Find your next roommate, using Tinder-style sites
After a weekend getaway to Pittsburgh years ago, Julia returned to her Chicago apartment to find clothing, liquor bottles and sex toys cluttering her living room.
A giant candle had burned a hole in her carpet, she said, and a naked stranger was sleeping in her bed.
“I told my roommate I was going to take my dog for a walk and would be back in an hour, and during that time, if she could clean up, de-sheet my bed and get rid of the guy, I would greatly appreciate it,” said Julia, then 23, now 36, who lives in a northwestern suburb of Chicago and asked that her last name be withheld for privacy concerns.
According to a December Zillow analysis, 30 percent of unmarried adults between the ages of 23 and 65 are living with others — either roommates or relatives — which is a jump from 21 percent in 2005. When it comes to young people ages 23 to 29, more than half live in doubled-up households. So the question of who we live with, and how we find them, is perhaps more germane than ever.
Having a bad roommate at some point is almost like a rite of passage. But it may soon be one for the history books. Not long ago, options for finding a roommate were limited: asking around, scouring Craigslist, seeking out flyers on bulletin boards. But today, there are plenty of websites dedicated to helping renters find roommates, allowing you to create a detailed profile of yourself and essentially “swipe right” when you think you’ve identified a compatible match.
If it sounds a lot like dating ... it is.
“It works similar to Tinder, but it’s not an anonymous site,” said Rany Burstein, CEO and co-founder of Diggz, a roommate-finding site that launched in 2015 and has more than 100,000 users throughout the country. Diggz launched in Chicago in April, 2017 where it currently has a few thousand users and plans to expand. Akin to dating apps, if interest among two renters is “mutual, you can chat and share social media,” Burstein said.
These roommate-finding sites cater to various demographics — again, like dating apps — some target homeowners aiming to rent out a room, others are for those who want older roommates or college housemates.
A couple of years ago, Nancy MacLean, a 61-year-old piano and voice teacher from Lafayette, Colo., said she spent four months on Craigslist and another roommate site — and had more than 50 encounters with potential renters — before she met her perfect, albeit unexpected, match on Silvernest.com. The site primarily caters to baby boomers and empty nesters looking to share a house.
“He was about as far away from what I expected,” MacLean said, as night from day. Her match? A 28-year-old, tattooed former Marine with long locks. And they got on swimmingly.
Still, while more people may be seeking roommates, many are wary of living with a complete stranger.
“There is a clear demand in the marketplace for helpful resources that aid roommate decisions, and renters today put a high priority on trust,” said Joey Campbell, director of content for RentPath, a digital marketing company for the rental industry. Campbell cited “a wide range of horror stories in the media about the pitfalls of using anonymous online services to find housing.”
That’s why Silvernest, which has been active for two years, promises to vet potential roommates before anyone unpacks their suitcases via a five-point background check, complete with an eviction history. Other sites also involve background checks to some degree, but checks may come at an added cost.
Talking honestly about living styles is key to finding a compatible roommate, said Navish Jain, founder of Cirtru, a recently formed room- and roommate-finding site for professionals and students.
The ideal roommate might not boil down to similar age or background. Instead, seek out someone like-minded, Jain said, one whose lifestyle most closely resembles yours.
“Set your preferences — eating, drinking, smoking, profession — to match theirs,” he said. “If you’re working, you should be with someone who is working the same hours. If you’re studying, you’d want a student.”
The key is to find a roommate who would keep similar hours and habits that you do, Jain said.