Deciding Whether to Live Alone or With Housemates When Looking For Apartments for Rent

You’ll never lack for company when you have housemates around. It doesn’t matter if you’re not up for a chat at the moment; sometimes just having people around can keep loneliness at bay and make a bad day slightly better. However, if you’re more of an introspective sort, having people around all the time can become wearying. Your privacy is guaranteed if you live alone, and you can have friends around only when you feel like it.

Finances are one of the main reasons people search for housemates at the same time they’re looking for apartments to rent. Three people can afford a larger apartment more easily than one person could and there’s also the benefit of splitting the rent, utility and grocery bills. On other hand, living with wasteful housemates may mean you wind up paying more than your fair share for expenses. There’s also no guarantee that your housemates will stump up their portion of the bills when the time comes either.

Having housemates around is a good way to learn how to cooperate and compromise with others. They can water your plants, feed your pet and collect your mail if you’re out of town or otherwise inconvenienced and vice versa. Plus, chores and other household duties can be divided between all members of the household. However, you might be unlucky and end up with housemates who fail to pull their weight around the house, leaving you lumbered with all the work anyway.

If you do decide to live with housemates, don’t be shy to ask questions during the screening process. You want to make sure you get good companions and not people who wind up driving you up the wall.