My latest internet search is now to find a place to live. Unfortunately I happen to live in one of the most expensive areas in the country: The San Francisco Bay Area. The only real viable option for me right now is to find a roommate situation.
Many moons ago, when I first cut the apron strings and moved out on my own, finding a room to rent was fairly difficult. I had to get the local newspaper, and just blindly call whoever had a room that I might be able to afford. After that I had to find a way to get to all these places and look to see if it was a good fit for me (I didn’t drive, so it was a challenge). I then quickly found the nearest exit for a couple of places, because the landlords seemed to be a bit too creepy for a young woman starting out in the real world.
How I survived back then without a computer, I have no idea.
When I finally sat down to do some internet searches, I found quite a few places that specialize in finding roommates. One I found is Roommates.com. They ask you where you are looking to live, how much you are looking to spend etc. After you are finished plugging in your information, they give you a list of matches that best describes your preferences. Up to this point the service is free. If you want to be able to actually contact folks, you need to subscribe. There are other websites around that do the same thing and all charge a fee to get the most out of their sites. They seem to be good options, if there are good matches for you.
In addition to Roomates.com, I also went the cheap route. Craigslist is a great resource. Many times folks put pictures of themselves and their places, full descriptions, and you don’t need to buy anything to contact them. In fact, I posted a “housing wanted” add last night, and I already got 4 responses from some promising places. I am currently playing e-mail tag with a few of them, assessing whether or not it would be a good potential match, before I even leave the house.
Finding a roommate these days is a lot easier than it used to be.
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