Top 7 Questions to Ask a Potential Roommate

Living with a stranger can be a tough decision to make, but at the same time, you also need to afford a living. Rental property in Edmonton is quite on the expensive side, which is why you need to look for people willing the share the space and the rent. Typically, you can start looking for potential roommates by posting an advertisement about your apartment and the type of space you offer, along with the rent they need to share. However, instead of waiting for people to show up and respond to your advertisement, you can also approach potential roommates in Calgary, by searching on the internet and looking for people interested in sharing a living space.

Finding cheap houses for rent in Canada is a tedious task, and more often than not, you might end up in a shabby neighborhood with a high crime rate, which is simply not suitable to live. If you need to secure your safety and well-being, you need to aim for houses that are located in a much more secure location. You can sub-rent an apartment to generate additional income and afford living in a better neighborhood. A wise idea is to find a 3-bedroom house for rent, and then sub-rent it to two other tenants. This way, you save a great deal of money, and enjoy a luxury home to yourself. However, when it comes to looking for a potential roommate, you need to be certain about their backgrounds. Here are the Top 7 Questions to Ask a Potential Roommate:

They Income Stream

This is the most critical question you need to ask a potential roommate. The entire effort is to ensure that you are able to afford a living. However, if the roommate is not able to pay the rent on time, you might end up burdening yourself with extra rent. Frequently changing roommates is a task, not easily completed, and would leave your drained financially along the way. Therefore, always confirm the income stream of your potential roommates. Ask them about the company they work for, their income slab, their fixed monetary commitments, etc.

Criminal Background

Safety is a priority under all circumstances, which is why you always need to vet your roommates. Interview your potential roommate candidates and inquire if they have a record with the law agencies. Living with roommates with prior criminal misconduct simply puts you at higher risks. Therefore, you need to conduct a background check. Crosscheck and verify the information they provide to ensure your safety and wellbeing. 

Social Habits

Often, conflicting social habits can be the basis for major fallouts with your roommate. For example, a highly social person and a loner would conflict a lot on their living choices. Therefore, if you and your roommate have conflicting social habits, it is bound to disrupt the peace of your dwelling.

Addictions

Addiction to nicotine, alcohol, and drugs can be overwhelming for many. In fact, it also puts you in danger, as a person with an increased addiction is known to experience massive mood swings. Moreover, you might need to bear the smell of smoke or drugs, and can put you into legal trouble if the roommate is into illegal drugs.

Schedule

Even if you find everything right in a roommate, things can end up bad if your schedule opposes each other’s. Say for example you work the day shifts, while your roommate works the night shift, you will have very little interaction, will not be able to communicate with each other effectively, and can engage in practices that disrupts the other’s peace.

Personality and Characteristics

Ask about their personality, their strengths, and weaknesses. Judging the personality is quick important to sustain a long-term relationship with a roommate. If you are the type of person who likes to keep things clean and tidy, you need a roommate who understands and respects that. Otherwise, it might end up disrupting your peace.

Habits and Hobbies

Understanding each other is the fundamental principle to cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship with your roommate. Therefore, understand each other’s habits, hobbies, likes, and dislikes. This will help you understand if you have common ground with the potential roommate.