Inside a dim New Orleans-style bar in Hollywood, dozens of strangers mingle under the thump of pop music while nursing complimentary cocktails. Each person is sporting a name tag along with a personality sticker, or a few, that best captures their vibe. Neat freak. Plant parent. Night owl. Craft beer aficionado.
The scene reads like a friendly singles mixer, but listen to their conversations and it’s clear the chemistry they are hoping for isn’t romantic. They are here to find the perfect roommate.
Hosted by rental platform SpareRoom, the monthly “speed roommating” event connects people who are renting rooms with those who are looking for one in a low-key, in-person setting — no endless online profiles to fill out, no awkward interviews. Loosely based on speed dating, sans the timed interactions, attendees put on name tags indicating either “I need a room” or “I need a roommate” along with their ideal budget and neighborhoods. Then they wander freely. One woman passed out flyers for a furnished studio in downtown L.A. with air conditioning, a Murphy bed, an in-unit washer and dryer and streaming TV. Another woman showed people her rental on an iPad.
Pris Liora, 40, who was looking for someone to rent the extra room in her Koreatown apartment, didn’t prepare any questions for potential housemates, saying she just wanted to do a vibe check. Her only deal breakers? “No pets, no children, no cigarette smoking and no secret cocaine problem,” she says with a laugh.
With the average rent for a studio starting about $1,688 per month, $2,166 for a one-bedroom apartment and roughly $2,983 for a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, according to Apartments.com, more people are embracing shared living arrangements. Rupert Hunt, founder and CEO of SpareRoom, says they’re doing so not only to cut expenses, but also to foster community. The company’s mixers can help spark those connections, he believes — they’ve been hosting speed roommating events in L.A. since June, following successful events in London, San Francisco and New York.
“There’s something so immediate about the event,” Hunt says. “You meet 10 people in the time it would take you to meet one the traditional way.”
Hunt has even found a housemate for himself at one of the mixers. “I love sharing,” says Hunt, who notoriously rented out two rooms in his New York City apartment for just $1. “I think I’m a better version of myself. I think I get a bit lazy if I’m living on my own.”
At the event, Aeris DeLeon, who was wearing a sticker with the phrase “foodie,” says her mother was the person who told her about the speed roommating event. The 25-year-old was temporarily living in Bakersfield but recently moved back home to L.A.
“It was just dead over there and I was just home sick, and it wasn’t really working out for me,” she says.
She decided to attend the event because it’s more “personable than just going on Craigslist or Facebook, and it’s the best [way] to weed out scammers,” she says. Her mission was to find an apartment that cost $1,300 a month max with someone preferably close in age.
James Caton, 68, was just getting started in his search for a room. After learning that his apartment building — where he’s lived for nearly a decade — might be sold, he jumped into action.
“To me, as soon as you find out, it’s better to go ahead and start looking for something,” says Caton, who attended the mixer with his childhood friend who was looking to rent a room.
SpareRoom’s speed roommating events are free with an RSVP, and each person receives two complimentary drinks along with a one month trial of SpareRoom premium.
Even if attendees didn’t find a roommate at the event, several of them continued their conversations late into the evening. Some even stayed for karaoke at the bar. It seemed that in a world where talking about finances can be seen as taboo, having a space to openly discuss rent prices, how to deal with nightmare landlords and housemates and other grievances was its own win, a moment when they could feel a bit less alone.
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