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How to start a roommate finding service
HOW TO START A ROOMMATE FINDING SERVICE
The average income for owners of this kind of business in California
is $65,000 a year. Best of all, here's a business that you can
start with an absolute minimum investment. Practically anyone who
lives in a city anywhere in the country can expect to do just about
as well, and with a bit of imagination, mixed with some business
"moxie", you should be able to do even better!
Income and market potentials for a service such as this are truly
fantastic! Rent increases that have far outpaced wage increase have
brought about a tremendous need for a method to alleviate the cost
of housing. Also, many apartment complexes are being converted into
expensive condominiums. These two factors have created a problem of
gigantic proportions for millions of people who are concerned about
keeping a roof over their heads.
You can make big money solving the problem with your own Roommate
Finding Service. We're going to tell you how.
Many of the nation's leading economists are predicting this kind of
living arrangement to be the "money-saving answer" for apartment
dwellers for the rest of this century. Others are predicting the
roommate finding service to become as popular as the employment
agency by 1995.
This is an ideal absentee owner business. Most of those operating
on the West Coast have a woman doing the managing. Sometimes she is
just the manager and other times she's the owner-manager. This
apparently has something to do with the nature of the business, and
how most people seem to naturally trust a woman to find the right
roommate for them.
As to the fee structure, I suggest something similar to the
successful employment agencies. Charge everyone a $25 registration
fee to start the ball rolling toward finding them a suitable
roommate. You take a Polaroid snapshot of each registrant, have
them fill out an appropriate application card which will indicate
the kind of roommate they'd be happy with, and start searching
through your files for people with similar likes and dislikes.
To get started, you'll want a bank reference; a legal reference, a
telephone; a business name, letterhead paper, envelopes and business
bards; and office supplies such as a 3 x 5 index cards; typewriter;
file cabinet; and a printed questionnaire-application form. You'll
also need a responsibility disclaimer, which can be combined with
the applicant's agreement-to-pay contract. Once you've found a
roommate for your prospective client, you should have it spelled out
in your agreement that each of the "matched room mates" will pay you
15% to 20% of the first month's rent. You could charge a bit extra
for particular requirements, and perhaps somewhat less for older
persons, or for persons with handicaps.
The approval or disapproval is left up in the parties involved. You
simply look through your registration card file, pull out five or
six apparently suitable roommates, call each of them on the phone
and arrange separate meetings for them with your client. Your
client reports back to you, and tells you of his or her decision,
and you call the person chosen and finalize the deal.
Good advertising will play a most important part in getting this
business off the ground. Make up a good circular or "flyer"
detaining your roommate finding services, and listing your phone
number. Get these flyers on as many bulletin boards in your area as
possible. Get them in grocery stores, barber shops, community
colleges, beauty salons, bowling alleys; the list of places to
"billboard" your flyers is endless. Another idea is to set up
"take-one" boxes in as many retail places of business as you can.
Don't overlook the value of placing your flyers on car windshields -
particularly around apartment complexes, and in the parking lots of
the colleges in your area. You might even pay the downtown parking
lot attendants to slip one under the windshield wiper of each car he
parks on Monday. If you do a good job with the make-up of your
flyer, and use your imagination in getting them into the hands of
your prospective clients, you'll have no trouble moving your new
business into the black quickly.
Even so, you'll need to run regular ads in your area newspapers.
The best headings to run your ads under is the Personals Column.
Your ad might read:
Need A Roommate? We'll find the ideal roommate
for you! Everything handled on a strictly
confidential basis. For details, call Jan, Mary, or
Carol.
Within only a couple of months, you should be well enough
established, and with an income large enough to afford an office
location. When you establish your office, do some publicizing of
your business with press releases to all the media in your area, and
plan some fanfare that will bring attention to your services.
Tacking up on your office walls the enthusiastic testimonials of
people you've matched with roommates is a very good idea. Later on,
you might want to input all your client information on computer, and
take video pictures of each client for showing to prospective
roommates. In the final analysis, once you have your business
underway, your further success will be limited only by your
imagination.
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