10 Easy Ways to Find a Flatmate You Actually Like
Whether you are looking for someone to rent your spare room, looking for a buddy-up for a flat you like, or looking for a room in a shared flat, finding a flatmate can be a stressful task. Here are a couple of ideas you can use in your search:
1. Ask Your Personal Network
You never know, it might just be that your long lost BFF from primary school could have had the same idea of moving at the same time. It could be through family, or through friends. Just ask about at every opportunity you get:
“Hey, how are you?” Oh you know, just looking for a flatmate and that.
2. The Facebook
Selling Star Wars Socks, looking for vegan recipes, finding a roommate… Some people just use FB for anything. Zucky’s got your back, and your data…
Because so many people use Facebook these days, it’s quite difficult to cut through the c*ap. What we recommend you do is to post on your timeline something short & sweet like: “Looking for a flatmate! I make great pancakes” asking your friends to share with their friends. After all, a friend of a friend is a friend.
Now that that’s done and still no success, you can also post in certain Facebook groups. A lot of these groups are not well moderated and Facebook does not do much against scammers, so you do need to be careful. Here are our personal favourites for the London housing scene:
London Flatmate & Spare Room Finder
Houses, Flats and Rooms For Rent London UK
3. idealflatmate.co.uk
If you are still looking for a flatmate after those ideas, you can find loads of (verified) flatmates easily here.
Even if you find a flatmate somewhere else, I still recommend you take the ideal flatmate matching test to see if it is a good match (do it also if you are moving in with a friend!). I did it with my new flatmate before moving recently, and we got a 73% match, which is a decent score and means we have very similar lifestyle preferences. Turns out we are actually reeeally similar as well: We both like Star Wars & work in digital marketing, what are the odds?
So actually, if you’re trying to save time, you can do a mash-up of Steps 1-3 by creating an ideal flatmate account, doing the matching test, and then sharing it on Facebook & your other social media profiles asking your mates: “I’m looking for a flatmate guys, take the matching test and then see if we can live together and still get along well: [Link to your profile].”
After this step, there is no reason why you should still be trying to find a flatmate to be honest. You should definitely be sorted by now. The following tips are like having 5 extra desserts after a 3-course dinner!
4. Your Professional Network
Whether you are in University or working in a big company. You can find out with them if there is a way for you to connect with people in the organisation who are likely to be in the same situation.
5. Reddit
You can find inspiration in the r/badroommates subreddit to have an idea of what NOT to look for in a roommate, and have a little giggle along the way too.
There are a few people posting in r/london_homes their ROOM WANTED or OFFERED ads, but there are not many.
6. Twitter, if you have followers
If you have a star twitter account & loads of followers like MC Grindah’s, then you can probably get away with asking the Twittersphere to find you a flatmate, maybe..
“Looking for a clean & respectful flatmate who likes to tweet #PleaseRT”
7. Go to ideal flatmate Pub Quiz Flatmate Match Up events
WATCH THIS SPACE! We are going to launch some exciting new events for you to mingle with future flatmates. We have partnered up with Tipi for quiz nights, where you can find a new flatmate and one of their brand new rooms, located in Wembley! Send your interest to hello@idealflatmate.co.uk if this is something down your street. Check out what Tipi has to offer here.
8. Tinder…
Here’s an idea. If you’re that person that swipes +500 profiles a day on Tinder, why not use your bio to advertise the fact that you are looking for a flatmate as well as getting laid. Fruit for thought.
9. Tear-Off Ads, not-ideal last resort…
Obviously, not ideal.
10. Absolute last resort: Create a massive billboard and head to the streets
Not really recommended, we were just running out of ideas at this point.
