I had roommates till my mid/late 30’s because I was late to the marriage thing. Why not have someone help pay the rent or give you money toward the mortgage.

I was sexist… didn’t want to share with a guy because I had stereotypes in my head of guys being slobs.

But racist, nope. In college I had a roommate for 2 years… she was a part time student who worked full time. Then in my 30’s when I bought my home outside Philly I integrated the mostly Irish neighborhood… No one had any issues with her… of course it helps that both her undergrad and MBA were from Ivy schools. She helped encourage me to go for my masters.

Hangin’ out with the first roommate was eye opening to me… I saw bouncers at clubs here in San Diego find excuses to not let her in (after letting the rest of our group, all white, in). I started observing the real slights that occur. The second roommate described her problems finding an apartment when she first moved to the area… she’d call and make appointments to see a place, and show up and it had suddenly be already rented… it happened a lot. They couldn’t screen her on the phone because she didn’t sound black…

Don’t discriminate on race… look at whether you’ll get along with the person. I’m still very good friends with both former roommates.