How to Find A Female Roommate

Living expenses getting too costly? Thinking about getting a roommate? Here are some easy tips to find the perfect female roommate for you!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• Email address
• Some photos of your apartment/home (optional)
• Some petty cash
• Family, friends and Co-workers
• Patience

1. One of the easiest way to put the word out that you are looking for a female roommate is to tell your family, friends and co-workers. Chances are they may know someone who is looking a roommate too. Referrals from people you know makes searching for a roommate easier.

2. Another way to find a female roommate is to place an ad on a roommate listing site. You may have to pay a small monthly fee, but there are some sites on the web where you can place an ad for free like Craigslist. Just beware of roommate scams which you see a lot on these free sites, but don't be fooled. Paid sites attract roommate scammers too (to learn how to spot a roommate scam, check out my resource box below).

3. If you are a student, go to the housing office at your school and ask to put your name on the housing list with a room available to rent. Females students who need a place to live prefer to room with other female roommates.

4. If you work at a company and your office has a bulletin board, put up a roommate wanted flier stating that you are looking for a female roommate.

5. Are you part of a social network like MySpace or Facebook? I'm sure if you post on your page that are looking for a female roommate, one of your friends, may have a friend, who has a friend who needs a roommate. That's the cool part about social networking.

6. Place an ad in a penny saver newspaper in your local area. The cost of placing ads here are much cheaper than your regular daily newspaper. Headlines like "FEMALE ROOMMATE WANTED" or "LOOKING FOR A FEMALE ROOMMATE" will quickly weed out the male roommate hunters.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have a digital camera, take pictures of your place and upload them to your profile on roommate listing sites
• Mention special features about your place like washer and drier in your unit, pool, fireplace, etc.
• Be clear in your ad for the kind of personality and characteristics you seek in a potential female roommate (i.e. non-smoke, loves pets, neat, etc.)
• Give as much information about yourself in your ads to attract your ideal female roommate (i.e your age, smoker, loves heavy metal music, etc)
• Try to meet as many people as you can in person that interest you. Connection is key.
• If possible, get references and verify as much information as you can.
• Be patient. The perfect female roommate is out there looking for you too!
• Never specify in your online ads that you are looking for a roommate from a particular ethnic, cultural or religious background. It's illegal and it will get your ad deleted. Some roommate sites may even fine you. If you are seeking a particular preference, research the web for niche roommate listing sites and see what comes up.
• Beware of email replies to your ad from people who claim to "be moving to the Unites States" for work, school or a modeling contract. These are roommate scams and can easily be spotted after receiving more than one email claiming the same scenario, but from different people.
• Get as much information as you can from potential female roommates. If the person is reluctant to give you basic info like their name, address, phone number, etc., move on and delete their response.
• Never put your home address in your ads. Only give out this information to people you are interested seeing your place and have verified information.

Resources

• Tips about looking for a female roommate and roommate scams