First of all don’t get a roommate that is someone you don’t know.

So for the last few month I had a roommate that was a FOB. He was a friend’s friend and I thought oh… sure it should not be too bad. He was a friend’s friend’s relative. A young kid that was coming here for school. I though… sure .. not problem. I will rent him a room. So for $550 including everything … bed, table, internet, power, water, private bathroom, detergent, all my pots, pans, dishes and bowls. I figure it will be ok. His parents and his relative and my friends friend showed up to take a look at the place. They all seems nice. His aunt even offered to come and clean up if he was too dirty. I felt like nah… I am sure he will be fine. They ask if they needed to pay for any deposit.. and I said no…I trust you it will be fine. So he moved in few days early and without deposit. I am ok with that… he was a kid far away from home.. I am happy to help.

So as months goes alone… many minor things just annoys me but I am thinking it is probably just me. I did ask him to clean the range with me and he said I never did that before… back in China, we never had to clean the range like this. Ok… that’s ok he’s young, but he needs to learn to clean and keep it up.

So all the sudden out of the blue, he asks me can I lower his rent? WTF? of course I said no. I think $550 is very fair. And this weekend he told me he is going to move out on Tuesday. Which is today. I said that’s fine… just please clean up your room and clean up the bathroom.

So he moved out mid day while I was not here. That’s fine. So when went up stairs I saw that the bathroom was super nasty. I don’t think he ever cleaned. He also left a blue bag in the closet, a bed sheets, and a pillow cover in his room. I though he was coming back later that evening to clean and pick that up. I waited until around 8pm. I decided to give him a call. When I told him that he still left some stuff here, he was shocked as if I was kidding, I also told him that he needed to clean the bathroom as well.

He agree to come back. He showed up around 9:30pm. Pick up the bag and was going to walk right back out. I said, wait, what about the bathroom. I even gave him all the cleaners, toilet cleaner, toilet brush, and Clorox wipes. All I ask is for him to make an effort to clean the bathroom. I went and wipe in less in one minute and said… “I am leaving, thanks”. I was like … what the F… So I went downstair as he told his friend to hurry and get going. I was really pissed… when I confronted him he basically said sorry… and walked out!!!

WTF!!!!

I felt really used.

Is it wrong to ask your tenant to make an effort in cleaning his bathroom before he leaves?

So Lesson Learned…

1) Don’t rent out to a roommate unless they are cool and have the similar culture.
2) Don’t mix business with kindness…. Collect the Deposit Upfront!!!
3) Interview much longer and if all fails don’t rent out to a roommate.