Should I look for housemates first or find the house with prospect housemates?

Question

I prefer meeting people in person initally or at the very least, after a short acquaintance with them online (not just anybody (dangerous) but employers or potential networkers and the like) so I don't want to get with someone online who's in Arizona or Texas when I am in VA and travel to meet them afterwards but I may have to do that. I am not sure exactly about the geographic location or the house that I want, and am open to getting acquaintances first to look together with same preferences.
With my local housemate/roomate finding services (online and offline), is there implication that they are looking for local houses only or are they open to out of state ones?

Answer 1

What you should think about doing is first decide where you want to live and then look for people. Try narrowing down to about two places and then pick and choose from there which place will suit you best in terms of livability. Then, if you go online, look for people who fit the description of someone you will get along with fine and then whether you move in with someone that already has a place or if you look together, spend the time to see how everything will be arranged in terms of where people sleep, how much rent and utilities will cost everyone, and especially get to know one another. Most places online like Roommates.com and Rent.com have settings that indicate the localities that the person is seeking.

I know what it's like to meet people online, you never know who you are going to meet, bear in mind that people from outside of the U.S. may take advantage of such online services and then might expect whoever they come in contact with to be more than a roommate for them. Like this one guy from Egypt that I met, although he didn't qualify to live at my apartment complex he still wanted me to be a friend to him and it led to a series of me running around Ft Collins and Loveland just to do things for him, even after he decided to live in North Carolina instead. It was more than I could handle with me still in college, when I have concerns of my own.

But yeah, try finding out where you wish to live first, and then start meeting people, this way you can ensure that you and the other person are both seeking the same place and that there are no other issues. And better yet, instead of you traveling, have the place you want to live secured and then whoever sounds like a good roommate should then go to you instead. The thing is, know what you want, stick with that, and don't let someone tell you otherwise what they want.

Answer 2

YOU GET THE HOUSE FIRST THEN LOOK FOR RENTERS..