You can make big money solving the problem with your own Roommate Finding Service. We’re going to tell you how.

Many of the nation’s leading economists are predicting this kind of living arrangement to be the “money-saving answer” for apartment dwellers for the rest of this century. Others are predicting the roommate finding service to become as popular as the employment agency by 1990.

This is an ideal absentee owner business. Most of those operating on the West Coast have a woman doing the managing – sometimes as just the manager, and some times as the owner – manager. This apparently has something to do with the nature of the business, and how most people seem to naturally trust a woman to find the right roommate for them.

You take a Polaroid snapshot of each registrant; have them fill out an appropriate application card which will indicate the kind of roommate they’d be happy with, and start searching through your files for people with similar likes and dislikes.

To get started, you’ll want a bank reference; a legal reference, a telephone; a business name, letterhead paper, envelopes and business bards; and office supplies such as a 3 x 5 index cards; typewriter; file cabinet; and a printed questionnaire-application form.

You’ll also need a responsibility disclaimer, which can be combined with the applicant’s agreement- to-pay contract. Once you’ve found a roommate for your prospective client, you should have it spelled out in your agreement that each of the “matched room mates” will pay you 15% to 20% of the first month’s rent.

You could charge a bit extra for particular requirements, and perhaps somewhat less for older persons, or for persons with handicaps.

The approval or disapproval is left up in the parties involved. You simply look through your registration card file, pull out five or six apparently suitable roommates, call each of them on the phone and arrange separate meetings for them with your client.

Your client report back to you, and tells you of his or her decision, and you call the person chosen and finalize the deal.

Good advertising will play a most important part in getting this business off the ground. Make up a good circular or “flyer” detaining your roommate finding services, and listing your phone number.

Get these flyers on as many bulletin boards in your area as possible. Get them in grocery stores, barber shops, community colleges, beauty salons, bowling alleys; the list of places to “billboard” your flyers is endless.

Another idea is to set up “take-one” boxes in as many retail places of business as you can. Don’t overlook the value of placing your flyers on car windshields – particularly around apartment complexes, and in the parking lots of the colleges in your area.

You might even pay the downtown parking lot attendants to slip one under the windshield wiper of each car he parks on Monday. If you do a good job with the make-up of your flyer, and use your imagination in getting them into the hands of your prospective clients, you’ll have no trouble moving your new business into the black quickly.

Even so, you’ll need to run regular ads in your area newspapers. The best heading to run your ads under is the Personals Column. Your ad might read:

Need A Roommate? We’ll find the ideal roommate
for you! Everything handled on a strictly
confidential basis. For details, call Jan, Mary, or
Carol.

Within only a couple of months, you should be well enough established, and with an income large enough to afford an office location.

When you establish your office, do some publicizing of your business with press releases to all the media in your area, and plan some fanfare that will bring attention to your services.

Tacking up on your office walls the enthusiastic testimonials of people you’ve matched with roommates is a very good idea. Later on, you might want to input all your client information on computer, and take video pictures of each client for showing to prospective roommates.

In the final analysis, once you have your business underway, your further success will be limited only by your imagination.

Do you find every time you open your purse or wallet, all you have left is spare change? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one that would like to see more cash in your pocket at the end of each day when living with roommates. The key is having a strategy that lets you take control of your finances while creating strong relationships within your household.

Your strategy should start the minute you begin talking to potential roommates right through to record keeping and deciding how to handle disagreements. It lets you choose the right roommates, track your expenses and solve any financial issues as they arise.

So, how can you put money back into your pocket? By simply following these 10 tips, you’ll be able to take control and stop your money from disappearing.

1. Create A Budget
A budget helps you manage your money more efficiently as it lets you prioritize your money and decide how much to spend in each area of your life. This includes assessing how much you would like to allocate to roommate expenses.

2. Use An Accounts Book
It’s important to keep a small Accounts Book where you document and keep the receipts for the payment of expenses each week or month. This should include the date, amount paid, method of payment, payee, that is, the person that received your money and receipt number.

3. Always Ask For Receipts
Each time you pay any money to your household’s bookkeeper you should ask for a receipt. This is especially important when paying by cash as these receipts are evidence that you paid your expenses.

4. Keep A Financial Diary
You should record any changes to the payment of bills like rent increases, the amount of bond you have paid and the details of any disputes about money in a diary or notebook. Keeping a diary lets you create a paper trail and shows you how your expenses have changed over time.

5. Roommate Interviews
During roommate interviews, it’s a good idea to ask questions that help you find out the opinions of potential roommates towards expenses and how they have dealt with any past conflicts. These answers will help you choose roommates that have a similar view to you about finances.

6. Choose Similar Roommates
Living with roommates that have a similar view to you about money and expenses lets you create a cohesive living environment where any issues or misunderstandings are easily solved. When roommates have different attitudes towards money, each roommate will have a different opinion which makes it harder to manage expenses, pay bills on time and solve disputes.

7. Check References
Talking to people who have lived with your chosen roommates before moving in, can give you a better understanding of how they handle finances and disagreements. It can help you decide if they are the right roommates for you.

8. Expenses and New Roommates
Before moving in, you should work out with your new roommates how expenses will be paid when living together. This includes sorting out which expenses will be paid separately and those that will be paid as a group. Talking about finances before moving in lets you solve any issues without financial consequences. 9. Financial Disputes and Issues
If there are any disagreements or issues about the payment of expenses you should talk directly with your household’s bookkeeper. This cuts out the middleman and avoids confusion so that any problems can be solved immediately before getting out of control.

10. New Expenses
Before agreeing to pay any new roommate expenses, you should recalculate your budget to see how much it affects your standard of living and future plans. You should enter the details of any additional expenses into your financial diary.

As you can see, it’s just a matter of creating a strategy that lets you understand your current financial position, monitors your money and helps you decide how to deal with changes and disputes. It’s all about re-evaluating or making a few changes to your expenses so that you’ll see more than spare change in your purse or wallet.

Good Luck and Happy Roommate Living!