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Early Addition
Is there some way to find rooms/shares in New York, other than Craigslist? I've waded through all the listings, the deceptive ads, and the perverts for the last few moves, and before that I used a fee-based roommate service. What other secrets of finding a decent share are lurking out there?
We understand the hesitation of finding a potential roommate on Craigslist and roommate services. You really never know what you are going to get, and sifting through all the people offering free rent in exchange for you walking around naked can really get exhausting. The best thing that we can advise, is start getting the word out there. Mention to everyone you know that you are seeking a roommate. You never know who will know someone who knows someone looking for a place, or has an empty room. At least you have some sort of remote connection to the person, and a place to verify their character. The New York Times has an article about services for finding roommates in NY, if you choose to go that route. They also offer some tips for wading out potential disasters, such as meeting at a coffee shop or other public location before deciding whether they should be brought into the actual apartment, and requesting references.
What are your success stories for finding roommates?
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Try www.sublet.com
while i have been on the other side of the process, and i know that it can be frustrating trying to find a room, craigslist works great when you're the one with the empty room and you're looking for a new roommate to fill it. takes like two days to accumulate thirty to fifty responses -- wade through those, looking for ten potentially normal people, then meet 'em, and pick the best looking one. ha ha just kidding. maybe. my advice for those looking for rooms is to have a good friendster and/or myspace page linked to the email address you're writing from (useful for sussing out "normalcy" AND the good-looking factor) and make sure your emailed response to the ad does not read like spam.
Yeah, while I agree that there are some creeps on craigslist, I have found 3 separate rooms, ALL GREAT, by using the service. Seriously, it is a wonderful system, I always figure that the people who don't like it are either a. uncomfortable living with others in the first place and thus will never make good roommates, or b. stupid and lazy.
Just keep using craigslist.
I found a really fantastic apartment share through easyroommate.com. It took a little time and effort (you always have to wade through crap like a beautiful apartment share with the crazy cat lady who offers you tuna from the same can one of her kitties was just eating out of - true story!), but I ended up with great, affordable apartment and a nice roommate too.
I could write a freakin' BOOK about roommate-hunting tips. In fact, I've been tempted to for a long time, but I don't have much positive to say about the process. In fact, after five years and three out of four bad roommate experiences, I decided to cut back all my expenses to bare bones so that I could just live in my apartment alone. I eat a lot of cereal, but at least my toilet is always flushed.
That said, Gothamist has it nailed when they say that word of mouth works better than Craigslist ever did. To that end, the biggest tip I can give anybody looking for a roommate is: hanging out with someone and living with them are two very different things. Therefore, do not rely on any mutual friends' recommendations unless your friend has actually lived with the roomie-candidate, and above all, do not assume you can live with someone just because you can enjoy a night out with them.
I used Roommate Finders eight years ago when I first moved to New York. I moved with a lovely man and married him two years later. Thanks, Roommate Finders!