"There's only one queen bee to a hive," Brennan said. "She could be a very lovely queen bee. But the home seeker has to understand that it is the other person's home."
Brennan said that rental arrangements often work better when a person has a room with a private bath.
Grant Frederick is looking for renters for two rooms in his waterfront condominium in North East after watching business drop 50 percent at his residential remodeling company. He said he needs help paying his $1,800 mortgage.
"My income is down and I want waterfront, but in order to afford what it is that I want, I'm going to have to subsidize my costs," Frederick said.
Frederick has been using online classified site Craiglist to search for roommates and said his biggest obstacle has been weeding through spam messages.
Frederick said he'll screen applicants closely. He's looking for a flexible lease in case the tenant doesn't work out. "I live decently, so I won't tolerate anything less than that," he said.
Before renting a room
* Make sure house rules are written out clearly
* Call references
* Decide which parts of the house will be shared
* Decide if the renter will pay utility or other bills
* Consider a month-to-month lease
