Assuredly

We agree. Sharing an apartment with roommates is very common in major cities and university areas and that is where roommate problems are most prevalent.

Landlords commonly perform reference checks but individual owners or students looking to fill a room in their current apartment typically don’t have the resources to. Don’t they deserve to know more about their potential roommates before they’re sharing a living room with them?

To be clear, we’re offering reference checks, rather than background checks, for roommates.

Many leasers already perform reference checks. Take a look at any article about finding a good roommate and you’ll see that almost every one recommends this step. We just know that it’s a pain, so we’d like to make it easier for those who don’t have the time to do it themselves.

Hey HN, this is the Assuredly team. Thanks for all of the feedback, this was exciting to wake up to this morning.

We’re certainly not trying to be creepy or move us all toward a bleak authoritarian future.

Reference checks, though time-consuming, are already performed by many leasers looking to fill a room. Our goal is to simplify the process to the point where it becomes feasible for anyone wishing to learn more than what can be uncovered in 15 minutes over coffee. All checks that we perform are done strictly with the permission of the applicant; we’re not doing any sneaking around.

Many of us have had bad roommate situations unfold after seemingly smooth interviews - from financial disagreements to apartments nearly burning down. We’d like to help you avoid those situations.

We’re in the experimentation phase. The first round of checks are being performed this week and we hope to learn more about the underlying needs and what we can do to help.