Writing a good housemate ad or announcement is an important part of the housemate selection process. Here are some tips on how to spread the word that you’re looking for a housemate!
Six Types of Info in a Good Housemate Ad
A good housemate ad has six types of information.
- The location.
- The rent and financial requirements.
- A description of the room(s) available and the larger house.
- Something about yourself as a housemate.
- A description of what you are looking for in a housemate.
- Contact information.
The location and the rent should be easy. The descriptions take a bit more thought and care with the words you use. You want to make it sound attractive and you need to be honest.
If you’ve done spent time thinking about who you are as a housemate and what you want in a housemate, it is much, much easier to write your descriptions. You might use some of our worksheets. They can help you get clear on who you are and what you are looking for.
Be honest and clear. If you are a neat-freak, you describe that. You want a housemate for whom living with a neat-freak is a good thing! If the room for rent is small you say so and also something interesting. For instance, I used to rent a room in my house that was tiny. But is was also light-filled and the house was close to public transportation. Those benefits outweighed the smallness of the room.
The usual sort of things to list include ages of current housemates, sex, occupations (nine to five? or other schedule) attractive features of house/location/room, and something interesting that would signal to a reader that you would be a good housemate for them. Look at other postings to get good ideas. But you are a unique person and you want to attract someone who is going to be a good fit for you.
Communicate that.
This is good and I will keep it. There are links on the first page after the original questionnaire that I have not viewed yet. The information in this is so good that it made me feel optimistic, especially the suggestion to use Craigslist. I find myself thinking of the negative newspaper items about Craigslist, yet I have used it successfully a number of times. I sold a camera for $250 on Craigslist about three years ago, and I made the meeting place a public place. I told the management and the waiter in Denny’s what I was doing there, waiting for someone to make a purchase and pay me cash, and be ready to call the police if anything bad happened. It turned out it was a very nice photographer who came in, but you never know!