While it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about stressful interviews, a roommate interview can be one of the most impacting and important interviews we ever have. Let’s take a look at some of the important questions that we must ask when we sit down with a potential roommate.

Hopefully, the person you are sitting across from has already told you quite a bit about themselves through their ad. Since most people place online ads these days that can go into quite a bit more detail than the traditional newspaper or magazine ad that relied on complicated and confusing abbreviations, you will likely have a good working knowledge of the person you are talking to. The point of the interview is to lay the ground rules about how the roommate arrangement is going to work.

First and foremost, you need to talk about the financial situation that you and the apartment are in. Rent should be the first thing out of your mouth, followed by things like utilities and things like that. Privacy should also be at or near the top of the list of things to talk about. Try to find out how often they vacuumed in their old place. How often they dusted. Do they like pets? If you have a cat or small dog, how will they act around it?

A roommate interview doesn’t have to be a depressing downer of an interview, but it shouldn’t be something you brush off as unimportant, either.

If you could list all of the ways in which the Internet has changed our lives, you would be busy for quite some time. When it comes to finding the perfect roommate, the Internet has allowed up to search far and wide in seconds to find people that we have things in common with and with who we will likely be compatible with. In the olden days, the only way we could find a roommate was to ask around our immediate group of friends or among coworkers to find someone. We wouldn’t really know how compatible we would be with them, but it beat paying all that rent ourselves so we often pushed ahead, for better or worse. Here are a few tips for creating your roommate profile online so that you can find the perfect match.

First off, you need to be honest. Don’t be afraid of coming off sounding like a neat freak or like a lazy bones, you are trying to find someone who you can stand living with so you need to be as honest as possible. You aren’t out to make friends here, you are trying to find someone who you can be around without going crazy.

Second, give as much detail as possible. Don’t worry about rambling, the more information you give the better because it allows others the chance to get to know you. You should expect the same from the other profiles you read.

Finally, trust your gut. If you instantly click with someone, that’s a great sign, go with it. If you have misgivings about someone, than you are probably wise to walk away.

When most people are going through their laundry list of roommate priorities, they seldom focus on saving money as a common trait, but in reality, saving money with a roommate can be fun and easy. Here are a few things the two of you can do together to keep costs down.

If the two of you enjoy the same kind of food, you can start shopping at warehouse stores that sell giant sized products. Not only will you save a ton on food (and other things like medicine and laundry care) but it will encourage the two of you to eat at home instead of eating out, which will save you even more.

Try to make an effort to keep energy costs down by only using the power in the rooms that the two of you are in at the same time. So, if you are in your room and your roommate is in his, make sure the living room television and lights are off and that the lights are off in the kitchen and bathroom, too. It is amazing how much you can save on your power bill if both of you put forth a little extra effort.

Finally, adjusting the heat or air conditioning just a bit when you sleep at night can save quite a bit on the power bill, too. Just a simple adjustment of a few degrees can really add up over the course of a month. Saving money with your roomie really is fun and easy.

If you are moving into a new apartment with a new roommate, you should consider getting renter’s insurance. If you’ve never heard of renter’s insurance before, it is a handy tool that you can use to replace your belongings in the case of fire, theft or even if your roommate breaks something. There are, however, a few common misconceptions about renter’s insurance that we should take a look at first.

There are a few circumstances in which you may not need renter’s insurance that you should know about. In some cases, if your roommate already has renter’s insurance, you may not need to get your own policy, although it is absolutely vital that you check with the rental insurance company that holds the policy to make sure. You will need to document all of your belongings and add them to the policy as long as the two of you live together.

Another circumstance in which you may not need a policy is if your parents have a homeowners’ insurance policy that you are covered under. Again, it is dangerous to assume that you are automatically covered under this policy, so call ahead to verify.

If you do decide to get your own policy, make sure you accurately photograph and appraise all of your belongings that you will cover so that filing a claim can be done easily. Try to save receipts of your purchases so that you can prove the worth of the items you’ll claim, although in the case of a fire, that task is obviously very difficult.

When it comes to picking the right place to live, most of us have quite a few things we have to juggle. We want to live in the nicest apartment complex that offers the most perks and amenities, but we also want to live with a roommate that we won’t want to strangle. Deciding between the complex of your dreams and a good roommate can be tough, so let’s take a look at both sides of the issue.

First, the price of living with a good roommate can’t be overstated. A person’s home should be their sanctuary and it should be a place where they can truly relax and feel little to no stress. If you live with a roommate you can’t stand, that stress can lead to serious health problems that can send your quality of life into the ground. While it may be disappointing not to have a nicer apartment complex that has some great amenities, the plusses you gain from living with a quality roommate are far more important.

On the other hand, if you have an apartment complex that allows you to be more social, with amenities such as a pool, a workout room or even a sauna, there is a better chance that you will meet people who might end up replacing your bad roommate. That way, you really do get the best of both worlds, but you are taking a gamble that might not be worth it.

