Future Flatmates?

[Feathers]

Can you share any experience in looking for flats/rooms or flatmates?

I've only lived in a dorm or with my relatives before, so I don't really know how to go about finding a great place with awesome flatmates/roommates (or at least a tolerable/okay/friendly one).

I had luck with flatmates before, it was just accidental mostly.

Can't really afford an own flat, so I'd be looking for rommate/flatmate options.. Of course I need to like the flat (it's ideal if there are pics included with ads) and see it.. And ideally the flatmates/roommates too..

Not really sure how to go about it.. Any tips?

 

[Feathers]

Okay, I decided to do this on a 'scientific basis' and wrote down all the stuff I don't want in future flatmates, and put it in a positive form, eg what I DO want!

Then, I'll be trying to make a list or short questionnaire of things to ask or look for when looking for a flat/room..

 

[davidburke]

i've had bad experience with housemates in every flat i've being so i'm afraid i can't help you. I wish there was some site or somewhere that you could find people with similar personality who are also looking for a flat in the area. Hope it works out for you anyway

 

[Feathers]

Hi David and thanks! Can you tell about how you went about choosing flatmates/where to live or what went wrong, so at least we don't make the same mistakes?

For my first dorm flat, my parents talked to a local girl who said there was a place in her 'very quiet' dorm flat. I was a bit bored there but it was good academically, we all studied when we needed to and got along well mostly, and I managed to finish most of Uni years there..

I went to see empty dorm rooms when I moved then and saw ash trays and some odd stuff on the doors of a few rooms available, so I didn't choose those. And I asked for a non-smoker room. I had a good feeling about the overall dorm I chose and it was quite nice living there.. There were some occasionally noisy neighbours though.. and possibly some non-ideal feng shui..

Others were mostly 'by accident', someone told me about a vacancy... and I just gave it a try, expecting it to be temporary anyway..

I don't want a too quiet/boring or too lively situation.. And usually do get along well with most people, there are some specific considerations though.. hm..

 

[davidburke]

I found them by looking at websites and the papers. The house i got in my first year of college was with 5 other people, I really had no clue about what the other housemates were like there isn't much choice here you just have to take a place before they are all gone. They were loud, crazy, not very nice and drank alot ( i don't) and often smashed the place, as unfortunately most Irish college students are like. I just tried to avoid them and stayed in my room alot

In the next one there was 3 others. They were a little nicer but again heavy drinkers. Of course i avoided them and stayed my room alot again. still have to find a place for this year so dreading that

 

[Feathers]

Thanks! Oh, you're Irish - so that may have had something to do with this! Did/do you study in Dublin?

Can you get a more quiet friend or acquaintance, maybe someone who finished studying in that city, to recommend you a place? Also, here some ads have 'quiet students only' or 'quiet location' or such in the ads already (?)
If you go to a dorm where the janitor/dorm master lives in, the flats/rooms above his flat directly are usually full of quiet students (!) And some dorms are 'famous' as loud or quiet, or having student parents with kiddies in them.. So I guess dorms can be easy to decipher if you know someone who lives there and can give you the info.. Flats or rooms, that seems quite another universe though!!

I don't want to have something with too quiet people as that could be a bit boring (had a roommate who only studied or watched TV, honestly, at a time..)
Too loud is bad too, yeah.. Or people trashing the place.. In the dorm, you can move if you don't like your room or roommates..
Ideally, one would get a place without any or much deposit so one could move mid-term too?

I saw it in a TV series that flatmates interviewed a future flatmate with detailed questions.. does this ever happen in real life, or do you just talk to the owner? (Some owners also have specific requirements about who gets in..) Some ads are posted by flatmates and some by owners.. So it depends who you talk to..

 

[Feathers]

I am afraid to call any potential future flatmates or owners though. /sigh/

Another thing, you could be looking for a place together with a friend/acquaintance/classmate. Though I preferred to just live with strangers, more neutral.. (And you still keep your friends if anything goes wrong lol.) It worked well for some people though. Maybe they had better boundaries and such though.

 

[davidburke]

Thanks! Oh, you're Irish - so that may have had something to do with this! Did/do you study in Dublin?
.

no i study in Galway. where are you living?

If you go to a dorm where the janitor/dorm master lives in, the flats/rooms above his flat directly are usually full of quiet students (!) And some dorms are 'famous' as loud or quiet, or having student parents with kiddies in them.. So I guess dorms can be easy to decipher if you know someone who lives there and can give you the info.. Flats or rooms, that seems quite another universe though!!

we have nothing like a dorm here

Also, here some ads have 'quiet students only' or 'quiet location' or such in the ads already

yea they never turn out to be like that though both places i stayed it said it on the add

I saw it in a TV series that flatmates interviewed a future flatmate with detailed questions.. does this ever happen in real life, or do you just talk to the owner?

i always just contact the owner

 

[Feathers]

Thanks David! I'm in Slovenia.. Really liked Dublin and Ireland too..Not sure if I was in Galway too or just contemplated going there..

Sorry to hear you don't have dorms or anything like it, and that even 'quiet' places turned out loud.. I wonder if you could find a bunch of quiet people (or even just one?) and get a flat together?

Also, for drinking parties and such - it may be helpful if someone outgoing just gets them all out of there..(to go party on somewhere else outside the flat) A flatmate did this in a very cool way..

 

[Kiwong]

Last time shared a flat with someone was in 1994 for a couple of months. He was working in the same town and just asked. I said OK, and it went alright. He might've had trouble with my propensity for not cleaning up after myself.

At college I stayed in a dorm for a year, but moved off as soon as I could and found cheap accomodation on my own.

At university I also stayed on the dorm. I didn't like it much at all, I started avoiding the common dining room, and used to wait until I coudln't hear or see anyone using the shared toilet facilities.

On weekends and holidays I stayed with my father and that is where I was most comfortable.

I got a job in Grafton in 1992, and I've pretty much lived alone since. Living with another human being is a completely alien concept to me.