Neighbours or Home & Away?
From The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones – there is always an armchair debate to be had.
And one of the best has to be ‘Neighbours or Home & Away?’ Oh the tension!
You can hear both theme tunes now – DON’T start singing. Your housemates do not find it endearing to wake up to that emanating from the shower room.
WHEN YOU LIVED WITH PARENTS
Dad always changed the channel and mum never let you eat tea in front of the telly, so hours of great viewing were missed.
But now you have your own place, you are the master of the television. Or are you?
Is your chosen housemate about to try and wrestle control of the remote?
Establish control from first contact – include it in the request for proposal.
My new housemate must prefer:
Delta Goodrum over Isla Fisher
Liam Hemsworth over Chris Hemsworth
Harold Ramsey over Alf Stewart
It’s like live Guess Who? Watch the plastic window faces tumble. This is more cathartic than a Facebook cull.
But how do you choose a housemate who won’t belt out the theme tune at 6am in the shower and won’t be the cause of a cliff-hanger scene every other week.
HOUSEMATES: HOW DO YOU MEET YOURS?
Just as everybody deploys their own carefully crafted methodology to devour a Cadbury’s Creme Egg, selecting a housemate demands a very personal, well-polished raison d’ être.
Get yours right with our review of the five options available to you…
GOOD MATE TO HOUSE MATE
The fairytale does not always end well.
Just because you are…
- two peas in a pod
- better wingmen than Maverick and Goose
- hilarious together after three Jägerbombs
… does not make you great house mates.
Does it mean they will respect your space? Be there for you when you are needy? Bring you a potato cake when you can’t move…?
No. They also have their own life to lead. And not only that, they will make similar demands on you.
Think long and hard before you invite a good mate to be your housemate.
MATE OF A MATE FOUND THROUGH FACEBOOK
This can work, but think about the middle man – your mate.
They have honourably done the leg-work to connect somebody looking for a room, and somebody looking for a housemate. This selfless act can often turn to remorse:
- The two new housemates become best buddies (or more) and forget all about who brought them together.
- The chemistry is not right and both turn on the instigator.
Our advice: thank your matchmaker, but politely tell them that you value your friendship too much to bring a third party into such a sensitive arena.
ESTATE AGENT
With a traditional estate agent, the middle man is not your friend – and their counsel could cost you more dearly thank you can imagine. Just look at their car.
Seriously. You would sign your hard-earned cash away to live with somebody you have never met before? Sounds like a fate worse than Married at First Sight.
Four open inspections on a good day and even then you don’t get to meet the person you would live with!
It’s hardly conducive to your Saturday ritual (delete as appropriate: yoga, eggs benedict, coffee, Friday night debrief, footy, pie, dance etc.).
Think outside the box.
OLD SCHOOL – OR FAILED SCHOOL?
Plan to pin an advert to the community noticeboard, tape a banner to the lamppost outside your home, or leave a piece of paper with mobile phone number tearaways in the bus shelter?
Very romantic but…
STRANGER DANGER! Did you not listen in school? Unfortunately we live in a society today where this is not recommended.
TIME TO ‘TUBE’
Regrettably, those awesome people who decided to name the act of flying around on an inflatable donut: ‘tubing’, won ownership of the verb.
Given that the newest method of finding a house, or housemate, is almost as fun (and we all love the creators of tubing), we will let them off.
Real Estate Tube have created the perfect platform for congenial people to meet in a safe and time-saving in-app environment, via pre-recorded video.
Yes, you can sit at home and browse through videos of people who want a new shared-house or a housemate.
You can laugh, cry, get angry or cringe. But most importantly, you have control of the ‘NEXT!’ button. You choose the cast. You direct a real-life soap opera – less the bits you don’t like.
We hope you have enjoyed our review of the options available to you. Happy hunting!
