Hunting for housemates
Getting along with roommates can be tricky; finding the
perfect person or people to share living space with is essential
BY JON 1TKIN
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
You can’t choose your family, but
you can choose your housemates.
Sharing an apartment, duplex or
Many University students choose to live
with good friends. But some shared-hous
ing veterans say lifestyle issues can get in
the way of even the strongest friendships.
Environmental studies ma
campus and around town.
International studies major Jude
Kirstein, 21, stresses the importance of
interviewing potential housemates.
“The first thing I always ask is why a
person is leaving their current housing
situation,” she said. “That way I know if
people got kicked out of a house for be
ing lazy or sloppy. ”
house during college can be a great way
to save money and make friends — or
enemies. Finding the right people to live
with is as crucial as finding the right
classes to take, but because they don’t
make course catalogs listing people, it’s
not that easy.
Noah Jack, a 21-year-old landscape ar
chitecture student, has shared houses for
two years with 10 housemates. In his expe
rience, respect is the most important ele
ment in a good housemate dynamic.
“If roommates respect each other, then
they will understand each other’s imperfec
tions and not take things personally,” Jack
said. “If they don’t, then little issues can get
blown up really easily.”
Jack currently shares a house with
four students. Some of his housemates
are old friends and some are former
strangers who answered ads. Jack said
good communication is the main reason
they get along.
“My roommates and I don’t have reg
ular gripe sessions or chore charts, but
when we need to, we sit and talk about
any issues we have, and stuff gets taken
care of,” Jack said.
jor Evan Smith, 21, had an
experience when good
friends turned out to be bad
housemates.
“I moved into a place
sophomore year with my best
friends,” Smith said. “It was
great at first, but after a while
the partying started to pile
up, people weren’t paying
bills on time and everything
was always a mess. I wound
ONLINE
ROOMMATE
SEARCHES
www.craigslist.org
www.rent.com
•b
www.eugeneweekty.com
www.roommates.com
where the landlord reduces
the rent in exchange for work
trade. Her housemates found
the place by answering a
newspaper ad.
“I made sure to find people
who are comfortable doing
chores and taking care
of things around the house,
and it worked out great,”
she said.
In the past. Kirstein wasn’t
up getting stuck with a lot ot the bills,
and it strained my friendships with
my housemates.”
Smith recommends giving a lot of
consideration to potential housemates’
living habits.
“I wish I had thought more about the
responsibilities of sharing a place,” he
said. “If I could go back again, I would
have tried to live with responsible peo
ple rather than just getting a place with
my buddies. ”
Other students find housemates via
classified ads in local newspapers, on
Web sites such as craigslist.org and
roommates.com, or on signs posted on
so lucky. A transfer student from the
Chicago area, she recalled a previous
living situation that was far from ideal.
“I lived in an apartment with a couple
that seemed cool at first, but they would
fight with each other and leave piles
of dishes,” she said. “It became
unbearable.”
Kirstein recommends avoiding living
with a couple, no matter how stable
they seem.
“Every couple fights, and their house
mates have to deal with their drama,”
Kirstein said. “If a couple is ready to
move in with each other, they should get
their own place anyway.”
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