It is a scenario that many of us dread: moving in with a roommate only to have the situation turn ugly. Since most states heavily weigh tenant’s rights far above that of the landlords, evictions are tough to come by, especially in the case of roommates. Your landlord will likely find it easier to evict both of you, even if only one of you is the problem. Let’s take a look at a few things your landlord might be able to do to help you get rid of a bad roommate.

The first step with any bad roommate situation is seeing if you can talk out the problems. If you have already had a few heart to heart discussions with your roommate and nothing has come from it, enlist the help of your landlord to see what can be done. That way, if your roommate admits to not paying his or her half of the bills and your landlord sees the attitude that you are dealing with, it will be easier to move ahead with other options.

If your roommate still refuses to shape up, your landlord can tell that person they have to move out, and assuming they aren’t familiar with rental law, they may fall for it. In reality, your roommate would have to miss rent for several months before your landlord could legally throw him or her out, but depending on whose name is on the lease, you might have other options.

If you are thinking about moving into your own apartment and you need a roommate, you should take extra care to ensure that you are picking the right person. Many people wonder if there is a secret method to picking the perfect roommate, and while different people have different standards that they judge a good roommate by, here are a few essential tips you can follow to help you end up with someone you actually like living with.

First off, try to find someone you know. That way, you already have a good idea of what kind of personality they have and what kinds of interests they have. While no one wants to live with a clone of themselves, it helps to live with someone you have similar interests to so that you aren’t always fighting over the television or what to do at night.

If you aren’t going to live with someone you know, try to screen your roommates the best you can. Make a list of priorities so that you can ask prospective roommates what is most important to them. If you both have neatness and quiet nature at the top of the list, than you likely have a match.

Finally, go with your gut instincts. It may sound a bit clichéd, but often times your first impression about someone is the right impression. You probably also want to stick to someone of the same sex (assuming you’re straight) so that there is no sexual tension that could ruin an otherwise mutually beneficial agreement.

If you aren’t a pet person, it can be tough sometimes to understand people that are. The average pet lover spends an inordinate amount of time with their pet, walking their pet, playing with their pet and most importantly, cleaning up after their pet. We may love our cats and dogs very much, but even the neatest pet really isn’t very neat. Here are a few survival tips for those folks who aren’t pet lovers.

First, make sure your roommate cleans the cat box at least once per day. Not only does the cat deserve to have a scooped box on a daily basis, if you wait any longer than that, it often leads to a smelly box. You have the right to live in an apartment that doesn’t reek of cat urine, so don’t feel bad if you have to push this point with your roommate.

Your roommate should also be in charge of cleaning the cat hair from the places where kitty sleeps. Most cats have a favorite chair or a favorite spot to lie down on, and the hair can be absolutely overwhelming in those areas. Even if it is your turn to vacuum, they should be responsible for keeping the cat fur in the apartment under control.

Finally, while it isn’t a big deal for you to feed the cat once in a while, general care should be done by its owner. Things like trips to the vet and even discipline should be done by the owner and if they aren’t, you should speak to him or her about it.

While online apartment hunting websites have completely revolutionized the way that many of us search for places to live, the one thing they haven’t really done is help us find places that need roommates, but that doesn’t mean that the computer is completely worthless. There are plenty of other sites, like Craigslist that are full of free personal ads posted by individuals looking for roommates. If you live in a smaller town or in a place that doesn’t have a Craigslist page, there are alternatives for finding the roommate of your dreams.

One good place to look is at the apartment complex you want to move into. Many times, these complexes will have common areas that have posters and roommate requests on a board so you can write down a bunch of phone numbers and possibly find a roommate that way. You can even make a day of going from complex to complex searching for roommates, and before you know, you’ll likely have a great place to live. You can always post a note on those boards, too, that way, if someone who lives in a complex you like needs a roommate, you will likely get called quickly.

Of course, the oldest way to find a roommate is simply by asking around your circle of friends. Most people would prefer to live with someone they know so you will likely not have any problems finding someone to live with if your friends know that you’re looking.

If you already know the person that you’ll be moving into an apartment with, but you don’t already have an apartment, that means that the two of you can go apartment hunting together. While most people have things like rent and amenities at the top of their lists when it comes to deciding factors, health and safety should be an issue, too. Here are a few important things to look at when you go apartment hunting with your roommate.

First, make sure the doors and locks appear to be secure. Look for signs of forced entry on your door since it will likely be a telltale sign of past problems in that building. If your door leads directly outside and not into a hallway, make sure that there is more than just one lock on the door (things like a chain or a deadbolt) and ask if more security can be installed or if that can only be done by the building manager.

Second, check for signs of mold of mildew in the apartment. You most often find trace signs of mold or mildew in the bathroom, especially in and around the shower, as well as in the kitchen. Not only can mold or mildew problems cause serious health problems, they are unsightly, as well. If you only see a small amount of it, it could be a sign that there is a lot more on the other side of that wall, so you might want to think twice about renting from that particular complex.