Would having a roommate help you on your journey to becoming Financially Fabulous? Well, being Financially Fabulous also implies that you’re feeling great about your life. Getting a roommate will either help you on your way or be a complete disaster. While you want to feel great about your financial choices, choosing the right person is vital to your peace of mind.

Things to think about before you consider getting a roommate:

• If you are someone who doesn’t like to spend a lot of time on your own, then having someone to share with you might be a great idea.

• Make sure you have the same expectations when dealing with cleanliness. You don’t want to be cleaning up after a slob.

• Find out what hours and lifestyle your roommate expects to keep.   If you’re the kind of gal who likes to go to bed early and you tuck in around nine o’clock and that’s when your roommate has all their friends over for movie nights and drinking games , that’s going to have a huge impact on your life style. Make sure that you are compatible in this respect.

• You also need to decide whether your roommate is going to be someone who is going to be your good friend; someone you’re going to cook with and watch TV with or just a person who is paying the rent but living separate lives.

As part of the screening process, once you’ve found the right roommate, you’re going to want to have formal documentation. You should ask for a letter of employment and a copy of their credit score just to make sure that they can pay you every single month.

Once you’ve made the decision to have a roommate, you will want to start taking a look to see what the market rent. When you have a price in mind, then you can either advertise for a roommate or better still, find someone who is recommended to you by word of mouth.

It is very important to make sure that you sign all the proper contracts and paper work because you may not have realized it, but you’re actually entering into a

landlord-tenant agreement. You have to make sure that you are compliant with the landlord tenants act of whichever city you’re living in.

Another decision for consideration is whether you will be renting temporarily and taking a roommate to help with the rent, or buying your first place, and renting to a roommate to help defray the costs.

If you are considering buying your first home, I would recommend buying a property as an investment and not to live in. There are many benefits to this approach, which can learn about in my video, “How to Buy Your First House”.

Having a roommate can be a good financial decision as long as it doesn’t negatively impact your happiness at the end of the day. You only have one life to live so you want to make sure that you’re happy.