Part of the fun of apartment living is sharing the experience with a roommate. Whether it’s a childhood friend, college chum, or random stranger, a roommate can help share expenses and if things click, you have a built-in social life. However, even the best relationships are tested under the confines of four walls. Roommates are destined to have disagreements, but with candid communication and agreed-on expectations, minor issues can be ironed out. However, if all attempts to resolve conflicts fail, you may be facing a situation where one or both of you decide to pull the plug and terminate the relationship.
Here are some roommate red flags to be aware of:
Financial Instability
Do you constantly have to hound your roommate to pay their share of the bills? Is your roommate chronically unemployed? If you find yourself frequently fronting your roommate their share of the rent, utilities, food, or other expenses, it’s time to have a conversation.
Different Standards of Cleanliness
Are you a neat freak and your roommate is a slob? Or perhaps you have a more casual approach to housekeeping and your roommate is a stickler for tidiness. Before you drive each other crazy with your mismatched habits, sit down and discuss the situation and come up with a resolution. One suggestion is to develop a chore roster, where each roommate is responsible for specific household tasks each week. Or split the cost and hire a house cleaner.
Poor Communication Skills
If one of you likes to address problems head-on and the other is a bona fide conflict avoider, that can lead to a lot of misunderstanding and frustration. If you are living with a person you know well, you may already be keyed into their communication style and know how to deal with it. However, trying to work with somebody you are unfamiliar with and having to walk on eggshells around, signals a bigger challenge.
Pets, Guests, and Significant Others
If you like to entertain and your roommate doesn’t, or one of you has a significant other, or annoying pet, it can drive the other roommate crazy. Before committing to signing a lease with another person, it’s important to know upfront if they like to have guests and boyfriends or girlfriends around constantly. The same goes for pets. That darling dog you initially met may shed like crazy or bark incessantly. In this case, you and your roommate need to discuss boundaries and how to enforce them. Respecting each other’s privacy is paramount to a successful relationship.
One surefire way to negotiate a smooth roommate relationship is to draw up a roommate agreement before you sign a lease. The roommate agreement will outline key issues such as sharing expenses, entertaining, household management, pets, guests, and other salient points. You can find plenty of examples of roommate agreements online. By adding some formal structure and expectations to your living situation, you can hopefully, discover red flags early or set the foundation for successful (and peaceful) cohabitation.
Explore a Vision Community Apartment
At Vision Communities, roommates are welcome…just as long as they’re on the lease. Our spacious 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom apartment layouts are designed to give you your own space while providing common areas for you to hang out with your roommate(s). Check out our luxurious apartment floorplans in one of our communities to enjoy life at the VC.
Schedule a tour today and see why Vision Communities is a great place to live.