I think we all can admit that finding a place to live that isn't a 10-foot by 10-foot dorm is a weird time in your life. Whether you're looking for a house or apartment, signing a lease is huge. It's most likely one of the most, if not the most, adult things you've done in your life and it's truly nerve-racking. On top of finding a place, you have to find other people to live with. Personally, I looked no further than my own group of friends, and quite possibly found the greatest group of people to live with. There are a ton of advantages to living with people you are already friends with, but the most important ones depend on your own personal opinion.
1. They already know pretty much everything about you.
To provide some insight about my future roommates: one of them is my current roommate Megan, two of them I met during welcome week, Sunnie and Cole, and the fourth I've known since second grade, Max. In the time that we've been at school, we have shared more with each other than I have with probably anyone else (besides my mom. Shoutout to her for being the best). Each one of them knows how to make me laugh until I cry, feel better when I need it, and find motivation to finish my homework on time. If you and your future roommates are friends beforehand, you don't have to worry about having awkward conversations or making uncomfortable small talk after you move in. You keep them in check and they do the same for you. Because you already know them, you can jump straight into meaningful conversations like if they are JIF or Skippy peanut butter people.
2. They can't judge your weird habits because they have equally weird habits.
It's true that if you haven't lived with your future roommates, you may not know everything about them. They may have some habits that they like to keep a secret until you live with them, just like you personally may have some lackluster habits you've kept them in the dark about. These habits can range from having to listen to hardcore opera music while in the shower to running 15 laps around your living room before going to bed. Whatever you and your roommates' habits may be, you're in this together and none of you have any room to judge, so embrace the weird.
3. You can be honest 100 percent of the time.
At risk of sounding like your mom, honesty is the best policy. If you can't tell your roommates your honest opinion on questions you most definitely should, you may end up in some sticky situations throughout the lease. If you're already friends, there is a pretty good chance you've talked about 75 percent of those things before you moved in, and the other 25 percent can be handled when you run into the situation. To rehash the JIF versus Skippy debate, if you are a diehard Skippy fan, and your roommates (like normal human beings) are JIF lovers, you may need to have a conversation about this. In the end, honesty is going to save you a lot of small disagreements. If you can't set honest boundaries with your roommates, you have a big problem.
4. You know you love them enough to not be irritated by the second week.
Chances are if you know your roommates before signing a lease with them and they haven't annoyed you endlessly, you'll be fine living together. Yes, there are tons of roommate horror stories out there about moving in with friends and them being completely different than the person originally thought. Yes, I am guilty of reading all of them before moving in with my current roommate. No, she's not like any of the aforementioned insane roommates, and I couldn't be more thankful for her or any of my future roommates.
Even though the advantages to living with your closest friends are endless, it's not mandatory that you live with them. You can still be friends and roommates, a relationship most commonly referred to as "froomies" within my group of friends, without being friends prior to signing a lease together. A good living situation is vital to having a good year of school, and if you can't make it work, it turns into an ordeal. In my case, I was lucky enough to find the people I like the most during welcome week and trap them into spending another whole year with me. So, to throw in my two cents, find yourselves people you care about or people you can see yourself caring about when planning your future living situation. It could end up saving you in the future.
