When you are a young adult without a family, it’s often impossible to be able to afford to rent an entire apartment or house by yourself. More often than not, you will be required by circumstances to share a house with others.

If you’re lucky, you might have long time friends or relatives willing to move in with you. However, in certain cases, you’ll have to look for strangers to share the house and lighten your financial burden in renting the place.

Here are some methods you can practice to make sure you pick the most suitable co-tenant for your house:

1. Don’t rush – Take some time to interview potential house mates and get to know their habits and preferences. Interview several before making a decision on who’s the best candidate.

2. Ask crucial questions - What is their lifestyle like? Do they stay out late? Do they want heavy use of the kitchen? Try and determine if you can tolerate their habits. For example, if you can’t have someone who cooks pork in your kitchen, best to find that out sooner than later.

3. Lay down rules – Since there are many spaces in the house that is shared, ensure that they know general house rules and are okay with it.

4. Do a background check – Usually a simple search of this person on social media or on search engines can give you a fairly general perspective of who they are, what they work as or where they’re studying. Beware of people with no trace of identity online, as this is a red flag.

5. Relationship status - This is very important to know about your potential house mate as they may want to have their other half visit regularly. If you are not okay with members of the opposite sex visiting, do make it clear beforehand.

6. Good payer or not? – If you can, find out what the payment habits of this person. Do they have a lot of debt? Do they have a few credit cards maxed out? It is crucial to determine if this person intends to pay on time and consistently.

7. Cleanliness –Finding a clean roommate is as important as finding an honest one. Look for signs of personal hygiene when you’re interviewing him or her. Of course, an obvious sign of bad hygiene would be stinky clothing or body odour.

8. Personality – Although first impressions can be misleading, you can tell a lot by talking to a person. Whether they are easy-going and able to compromise, or selfish and demanding. It is much easier to share a house with someone whose isn’t overbearing and is easily approachable.

9. Privacy – If you’re the type of person who needs your own space, make sure you find someone who can respect your privacy and knows when and how to draw boundaries.