My lovely flatmate - the first I've actually liked and been friends with in a long time - has to leave NZ due to no fault of her own.
So there I went, back on the TradeMe 'flatmates wanted' merry-go-round.
This time, fortunately, I have been getting a lot of responses to my ad. Last time, last November, pickings were incredibly slim. NZ had just opened up so there were fewer people looking for rooms. My current flatmate interviewed the night before I was going to have to start paying the full rent by myself and was the only person that showed up to the viewings that seemed even OK to live with.
This time, I was able to be very very picky about who I even offered viewings to. My time is very limited due to my PhD work. I also wanted to be careful about how many people I brought into my home due to COVID. Some stats:
- 30 people wrote to me (of a total of 840 viewings of my ad as of this writing, according to TradeMe)
- 9 were single women
- 11 were single men
- 6 were couples
- 3 were two women (sisters, cousins, friends) who wanted to share the room
- 1 was a couple who were divorcing and wanted to use the room as a pied-à-terre when the other was parenting their children in their marital home
Eliminations
- Six didn't follow the directions in the ad (email me some basic information), so they were immediately eliminated. I've learned that the folks that cannot read the full ad and follow simple directions either don't show up for the viewing appointments or would be a terrible flatmate due to their inattention to detail. It's a super easy way to weed the bad folks out, and has never failed me.
- After getting some good responses, I realized I didn't want to live with a single guy because it would just change the house dynamics too much. So the 11 single men were eliminated after that realization.
- I also realized that in my 40's I just cannot live with people in their early 20's anymore. A couple and one single woman was eliminated by adding this requirement.
- I did not want to live with people in messy situations, so the divorcing couple was eliminated, as was the single woman who is married to a murderer in jail in the US (for real!!). I tell people to put their full name in their email responses. I am a single gal inviting strangers into my home - I WILL google you! If I cannot find you online, it doesn't eliminate you, but you go to the bottom of the list.
- I didn't want to have to re-advertise and get a new flatmate after a few months. This whole process is EXHAUSTING and costs a lot in both time and money - TradeMe ads are $30 plus it costs to renew certain features that get your ad noticed after a week or more!, so I eliminated anyone who couldn't stay for longer than 6 months. (I have found that Facebook flatmate wanted pages don't work for my flat - everyone that replies is super flaky and a bit weird on there, so I don't even bother with free ads like FB anymore.)
After those very strict eliminations, this left:
- two couples
- five single women
I wrote back and offered viewings to the two couples and two of the single women that wrote to me in the first few days. My viewings were held the next Saturday (after posting the ad on a Wednesday) and on a Monday evening.
One of the couples wrote back the day of their viewing saying that they had just found a room, so I ended up seeing just one couple and one single woman the first day (a Saturday), and another single woman on the Monday.
Everyone that showed up to the viewing wanted the room, and applied to
live in my flat. They all said that they felt comfortable in my place and chatting to me. I always set aside ~20-30 mins to chat with each of the potential flatties after showing them the flat, which takes like 2 minutes total since it is a small place :). This gives us all a time to ask and answer questions, do a good vibe check, and try out how we'd fit together living in the flat.
Once I had all of their applications on Monday night, this gave me something to think about, and people to compare to one another. I was already getting tired and burned out of flatmate viewings and meeting new people (it's so taxing after being so isolated during this pandemic!), so I started making some decisions.
After weighing up the pros and cons, I decided the woman I saw on Monday was a no-goer. Her boyfriend came with her to the viewing and was super loud and kind of obnoxious. The single woman on Saturday was a possibility, and the couple were lovely, so were also an option.
My PhD meeting on Monday ended up deciding it. I can't get my PhD done by the deadline, and I'm going to have to extend. My supervisor said there's no more money to pay me a stipend after time runs out, so I'm going to have to rely on my 0.3 FTE job for my salary only. That is less than $2K per month until I can finish, which my supervisor says will probably take an extra 6-8 months.
With a couple, I pay less in rent and utilities, essentially freeing up at least $30 and up to $40 per week depending on utilities. This doesn't sound like much, but it adds up to thousands over the course of a year. It could mean the difference between being able to afford rent and food only and being able to have a little bit of fun once in a long while. So, money ended up being about 50% of my consideration in the decision. If I hadn't needed the money, I would have chosen to live with a single woman, definitely.
I decided to offer the couple the room, and they've accepted and paid their first week's rent and 3 week's bond. It was all done in less than 24 hours. I feel good about my decision, though when I am making more money, I will definitely opt for a single woman to share with instead.
The three other single women who wrote to me later would have gotten offered viewings, but they were just too late in the process. By the time they wrote to me, I had already gotten the news that my salary was massively decreasing and I needed to bring in a couple.
After looking at my budget, I feel good about my decision - I will definitely need the lowered rent and utilities expenses! Posts to come...
