How do you know what you are getting?
When you are looking for someone to live with, unless they are a good friend that you know well, how do you know that the person you've chosen to share your home with isn't a weirdo?
I've just spent an hour or so reading through Share Accommodation notices on one of my sponsors sites - realestate.com.au - and what struck me is that until you actually take the plunge and start living with someone, you can only do so much in working out if you'll get along or if they are what you are looking for in a flatmate.One of the advertisers said she likes "quirky people" which to me is an open invitation for weirdos to apply. Others ask for those who are "easy going" to apply. Some even go so far as to specify "No weirdos or freaks please".
You can ask for references, and try and weed out the undesirables by what you ask for - personality traits, age, nationality, backgrounds etc - but is there a foolproof way of sorting out the weirdos from the cool flatmates? How do you guarantee you get a good one? Let me know what you do!
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: jenpen
EMAIL: Ceara111@hotmail.com
DATE: 2006-05-12 05:49:03
Normally people interview one another before they live together, right? Well, I think part of the interview process should be a trip to see each other's current living conditions. Spontaneously. Don't give them any warning, just simply request to drop by and visit at their place, and then use your observational skill to assess how they live. That should give you a clue as to how they will behave if you take them on as a flat mate.
Comments
DATE: 2006-05-12 10:33:52
when it comes to flatmates it doesn't really matter if you know them or not. I had a friend from college for eight years, and she knew I was looking for a flatmate, so she signed up.
I had trusted her (note the key word HAD) she was to pay 50% of the bills, being she was a friend, I wasn't going to make any money off her renting a room in my home.
She pays up front - no deposit - says she'll give me that later. Later - well after by October she owes me $850 - by January she owes me $1560.
Just because you know the person doesn't mean you really know them at all. I had to sell her items she left behind to try and recoup my losses. She was the worst renter I ever had and that is saying a lot with all the weirdos out there! I am a messy unorganized person at home (at work - no one would ever know!) This girl made me look NEAT next to her messiness! Food containers everywhere, rotting soda, food stuck to the floor, rotting food in containers, papers, books - yuck! She ate the food - never paid for a dime of it, when I ordered out - she would say 'good idea - you do that." When my statement would arrive a month later my orders out would be 2x to 3x the original order come to find out she would order out and have it charged to my account as forgetting her order... probably made me look bad to the delivery guy!
So - even if you know the person ..and you think you know them well... in reality you really do not - trust me!
Posted by: rmlander | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-13 11:55:18
rmlander, I gotta say, I'm not so sure who was the weird one in your story. I mean, you let someone get over $1500 in debt to you over more than 4 months. That's weird to me. When I've shared house with others and they got behind in the rent I kicked their asses to the curb - I ain't no charity worker...
Posted by: Dave the Editor | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-14 05:48:57
Dave forgets that this was a long-time friend I think, and our "wanting to be nice and not muck up the friendship" often puts us at odds with our instinct to collect the cash or toss the freak out, leash and all.
What this person forgot is that a GOOD friend would not accrue this much debt to them, would not steal from them (those food orders are direct theft and proscutable by law)(it's also FRAUD)... plus a REAL friend would respect your home and rules and this person was obviously NOT a friend in any sense of the word. Had our person really thought that out they would have relegated this EXfriend to the proper status and Tossed Them Out on their Ear faster than a cat could lick it's arse!~
Posted by: ~Maggie!~ | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-05-18 19:52:32
jenpen-good idea!
rmlander - you are a sap. You are stuuupid for letting El Filtho Chick get in arrears with her rent to that degree.
Ever heard the two little letters "N O "?
Exactly, Dave M. Arse or grass, no one rides for free. Definitely not on my back.
Nice one Maggie. Exhausted your psychobabble on "connecting Singles" have you?
I'd rather watch a cat lick its arse than read about you tossers who can't manage arsehole flatmates.
Posted by: Cassie | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM
DATE: 2006-06-06 16:44:13
I have ended up with a generally stable bipolar guy and a young juvenile repentant thief wanting to turn his life around.I feel like the warden in an institution of some sort.I have my own problems to deal with.So I have put the little shit thief on a daily assessment of his behaviour on certain criteria;no smoking inside; no drunk young friends around all the time;etc.Because of his light fingerdness;I have sellotaped a $20 note to the side of a piece of wooden furniture with a note that any removal of this;even if replaced ;or even in an emergency;results in ass out front door immediately .So I daily assess him and reserve the right to evict him immediately.I hate living like this ;but it was my own stupidity to let him move in initially.So I have learnt my lesson to be more critical and judgemental of people on interview and maybe think for a week about any applicants;but as is pointed;you can present yourself well initially and be an axe murderer;needing flatmates to pay the mortgage sucks.....
Posted by: keith | July 10, 2006 08:44 AM