For New Grads: Best Ways to Find a Roommate For Your New City

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Hi yall! We work with thousands of new students each year that are moving to new cities in Texas  (Dallas, Houston and Austin mostly).  Many of them will ask for a roommate.  So I want to give you some tips and links to ways we suggest! Some of these are kind of goofy, but others are brilliant. 🙂  You decide which is which!

You will find some of these ideas on our previous article: Finding the Best New Apartment After Graduation. But we are expanding this to include more help and specific links!  These are specific ideas for Dallas, Houston and Austin, but they would work for anywhere. So here we go!

After you read our suggestions below, sign up for our 100% Free-to-You Service to find your perfect apartment. It will save you hours of time and remove your stress. We serve new grads & young professionals moving to Dallas, Houston and Austin.   Free Signup: HERE   When you apply, you will also receive a free $100 VENMO  as well as a thank you for using our free service.

CREATE THE AD FIRST!

Before you get the word out, please think about what type of roommate you want. Think about what you can tolerate and can’t put up with! Also, might think about these things:

  • what type of job they should have? Similar industry as you?
  • And are you ok with a different school or the same school?
  • Should they ok all visitors with you or are you pretty open about who comes over?
  • Typical bed time that you both can agree that lights are out and it’s relatively quiet.

After you have that, then write a SHORT AD meant for emailing and posting on social mead!  The ad should have these things in it:

  • What town and when you are moving there
  • What AREA of town you are open to being in!   HINT:  You will get more roommates in popular new grad areas of town vs. being in the burbs! For Houston, that’s Midtown and nearby. For Dallas, that’s Uptown and nearby. For Austin, that’s Downtown and south Central. If you want more responses, mention those popular areas of town in your ad!
  • Your budget range per person
  • If you have a dog

Make it like 4 lines total. Include a good picture of you too! And yes, expect to be checked out or “creeped” on social media by perspective roommates. You should do the same to them!

Now that you have the ad ready, it’s on to getting the roommate! Here’s some ideas:

WORD OF MOUTH

If you are still in college, here are some ideas!

  • Your Student Organizations:  Put the word out in the student organizations you are already involved in. Post a roommate request on that group’s Instagram page or Facebook page.
  • Roommate Matching IN CLASS:  Why not take 5 minutes before your senior level class and ask who needs a roommate in their new city?  You will probably help a lot of people find roommates that way, and maybe make some new friends.
  •  Ask Friends: Tell all of your friends you are searching for a roommate. You will get several leads here.
  • Your Work: Do the same, ask everyone you know!
  • Church:  Ask your minister or college group leader if he/she knows anyone.

If you are out of college, there’s also some great ways to start here. These will take more work, but you will often get better results in person!

  • Your Work
  • Go to Your Local Alumni Group’s Next Meeting
  • Your city probably has a young leaders group through the Chamber of Commerce. Might hit up one of those meetings!
  • Local Game Watch Party of your University – perfect place to find recent grads that share your background, especially if the watch party is in a cool area of town.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram or Facebook is golden for finding a roommate. Word spreads so quick!  Facebook is especially good if you post in Facebook GROUPS that have people similar to you.  Here are some very specific ideas:

  • University Sublets and Housing Facebook Groups: Just about every major university in Texas has a Housing and Sublet group that students can use.  These are used more by upper classmen that are off campus…perfect target!   I’d create a roommate post in  your own university’s group …but why stop there?   Create a post in these university’s groups too:
  • Class of [insert your year and University!] Facebook group:   Post a roommate request in your year and maybe 1-2 years previously graduated too! For example, if you are graduating in 2020, create a post in 2020, 2019 and 2018.   These are easy to find on Facebook! Here are some examples:
  • ULOOP: Might create a post on ULoop too.  It might be paid, but if the others aren’t working, this might! They have a specific section for roommates.
  • SUPER GOOFY IDEA THAT MIGHT WORK:  Go to the Facebook groups for Football related to your university (or for sports in general).  Post a light request there!

FINAL WORDS

  • INTERVIEW THEM!  Try to meet in person.  Ask them direct questions.  One important question: Do you have any major debt right now other than some school loans?  And how is your credit history? If someone is not doing good about paying bills in the past, they probably won’t do well with you…and you don’t want to get stuck with paying a full apartment if someone runs out on the bill!
  • Many people look good in person or even on line. But please please check them out carefully if you don’t know them.  You might even do a financial check and or a background check on a potential roommate if you have any doubts.
  • The good news: Most companies in professional industries like accounting, consulting, medical and legal already do great background and financial checks! So if they are employed by a large or often even medium size firm, they have already been filtered out!

READ MORE TIPS BELOW !