I don't know how long ago you graduated) looking for roomies. Just make sure you're both on the lease.
It can be hard but it's certainly not impossible.
When I last looked for a place to live with roommates, I looked for other graduate students (as I was one at the time) living in a relatively safe neighborhood within my price range. It worked out really well as we pretty much kept to ourselves and had similar budgets and lifestyles (study and go to school).
Also, in looking for a place to rent, I've found you can typically find the best deals renting from private owners rather than from property management companies. While you have to be wary of the private owner who will not properly maintain their property, it can save you some money.
The financial advice is good. Try to find someone whose hobbies you can appreciate, and who can appreciate yours, but you won't feel pressured to hang out with all the time. That's really secondary or maybe tertiary to the "don't get screwed on bills" point, though. Make sure you have your agreements in writing and witnessed.
My current roommate is fucking awesome though. Basically think of that episode of seinfeld where jerry falls in love with the girl who is exactly like him. Except ignore the ending where he ends up not liking her. My man-crush will never die.
I also find it helpful to find someone whos already got a place, rather than trying to find a roommate and find a place to live. At least if they have an apartment already, and have had a previous roommate, you can go over and meet them first and get some kind of idea of how they live. Example, im not the cleanest person ever, im not a fucking slob but honestly i will let that pot sit in the sink for a day or two until i have more time to clean it. When i came to meet my current roommate, the place was semi-messy. Not a disaster, but certainly not cleaned that day, or probably even that week. To me that was a sign that we'd probably get along, because he wont be up my ass 5 minutes after im done cooking to do the damn dishes, or to wash the bathroom every time i use it, or worse yet, clean my room (Who the fuck do you think you are, previous roommate, my mother?)
I would personally ignore the advice above. Dont let your living situation devolve into "who can make the other persons life more miserable", unless youre talking about living in a college dorm or youre the kind of person who still finds that shit funny at the age of 40. If my roommate put shaving cream in my shoes, id be pissed and say "Dude, what the fuck? Thats not cool", not go take a dump on his bed.
All in all though, ignore the horry stories, visit the people before you decide to move in, and just generally go into it expecting the best. Really, i should be jaded since ive only ever had one good roommate and at least 6 or more bad roommates, but honestly, even bad roommates are usually fun for a little bit. Plus it gives you a chance to live places you otherwise couldnt afford.
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How should I go about making my desire for a room known? Is craigslist acceptable, or is it just better to stay away from that?
(Ceres, is that you playing in your sig link?)
Good luck!
I've got just one friend that I still stay in touch with, and he lives about a hundred miles away, which means I'd have to find a new job. Plus he lives with like 3 guys already.
Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
http://www.FairWindInspections.com/
Analyse who you are, honestly, and that will give you a much better sense of how to advertise what you want.
For me it would be:
Passive-Aggressive clean freak looking for considerate housemate who'll clean up after themselves and go easy on the noise after 11pm.
This would let prospective people know exactly what you expect before you meet and sit down chatting for 30 mins only to find it was a waste of everyones time ^_^
If he/she is going to be bringing a different person home and banging them every other night then that's critical information, particularly if it's something you don't want to put up with.
In the same way, if he/she has a steady bf/gf find out how often their SO is usually around. Make sure you're ok with whatever the situation is, whether it's that your roomie will never be home because he's always at her place, or if it's that she'll always be at your place, etc.
If the sounds of your roomie and his SO getting it on are going to bother you, try to get a roomie with a different schedule than you've got. Check to see if your sleep patterns are similar or not, and check to see if your cleanliness tolerance levels are the same. (Rate on a scale of 1-10, ask how often they do the dishes, ask how often they do shit like vacuum, etc)