"I thought finding housing was about rent and location. I was completely wrong."

When I first started looking for a place to live in New York, those were the only things I cared about. Rent and location. Was it close to campus? Could I afford it?

I didn't really think about the people I'd be living with.
But I learned pretty quickly that who you live with changes everything.

At first, the place checked all the boxes. The location was good, the rent was manageable, and the apartment itself looked fine.
But the small things started adding up.

Different schedules. Different habits. Different ideas about when it was time to socialize and when someone needed quiet.
It wasn't terrible, but it also didn't feel easy.

"Then eventually I found roommates who just got it."

People who understood when it was time to hang out and when it was time to give each other space. People who respected the shared space we were all living in.

And suddenly everything changed.
Home actually felt like home.

Once the living situation felt easy, the rest of life felt easier too. School felt less stressful, and coming back at the end of the day felt relaxing instead of draining.

That experience taught me something I wish I had understood from the start.
Rent and location matter.

But the people you live with are what actually make a place feel like home.