Rents are too high for a single income to cover anymore, so I’ve been looking for roommates. Even the websites about finding roommates expect you to pay.
To be clear, they have a free tier - but unless you pay, you can’t read the messages you receive. You can read the first line, but the rest is locked. I gave up with one place because the boomer trying to rent a room refused to send me an email. I told him three times to please just email me his message because I couldn’t read it on the site, but because he could read messages fine, he thought it was a setting he had to change. He kept responding with “Okay try now” and didn’t seem to understand that he can’t “settings” other people out from behind a paywall.
All he had to do was copy/paste his message and send it a different way, but he wouldn’t do it. I eventually gave up because the thought of living with someone that’s unable to follow such simple directions sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.
Anyway, point is, even if you’re so poor that you need to seek out roommates, you’re still expected to pay a subscription. I don’t even know what to do anymore.
I’ve had decent luck with CL in the past for rentals, but understand that it’s generally: an illegal listing (eg no windows or the like for fire egress), sex traffickers targeting desperate women, or scammers - and you need to be able to jump on the legit leads ASAP.
But yes as a renter, sifting through Craigslist was vastly preferable to paying whatever some private equity firm decided “market rates” are (we are the market, teehee 🤭) for a hovel in a 1+5 complex, or dealing with the myriad of cutouts that paywall listings or communications like the OP.
Absolutely. A site charging to read messages will most definitely censor out emails and phone numbers and will have it in their ToS that you’re not allowed to take conversations outside the platform.
Probably. Not much I can do. I’m not paying for a subscription. If anyone has any advice for finding roommates otherwise, I would very much appreciate it!
Why did people stop using craigslist to advertise rentals?
It is just the old bulletin board / classified newspaper niche, usually there’s more than one venue in urban areas. In a lot of Canada people also use kijiji etc. I am not including fb marketplace in that, though if you can access Meta websites, too many people still use that.
Scammers go to fb marketplace over Craigslist because meta is slow to react if at all, while Craigslist is known to easily and freely offer information to law enforcement.
Thank you so much! Craigslist is something I had completely forgotten about. I dropped off Facebook years ago and unfortunately don’t live in Canada, but Craigslist is a great suggestion and I’m perusing it now. You may have just saved me from living in my car (again.)
A client at work which is a local property management company (big enough to have 2 part time employees and one full time property maanger) lists all of their properties on Craigslist as well as many more commercial sites, so it’s not just mom and pops on there
Edit: another option is to call up a given property during business hours to ask about availability. Chances are your call will go to the property management company and they’ll have more properties than just the one building you saw the number on
Oh, I’m talking about roommate-seeking websites I’ve personally attempted to use, which were whatever non-sketchy-looking options came up on DuckDuckGo. I have no idea what OP’s post is from.
Rents are too high for a single income to cover anymore, so I’ve been looking for roommates. Even the websites about finding roommates expect you to pay.
To be clear, they have a free tier - but unless you pay, you can’t read the messages you receive. You can read the first line, but the rest is locked. I gave up with one place because the boomer trying to rent a room refused to send me an email. I told him three times to please just email me his message because I couldn’t read it on the site, but because he could read messages fine, he thought it was a setting he had to change. He kept responding with “Okay try now” and didn’t seem to understand that he can’t “settings” other people out from behind a paywall.
All he had to do was copy/paste his message and send it a different way, but he wouldn’t do it. I eventually gave up because the thought of living with someone that’s unable to follow such simple directions sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.
Anyway, point is, even if you’re so poor that you need to seek out roommates, you’re still expected to pay a subscription. I don’t even know what to do anymore.
Sounds like a market ready for disruption
In the romulan disruptor kind of way?
Isn’t this what Craigslist is for?
I’ve had decent luck with CL in the past for rentals, but understand that it’s generally: an illegal listing (eg no windows or the like for fire egress), sex traffickers targeting desperate women, or scammers - and you need to be able to jump on the legit leads ASAP.
But yes as a renter, sifting through Craigslist was vastly preferable to paying whatever some private equity firm decided “market rates” are (we are the market, teehee 🤭) for a hovel in a 1+5 complex, or dealing with the myriad of cutouts that paywall listings or communications like the OP.
At least with Craigslist you know its not the platform scamming you or helping to scam you. Solid website.
If you were replying with an email address odds are he was not getting it due to the site actively trying to keep people on their site.
Absolutely. A site charging to read messages will most definitely censor out emails and phone numbers and will have it in their ToS that you’re not allowed to take conversations outside the platform.
Probably. Not much I can do. I’m not paying for a subscription. If anyone has any advice for finding roommates otherwise, I would very much appreciate it!
Why did people stop using craigslist to advertise rentals?
It is just the old bulletin board / classified newspaper niche, usually there’s more than one venue in urban areas. In a lot of Canada people also use kijiji etc. I am not including fb marketplace in that, though if you can access Meta websites, too many people still use that.
Craigslist probably doesn’t have enough empty space and rounded corners for most people. I’m not joking.
still waiting for design fashion to circle back to gopher and tabular data… taps fingers and sighs in genX
Scammers go to fb marketplace over Craigslist because meta is slow to react if at all, while Craigslist is known to easily and freely offer information to law enforcement.
Yes, friends don’t let friends use Meta products.
Seriously, could get you stabbed in a police station parking lot or something…
That is a possibility with nearly any classified listing and always has been.
Situational awareness and good street sense are necessary. Bring a friend or be as public as you can, etc.
Most online scams, including phishing and tech support scams, are variations on ancient techniques.
Thank you so much! Craigslist is something I had completely forgotten about. I dropped off Facebook years ago and unfortunately don’t live in Canada, but Craigslist is a great suggestion and I’m perusing it now. You may have just saved me from living in my car (again.)
Seriously, thank you!
A client at work which is a local property management company (big enough to have 2 part time employees and one full time property maanger) lists all of their properties on Craigslist as well as many more commercial sites, so it’s not just mom and pops on there
Edit: another option is to call up a given property during business hours to ask about availability. Chances are your call will go to the property management company and they’ll have more properties than just the one building you saw the number on
You go! Also check for more niche classified sites, like specific to universities etc.
What is this app actually called? I can’t id it from screenshot, and every comment here seems to be talking about it without actually naming it.
Oh, I’m talking about roommate-seeking websites I’ve personally attempted to use, which were whatever non-sketchy-looking options came up on DuckDuckGo. I have no idea what OP’s post is from.