I've never had a roommate before but...

Just like with roomies anywhere, be careful. Hopefully you are a good judge of character. I'm in a not so hot roomie situation right now. A good way to get a good feel for the way someone will truly act and not put up a front......Cruzan Rum. Get hammered with potential new roomie, as long as you feel comfortable with said person. You'd be surprised what you can learn about someone you've never met when they're guard is down. I say this now because I didn't have the chance to do it with my current roomie. I wish I had. Oh well, i'm only stuck for another month.

It's been years & years since I had a roommate but I still think it's a good idea to nail down all rules & regulations for example, overnight "guests", how the food gets divvied up (split the grocery bill vs separate shelves with your own food), bill & rent payments, who cleans what & when, etc.

Be sure you don't wind up with a drunken roommate or a druggie.

I second that as well Trade, 50/50 on everything and make sure you set ALL the rules. Good luck!

The best way to get along with a roomate is to remember it is a temporary situation and let all the small stuff slide. Its always good to set up rules like trade said but if they don't follow them don't sweat it. You have to live in tight quarters together and it's much better to get along then have to fight with them everyday. If they are unbearable you can always get out at the end of the lease....Its a good idea not to sign more then a 6 month lease at first.

I havent had a roomate in a long time but I do have renters. I've never had a renter I didnt like that had a couple of dogs. Dog people are good people.

Yeah, dogs are such good judges of character.

Back to the roommate topic.. just have a few discussions. Make sure you don't have extreme opposite views in anything. And do make sure to set some ground rules, and talk about who does what chores. Our roommate never cleans anything, leaves her dirty dishes in the sink and hasn't cleaned the bathroom since she's been here. In the beginning, she also never bought her own food and just constantly ate whatever I had bought at the grocery store. We stopped that, because groceries are expensive, but I just let the chore thing slide because I know she's leaving soon. Still, I do get irritated about it.
It will be far easier to talk about it in advance than to bring it up later.