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Instead she opted once again to live with strangers and this time the results weren’t so good.

On the surface her new roommates and live-in landlord seemed like fun, outgoing people but it wasn’t even three months before Elmasri began to notice major problems in her living situation.

“My lowest point at my past house was when my roommate-landlord’s dogs chewed up my favorite sunglasses,” Elmasri said. “When I asked her to replace them she said it was my fault that I left them out even if it was for a minute and that I should have known better.”

Elmasri said she deducted the price of her sunglasses from her rent check but the landlord recharged her for them when she moved out. She said she didn’t even see the red flags when she signed the lease.

“When I met her she was very friendly and her dogs were really cute so I wasn’t expecting anything bad to happen,” she said. “If you have a chance to talk to the roommate that’s moving out I would definitely recommend doing that because they are probably going to be the most honest about anything.”

In her book, appropriately titled “Roommates,” San Diego-based author Whitney Lyles looks at the comedic side of living with strangers. In the book, twenty-something year old Elise returns to America’s Finest City only to find her brother has hooked her up with the roommate from hell.

Lyles said in an interview back in February for 944 Magazine that she had plenty of personal experience to draw upon for the book but, surprisingly, didn’t base the annoying roommates in the book on the ones she knew in real life.

“It’s hard to live with someone when they never clean, have loud, obnoxious sex and talk on the phone at six in the morning when you’re trying to sleep and have politely asked them several times to pipe down,” she said. “I think I really realized what a true case study this person was after I said I was moving out.”

She said after she finally worked up the courage to give her thirty-day notice, the girl completely freaked out.

“She made my last thirty days total hell and she tried to blame me for all kinds of problems she made up with the house,” Lyles said. “I think she was ultimately after my deposit.”

Calls to various lawyers about roommate and landlord rights in San Diego yielded no response for this article but Elmasri said she feels there isn’t much people—especially poor college students—can do to protect themselves from getting ripped off.

Elmasri has finally found a place to call home. She now lives in Pierdo del Sol, an apartment complex owned by the SDSU Foundation, and likes her new living situation because she is minutes away from campus and her two new roommates are nice. She said they haven’t had any problems but with her busy schedule she hasn’t really gotten to know them either. So far, though, they respect her space.

“I can’t deal with people who are inconsiderate of others,” Elmasri said. “Respect for one another is very important to me. I probably drive people crazy because I am never home and also because I am not afraid to be blunt to someone if they have done something wrong to irritate me.”

“My ideal roommate would have to be someone who is very ambitious and as busy as I am during the week.”

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