House hacking, best way to get roommate/ tenants?

Question

My coworker bought a 3br/3ba house in Las Vegas, and will be living in the Master. Besides FB market place, are there any good Roommate or Tennant platforms to check for and screen potential people to move in and help house hack his first starter home?

Miller McSwain · Answer

I'm rent-by-room investing, and I'd definately recommend publishing your listing to many places to increase your exposure to potential tenants.

We have had success posting to:
- FB Marketplace
- FB Groups
- Zillow
- Roomies.com
- Roomiapp.com
- Roomster.com (paid)

Ryan Thomson · Answer

I have had a ton of luck with apartments.com (they bought Cozy). I list my rooms for rent here and then they put the listing on several of their affiliate sites. I get a couple interested leads a day.

Apartments.com is also where I have tenants fill out a background and credit check, set up automated rent payments, and upload renter's insurance. It's pretty sweet and free for me.

I also have some nice auto messages I use to do the initial "screen" to save my time from the tire kickers and the "is it still available" annoyers.

Jordan Warner · Answer

In all of my experience, I have just used Craiglist and Facebook. But it really depends on the market to determine how good the marketplace is really going to be.

There are a couple of other platforms that I haven't used, Roomster and Roomies.com to help find roommates/tenants by creating a profile and matching preferences. Those generally have the best reviews from people. For screening, if you were looking to get serious and do background checks, Transunion and Experian offer a landlord package. It would work if you were executing a lease. For roommates, I never did the full background, maybe I should have!  You could also just do some old-fashioned google exploring, and social media searching too. Last but not least, ALWAYS interview and ask for references.

Nicholas D'Andrea · Answer

FYI - Just got off the phone w/ apartments.com and they no longer allow rent by the room.

Nicholas D'Andrea · Answer

How are you posting on apartments.com for the house hack? I've tried and get denied.

Stephen DeThample · Answer

Besides the other options, word of mouth is strong. There are always people looking for a room.

Didier Bizimungu · Answer

Correct on apartments.com only allows full houses.

Although their algorithm for catching those is buggy, so you might be able to sneak some rooms in (I did by accident).

I use tenant cloud for my listings (free), then advertise on the sites already mentioned up top.

Thanks,

Wendy S. · Answer

@Ryan Thomson. I used to post with Cozy then Apt.com. However,  they started flagging my posts for words such as roommates.  I spoke to a rep who told me they no longer offer per room rentals. Has this changed?

Rashid Bailey · Answer

I agree. That’s the same for single family etc. I was asking more for the applicants I’m receiving are couples. And I didn’t know if other investors are turning them away or renting to them.

House hacking, best way to get roommate/ tenants?

Most Popular Reply