Finding a Roommate

March 29, 2005 6:46 PM

How to find a roommate: I need to find a place to live. I've always lived with friends, but that's not an option right now. I'm looking for a room on craigslist and bostonapartments.com but pickings are slim. I feel like there must be some other big sites out there, but I don't know what they are, and googling only turns up paid sites. Where else should I be looking?

To complicate things further, I'm not currently in the Boston area (where I would like an apartment), which means I can't view apartments and though I can talk with potential roommates by phone I'm sure most people would rather live with someone they've actually met.

So where to look for listings and how to overcome the out-of-town handicap?

posted by duck to home & garden (10 comments total)

can you go for a weekend and look at noticeboards/laundromat boards/etc and talk to people? is this college-related? most schools have offices to help.
posted by amberglow at 6:48 PM on March 29, 2005

easyroommate.com
posted by jon_kill at 6:59 PM on March 29, 2005

For Boston, it's the wrong time of year. Probably 60-70% of apartments come up on Sept 1.

If you have a university affiliation I would strongly suggest using it. We list our place only through Harvard (it's in Harvard Square) and always get a rentor right away.
posted by sohcahtoa at 7:28 PM on March 29, 2005

Thanks everyone...I'm heading back to Boston mid-april and of course I can look at both listings and apartments then, but I would feel much better if I had a place set up before that. (I'm looking for a May 1st place).

Harvard listings can only be searched from computers that are actually on campus. I have a VPN client that mimics attachment to the Harvard network, but even that doesn't seem to work with the housing listings.
posted by duck at 7:31 PM on March 29, 2005

If you are affiliated with Harvard, be sure to check out Harvard Affiliated Housing and the Harvard University Community Listing Network - which, as you state, is an on-campus service that is only available on the university intranet link.
posted by ericb at 8:43 PM on March 29, 2005

I have a friend who's looking to get rid of her apartment. Send me an e-mail and I'll give you some information.
posted by painquale at 11:29 PM on March 29, 2005

Also, try the CL forums and talk to people there. The Boston CL crowd is very friendly and fairly large so you may find that by getting to know people there over a few weeks or so, you'd know them well enough to get FOAF type recommendations for people who had rooms available.
posted by jessamyn at 5:57 AM on March 30, 2005

May 1 may be a good time to get in on a summer sublet if you don't mind moving again some September. It'd give you time to get to know the area and hopefully meet some folks for a new place.

Also, when checking CL, don't forget to search the normal apartments offered section for cheap rents. Often folks will post about sublets and the like there.

As someone who is on the May 1 Boston area lease schedule, I would also add that try as hard as you can to avoid a September 1st lease. It's hell.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:53 AM on March 30, 2005

Thanks, everyone. I just found a place with my winning telephone personality. I actually know the area pretty well already, having lived there 6 years. It is a sublet for the summer, but I'll renew in September rather than moving. Davis square, $525. Sweet.
posted by duck at 9:06 AM on March 30, 2005

Cool. Davis is a great place to be, especially in the summer when all those damn Tuftsies are gone.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:29 AM on March 30, 2005