I'm Looking To Create A Free Roommate Finder Site (I need your input) (apartment)

[LuisBY11]

Hey everyone,

I live in NYC and a lot of people that I know have been asking me if I know anyone who has a room to rent/knows a person who is looking to rent a room. That got me thinking that I don't know any websites that do that.

Then I started researching roommate finder sites and digging into reviews. I noticed that there are a lot of complaints regarding the top roommate finder sites. The top complaint is they will automatically charge your card even if you cancel the free trial.

I feel that is dishonest, which leads me to want to create a free roommate finder site. A place where people can actually find roommates/post their rooms for rent. All for free.

I want to create it based on your needs so my question is:

What is your biggest pain or frustration when trying to find a roommate?

Thanks,
Luis

[eureka1]

You may want to speak to a lawyer about liability issues. Those commercial sites have ironclad disclaimers.

[Kefir King]

It's ambitious Luis and I applaud you.

But getting from the wish to the fact is often a long road.

I am not a tech guru so all I can do is wish you good luck with your start-up.

As far as roommates go...I had 2 and then 2 more into my 30's...NO MORE. Just reading this site exposes horror story after horror story.

[LuisBY11]

Thanks for your replies

@eureka1 I plan on contacting a lawyer but before I do that I wanted to know what needs I will create the website around.

@Kefir King Thanks for your kind words, the road does seem like a long one but I will make this happen, I know this service is greatly needed in this world and I feel as long as I cater it to the people who use the site I will succeed.

[Cida]

Excuse me, Luis, but how will your site be any better than Craigslist, which I suspect is the most-used one?

In any case, it sounds like the gripes are about fees, so you can just duplicate their system for free, if you can.

[Henna]

I think it should be modeled on a dating site like Match.com or OKcupid, except without the romantic component. You need to find out what are the top things that matter in a roommate match and post those questions. I would imagine some important things would be

-what kind of schedule you keep
-how often do you clean
-would you want to pay for a cleaning service
-do you use alcohol or drugs
-do you expect to have overnight guests
-how much can you afford in rent
-how many extra amenities/utilities do you want to pay for

etc.

I think you could generate ideas for these kinds of questions by reading craigslist ads.

[skinnayyy]

Originally Posted by Henna

I think it should be modeled on a dating site like Match.com or OKcupid, except without the romantic component. You need to find out what are the top things that matter in a roommate match and post those questions. I would imagine some important things would be

-what kind of schedule you keep
-how often do you clean
-would you want to pay for a cleaning service
-do you use alcohol or drugs
-do you expect to have overnight guests
-how much can you afford in rent
-how many extra amenities/utilities do you want to pay for

etc.

I think you could generate ideas for these kinds of questions by reading craigslist ads.

This would be exponentially helpful. All craigslist ads basically say is I have an apartment in brooklyn that I want a roomate for. rent is 1000 dollars and then some crappy pictures.

If you can get renters and rentee's to fill out a profile to show what they are looking for an what they are that will help to weed out a lot of potential candidates that wouldn't have a chance or wouldn't fit well.