Writing Your Profile and Setting Up a Listing.
How to describe yourself and your home clearly and honestly, so the right person can find you, and how to stay safe and keep your privacy as you get to know a match.
Writing Your Profile
7 guides
The goal is not the most attractive profile. It is the most useful one.
Help Someone Picture Sharing a Home With You
Never written an online profile? You do not need to. Here is a simple way to build a home sharing profile from your ordinary days, while keeping private things private.
Describe your patterns, not your schedule or your places.
Start With an Ordinary Saturday
The easiest way to write a home sharing profile is to describe an ordinary day. Here is a simple exercise, and how to share your routine without sharing your schedule.
You can be specific about how you live without being specific about where you will be.
Say What You Do, Not What You Are
Words like quiet, clean, and easygoing mean different things to different people. Here is how to turn labels into everyday details that help someone know whether you would live well together.
The boundary is still there. It has just become compatibility information.
Describe the Fit, Not the Perfect Person
A list of what you don't want can sound unwelcoming, and a list of who you want can raise fair housing questions. Here is how to describe the household that would work for you.
If you read this without my name on it, would you know it was me?
Ask Someone Who Knows You to Read It
A trusted friend or family member can tell you whether your home sharing profile sounds like you, what you left out, and whether anything says too much. Here is how to ask.
A photo that hides a limitation only moves the disappointment to the first visit.
Describing Your Home and Yourself Honestly
How to take honest photos, describe your home and daily life, and write about yourself so the right person can picture sharing a home with you.
Never pay anything until you have met the home provider and seen the room in person.
Writing Your Profile When You Are the One Moving In
A home sharing profile for home seekers: how to describe your days, what you would bring to a household, what to keep private, and how to spot a room that is not what it seems.
Privacy and Safety
3 guides
Show the room as it really is. Save the house number for the home visit.
Photos That Tell the Truth and Keep Your Address Private
Good profile photos show you and your home as they really are today. Here is what to include, what to keep out of the frame, and how to remove hidden location data from phone photos.
A good profile is honest, not exhaustive.
Honest, Not Everything: What Stays Off Your Profile
Being honest in a home sharing profile does not mean telling strangers everything. Here is what to keep off your profile, even on a secure site, and when it is safe to share more.
It is not rude to slow down, ask questions, or stop replying.
Spotting a Home Sharing Scam
Fake listings, deposits before you meet, overpayment checks, and requests for personal information: how to spot a scam and where to report it.
Finding Your Match
3 guides
Learn a little more before you share a little more.
From Profile to Front Door, One Step at a Time
How to get to know a possible home sharing match safely, from the first message to the home visit: where to meet, who to bring, what to watch for, and how to say no.
Both people interview, and both people answer.
Getting to Know a Potential Match
A practical guide to the first call, the first meeting, the home visit, the questions to ask, checking references, and when to walk away.
A background check is one source of information about a person. It is most useful when you know what it searched and read it carefully.
Background Checks and Identity Verification, Explained
What a background check can and cannot show, how to read one, your right to see and dispute a report, and how to verify identity in a home share.