Roommates: A great asset to have

You've got your apartment or house perfectly set up, but now you've decided you really need a roommate. Your reasons can vary. Maybe you need a little help with the rent or mortgage. Perhaps you will feel safer in your home with someone else living there. Or maybe you're just interested in expanding your social network.

Sharing your house with one or more roommates allows you to split costs, share grocery and toiletry shopping items, divide up housecleaning chores and open yourself up to new social opportunities. But the downside is you also are losing your freedom of being able to do whatever you wanted to do in your home whenever you wanted it. Now you have to accommodate another person living in your house, whether he or she is a friend or a complete stranger.

Here are some tips to finding a roommate to help you make sure:

* Let everyone you know - your friends, family, classmates, coworkers and neighbors -you're looking for a roommate..

* Advertise - post an ad on social websites and in the newspaper, and be honest in what kind of a roommate you're looking for. Interview candidates with a friend, so you have an impartial opinion to help you pick the best roomie possible.

If you decide to move into an apartment with a new roommate, consider asking the landlord to have you each sign a separate lease agreement. In addition, it may be best to set up your own roommate agreement, covering how rent, utilities and other shared bills will be paid, who is responsible if a roommate fails to meet the rental lease obligations, whose name appears on the lease or bills and how household duties will be shared, to name just a few items.

Having the right roommate can really make your home a fun and comfortable place to live. But make sure you select your roommate carefully so both of you understand your expectations of each other.