Finding new roommates?

[Taboo]

Well, I'm moving at the end of May. Originally I had two friends who were going to go apartment hunting with me but it's looking like that's going to fall through.

My lease is up May 31st. Staying here is not an option; I can't afford it any more and there's no space for roommates. It's hard for me to find anyone when I haven't signed a lease on a new place yet, but without knowing how many people I'll have with me (and because their names need to be on the damn lease too), I'm having trouble finding anyone who will consider it until after I've moved into the new place myself.

How the hell do I find people willing to apartment hunt with me? I've tried Craigslist but without much luck and schoolmates are not working too well either. Where else can I even look? Do I have to rent the place on my own first and just deal with all the wasted money? It's likely that classmates won't move in until Aug. 1st (when rejections for school housing come in) in which case I'd be trying to pay at least 6k myself in rent plus security, etc.

[MaggieTheCat]

Is there anyone who already has an apartment who you can move in with, at least till you find something else? Maybe post an ad in the local newspaper and on various websites like Craigslist, meetup.com, etc.

[Taboo]

I've found a few 'roommate wanted' things on Craigslist but they're all with smokers and I can't do that. Seems to be a big thing in this area unfortunately. Still trying though.

It's really hard for me to find someone who's a long term roommate, because schoolwork + work means I'm up at 7am and not in bed until 2am or later, and though I'm quiet as possible, it still drives most people nuts... ideally I'd live off-campus with other students who are more flexible with that sort of thing, or with people who are on-call as doctors/lawyers/etc who are more understanding, but I'm having trouble finding anyone like that...

[Taboo]

Added note: I'm a year behind my other school friends, ergo they're graduating two weeks before my lease is up and promptly moving back with family or leaving the state.

[trailerparkmedic]

I don't know if they have these in your area, but in one college town I lived in, you could rent a 4 person apartment by yourself and they would just lock the extra 3 rooms. Or, you could be thrown in with 3 strangers in the 4 bedroom apartment--not ideal, but at least you have a place to live. They were apartments specifically for students.

There is a website for finding roommates, at roommates.com. I don't know anyone that has used it.

[Jester]

Most often in my life, when I have been home-hunting, I have looked for a room for rent in an already-rented place, either a house or an apartment.

For the most part, it has worked really well for me.

So rather than look for a place that's empty, since you can't find anyone to commit to you, why not look for "room for rent" situations?

I know, a lot of people there smoke. Not all of them. Keep looking....and you DO have almost 2 full months, ya know.

Good luck!

[Taboo]

Oh, I'd forgotten about Roommates.com. I'll check that. Thanks!

There's student specific housing like that here, but it's in Manhattan and I'm in a different borough so it would be a 2 hour commute for classes that start at 8am.

Jester - I think this may just be a weird NYC thing, but if you rent a single room in the neighborhood around my school, it's usually a bedroom with a separate hall entrance. That's just how the layouts are in most of the buildings. Meaning no kitchen access. (Family lives in the main area, and there's a separate shut off room that they rent out for extra cash... yes, it's a really weird setup.) If necessary though I might be able to rent a single room for a month and put my stuff in storage if I don't have a place by my move out date, so that's something to consider.