SF Grad Lives With 3 Strangers, Never Looking Back

Emily Savage moved to San Francisco after college without knowing a single person in the city. When finding roommates through friends didn't work out, she did something most people fear: she signed a lease with three complete strangers from Facebook.

Two years later, she says it's the best decision she's made.

Savage and her three out-of-state roommates were all new to San Francisco, which meant everyone was equally motivated to explore. They bar-hopped across neighborhoods, joined running clubs together, and bought last-minute tickets to the Outside Lands music festival.

Just one month after moving in together, her new roommates showed up to cheer her on at the San Francisco Marathon, her first-ever half-marathon. These strangers had already become friends.

Living with people she didn't have a history with came with an unexpected benefit: honest communication. When Savage lived with friends before, she stayed silent about messy kitchens and unfinished chores, worried about damaging those relationships.

Now she feels comfortable speaking up when someone forgets to take out the trash or leaves the door unlocked. The roommate relationship comes first, so there's less baggage and more straightforward conversations.

The Bright Side

Savage's experience shows that sometimes the unfamiliar can be exactly what we need. By choosing exploration over comfort, she built a social circle from scratch in a new city.

She thoroughly vetted potential roommates through video calls and messages before signing the lease, which helped ease the initial awkwardness. She even made friends with people she met in those Facebook groups but never ended up living with.

The arrangement worked so well that none of them have plans to move anytime soon. And if Savage ever relocates to another city, she knows exactly where she'll look first: right back to those Facebook groups, ready to take another chance on strangers who might become friends.