What Are the Best Websites to Find Roommates?

Are you looking for roommates? Moving into a new home can be daunting, especially if you need to find somebody to share it with. There are over 80 million people in the US that share homes with others, but it's still difficult to find a good fit for availability, budget, culture, and more. Here are some valuable tips for finding roomies online. 

Before deciding to live with anyone, please do thorough research and make sure you meet in a public place.

Facebook Groups and Marketplace

Most people use Facebook, and it’s a really powerful tool to connect us. You can simply ask Facebook, “does anyone know of anybody looking for a roommate?” on yours newsfeed and see if you get any answers! If not, there are a multitude of options.

Facebook Groups presents a great way to find roommates. Simply type in the search bar "roommates" or "rooms for rent", filter for Groups, and join local groups. Once you're in you can post about yourself, what you're looking for, and message people with open rooms they are trying to fill.

If you don't find anyone that meets your needs, try Facebook Marketplace instead.

Facebook Marketplace is a growing feature on the Facebook platform. It works similar to Craigslist in that, you can browse rental listings with certain criteria or based on location.

While Marketplace is also a great place to find roommates, continue to be vigilant when talking with people. There are quite a few scams on both Groups and Marketplace, so you need to be aware of what those look like.

You can also ask your friends and family to share your post to help you reach more people. This is a useful organic way to find a roommate, and if they are a friend or a friend of a friend, you’ll find it easier to work out if you’ll get along well as roommates too. 

Craigslist

Craigslist is the world’s largest classified website, and is still a hidden gem for all kinds of things - especially room rentals.

However, do be careful - anybody can create an account on Craigslist and accounts are anonymous. This architecture of the site allows for all kinds of scams to infiltrate the platform, so you'll need to be on the look for those types of people.

A good way to identify a scam is to ask very specific questions about the room or home. If they can't answer them and would prefer texting, it is likely a fake person. Additionally, if there are sketchy looking images in the post, photos with website domains in the picture, bizarre color schemes or poorly written descriptions - do your best to avoid these.

To ensure things go smoothly, you may want to use a Google Voice number so that you cannot be tracked as easily or spammed. If you do end up finding something on the platform that meets your needs, meet up with your potential roommate in a public place before signing anything or sending any money.

Meeting in a busy, public space and looking for some key signals that they are genuine is key to making your search on Craigslist successful. While the platform gets a bad rap, there are normal people using it to find housing. If they seem easy to talk to and give you a lot of detail about their life, they are probably okay. You can also add them on social media websites to double-check any information they’ve told you. 

Roommates.com

Roommates.com is a great option if you’re looking for a roommate anywhere in the country. It’s a website that’s designed purely for the activity of finding roommates - which means that there are lots of rooms to choose from! 

All you need to do is set up your profile and let people know a little about yourself. Then, go onto the homepage and select your option - whether you have an available room or if you need one and put in your location. You’ll then be able to see the profiles of people who meet your description.

Roommates.com does have a fee - $19.99 for 30 days or $29.99 for 60 days. As this is a website that you’ll only be using for a short while, we don’t think this fee is too bad to find more legitimate people! 

Roomies.com

Roomies.com is another roommate finding platform that prides itself on its reliability and security - and their 4.8 rating on TrustPilot reflects that!

To use Roomies, you can either list your room or find a room, and like Roommates.com, browse through the listings and message people who match your description. Roomies.com is also free to use - another great perk of this website! 

Take the time to browse their safety and security section to avoid any scams. They also have a few downloadable resources to go through with your new roommate to make the transition as easy as possible. 

These are a few great ways to find a roommate. Facebook is probably the easiest, but there are so many more resources on the internet if you don't have any luck there. With all these websites, you’re guaranteed to find a room for you and a roommate who you fit well with! 

Alcove Rooms

While we believe the previously listed sites are great for finding roommates, there's no denying that finding roommates with Alcove's platform is the easiest and safest.

If you're looking for a room for rent, Alcove makes it easy to search and filter for the things that matter to you. We have rooms in properties that are dog-friendly, female-only, near great hotspots in the city, and much more.

When you apply on the Alcove platform for a room in a home, we'll make sure you're able to communicate with potential roommates (either ones that are moving in or already living there). This allows you to make the best decision for which Alcove home to move into, and helps create a stronger community through Alcove.

Give it a try and browse our open listings here: https://alcoverooms.com/listings