For Your Consideration: The Upside of Randos

By Lev Novak

When looking for an apartment, people tend to cluster together with friends to search for an apartment. That’s fine and great: living with and near friends is fantastic, after all, but the gap between friend-hunting and rando-settling is one that has been overstated.

So, for your consideration: it is better to live with random people than it is with your friends.

I know, boos and hisses. Fair. Living with friends is awesome and randoms are, well, random. But consider the benefits.

1. You Win Every Fight

No, not with the rando, but in the telling to your friends. There’s no real stakes in living with a rando, non tension and nothing at risk. If the guy from Craigslist is cool enough, everything is going to be fine. But if there ever is a debate or an issue, it’s not going to tear apart your friend circle.

It’s going to be contained in the apartment where it belongs.

2. You Won’t Get Sick Of Friends

If friends live nearby, then living with them isn’t such a big deal. You’ll be at each other’s places often enough- not to mention in other places- but you won’t have them at home.

Yeah, you’ll miss them; right? But maybe you won’t. Maybe you’d have gotten sick of them, stressed by them, or otherwise not needing them in your life every minute of every day.

3. More Friends

If you befriend- or more realistically, get along with your chosen rando- you get someone new to hang out with now and then. My former rando and I get drinks occasionally, and we’ve invited the other to a party here and there and gone with. That means that by living with a rando, ironically, you get the opportunity to expand your social network while keeping your old friends. In a new city where you have to be careful not to smother your friends who live there, a rando is a safety valve.

4. Less Stress

Everything is more dramatic with friends, because you know each other well and are obliged to care. Did your friend-roomie have a bad breakup? Yikes. That is something that you are going to have to deal with for weeks, minimum.

Did your rando have a bad breakup? You have a night of saying “sorry, dude” and a week of being sensitive. Buy him a beer, or, if you’re feeling generous, take him out for a beer. That’s it.

See the difference? Randos are just easier to handle.

5. It’s Super Hip

If being a hipster means doing the opposite of the mainstream, consider what a trend-setter you’ll be among your friends by choosing randos over living with people that you know.

“Oh, I’m living with Jeff” you’ll say, dismissive. “He’s from Craigslist. You’ve probably never heard of him.”

Watch your friends turn green with envy as you show off how cool and adventurous you are, meeting new people and bucking social trends.

Or not, I mean.

But it’s worth a try.

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