Finding Housing When at School

[Lady Pi Phi]

My first 2 years of school I lived in residence. I loved it. I had a great time, but it was time to move out. I was supposed to live with some friends, but they all bailed on me and I was forced to find somewhere else to live.
Okay, so I finally founnd a room in a house with 3 other people. I was a little nervous because I didn't know these people. Well I lucked out and we became friends and got along really well. I lived there for a year and a half, but moved out last semester because I took that time off from school.
I will be back at school in september, but I chose not to renew my lease because they are increasing the rent, and it's not worth it for the not so nice basement room I had.
Well when I come back I wanted to live with some of my sisters but they had already made other arrangments, so I will have to either live on my own, or again with people I don't know.
I'm a little nervous about living with a group of new people. Basically I'm wondering who else has lived with random people before. Did it work out? While I have done it, I'm pretty sure I got lucky that I lived with people I got along with. What kinds of things did you look for in a place to live and what were your roommates/housemates like?