Not every Chicago roommate situation works out as well as "Perfect Strangers," but a newly-launched app could roommmate seekers avoid their own personal "Single White Female."
Last week, rental search engine startup ApartmentList.com launched their Roommates app for Chicago (and also LA, Boston and NYC) as a social-media powered means of reducing what Apartment List CEO John Kobs calls the "pain" of finding someone with whom to share your digs.
"I had three [roommates] when I lived in New York, and one was moving to the West Coast," Kobs told The Huffington Post. "We had to interview 10 people for the spot, and it was a significant pain point for us. There's also the flake factor."
By drawing on information synced from users' Facebook profiles, the Roommates app can match users base on criteria like budget, neighborhood preference and common interests; if the users match, each party can opt to connect (as our friends at HuffPost LA, said, think of it like a matchmaking algorithm -- similar to dating websites).
Kobs said the Roommates app also highlights users' mutual friends, helping roommate-seekers suss out important details like "if John does the dishes."
To help spark interest in the app, Apartment List released an infograph that weaves useful info (average rent for a neighborhood) in with hilarious -- and often rather accurate -- assessments of the Chicagoan most "typical" for each 'hood.
Hang in the Viagra Triangle while "trolling for a yacht-owning sugar daddy?" The app pegs you as a typical Gold Coast gal (who will shell out an average $1,760 a month for a one-bedroom). How about a Wrigleyville-averse development director for WBEZ? You're likely a denizen of Ukrainian Village who loves playing Words With Friends when not signing your $1,160/month rent check.
How do you think the descriptions measure up?
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