The New Era of Renting

Why You Shouldn’t Have To Sacrifice Affordability To Find Great Roommates

Co-living has exploded in popularity in the last decade, and it’s not hard to see why. Even before the massive social and economic upheaval that resulted from a global pandemic, the demand for affordable housing and shared living was already undergoing a rapid increase: around 80% of people aged 20-35 are currently not living alone, and there is a good reason.  Not only does co-living save money, it provides a sense of social community, too, and it takes the burden off of any one person to maintain a home all on their own.

If the past year has taught us one thing, it's the importance of enjoying the company of the people you share your space with. (A quality quarantine bubble is harder to come by than toilet paper these days).  Plus, with unemployment numbers reaching levels not seen since the Great Depression, affordability has become an essential box to be ticked when searching for a room for rent. Despite this surge in growth for the co-living model, there are still some familiar setbacks that have been hard to shake. 

Finding a place to live that touts itself as ‘affordable’ often translates to a less-than-glamorous living space: a not-so-beautiful building that was constructed before your parents were born, a 4th floor walk-up with uneven steps, outdated appliances that are always broken. Even if you manage to bypass all of that and find a place that is a good fit for your finances, there is another issue that often arises in shared spaces: bad roommates. 

Sharing a home is a great way to reduce your rental costs, but we’ve all heard the horror stories of those notorious roommates who seem to get worse with each passing month: they don’t clean, (like, ever), they stay up until 4am blasting death metal through the not-so-soundproof walls, they eat the chocolate cake you had been saving for a real bummer day at work, or they just generally seem to steer every situation they encounter towards that toxic combination of chaotic and dysfunctional. Just finding these questionable people can be no picnic, either.

Searching for roommates on sites like Craigslist can often feel like traipsing through the Wild West without your pistol: you’re not sure who you might find there, but it’s pretty clear that the sheriff was run out of town long ago. When you are seeking someone suitable to share your most private space with, “every man for himself” is not exactly a comforting approach.

For those interested in co-living, there still seems to be a lot of these same old roadblocks that pop up when searching for an affordable living situation. So which do you sacrifice to maintain your sanity? Do you focus on your bank account, and seek out cheap rent at the risk of enduring some uncomfortable social situations? Or do you try to find those fabled housemates you might actually get along with, and leave that dream of a savings account out on the curb like your kombucha bottles on recycling day? 

What if you didn’t have to sacrifice either one?

(Co)-Living Better

Yes, you read that right. It may sound like the stuff of co-living legends, but that ancient showdown between affordability and finding great roommates has finally met its end, and it’s all thanks to co-living companies like HomeRoom. Not only has HomeRoom perfected the process of finding great roommates, it does it all while keeping rent costs low, homes updated and comfortable, and the entire process streamlined within a custom, convenient app.

Using a combination of vetting, background checks, and video-conferences, HomeRoom pre-qualifies all potential roommates before they’re allowed to sign a lease, to ensure that you will actually get along with the people you share a home with. The process is simple and seamless, and makes the whole renting process feel, well, actually kind of exciting. Best of all, you no longer have to wade through a sea of nebulous texts, seedy Craigslist posts, or ominous emails. With Homeroom, all that is done for you. All you have to do is give the final ‘okay’ and your new roommate will be moved in in no time.

The renting process involves more than just locating roommates, though. Once everyone is settled and cozy together in their new home, a new host of logistic issues tends to crop up: trying to divy up rent payments via various different apps, deciding how best to deal with a maintenance issue, or even setting up a cleaning schedule; all the little annoyances that come with sharing a space can eventually add up to create a big problem, if they aren’t dealt with in the right way. HomeRoom knows this, and they have your back.

By streamlining every step of the co-living process from start to finish, they ensure that you will never be left on your own to deal with whatever issue may arise. And let’s face it, at the end of the day, sharing a space isn’t always a utopia; issues happen. With Homeroom’s Coliving App, everyone can pay rent online in one place, request needed maintenance, or even unlock the front door with keyless entry. By providing an entire network of support and tech tools, HomeRoom is helping to usher in the new era of renting, and it’s in full swing.

Through this new model, a lot of the pressure that comes with renting a room is removed from the renters, which means that housemates can focus more on their relationships to one another. When this happens, co-living becomes so much more than just sharing a home with people to save some cash; the focus shifts to building a community where everyone can shine. So don’t settle for bad roommates, uncomfortable living spaces, or overpriced rent. You deserve to have it all, and with co-living experts like HomeRoom, it’s easier than ever to have just that.

HomeRoom makes finding roommates and sharing a space easy and offers unique benefits to renters who are ready to jump into the rapidly expanding world of co-living.