Roses are red, violets are blue, everything was great ‘til he moved in with you.

Couples move in for all sorts of reasons: love, convenience, flood damage, rodents. Using the above as a very rough estimation, that means only 25% of move-ins are intentional. Wait. A whopping three quarters of co-habitating partners are living together by accident? It’s entirely possible. No wonder 50% of marriages end in divorce.

According to Airbnb, a global network that hooks travelers up with hyper-local accommodations (be it an empty apartment or cozy corner in a loft), the love shack needn’t come crashing down quite so hard.

Here’s how:

The trend of house swapping and shelter sharing is as current as typography. Like the font Helvetica, a good sublet will suit just about every occasion. An apartment swap in Paris, summer in Bushwick, campaigning in Washington – all housing conundrums easily remedied with a sublease. Hidden in that clause, too, is an opportunity to test-drive your significant other’s long-term potential.

Airbnb conducted a poll that found 58% of women would prefer a test move-in with their lover but rent being what it is, all too often the bachelorette pad is sacrificed in the melee of good sex or a bed bug infestation.

The company provides monthly sublets in 17,745 cities and 188 countries. It’s a eureka solution, and an opportunity to take a more long-view approach on your relationship before commingling cutlery.

No matter what kind of relationship you’re in, it’s a win-win. For example,

Young lovers:

The hot new boyfriend has a horrid roommate, and so do you. On the other hand, your downtown lover also a gaming habit you’re not so sure about. Get a sublet, live month-to-month in a furnished pad before jumping into a 12-month lease.

Long-distance:

Are you sleepless in Seattle? Awww, that’s about as cute as Meg Ryan’s pantsuit in 1993 (to say nothing of Rosie’s shoulder pads).

We’re in the middle of a housing crisis. You’d have to be as codependent as Alice Hill to give up your Harvard Square apartment for some dude you Skype with on Friday nights. Test-drive and keep your mortgage paid by listing your apartment on Airbnb first.

Newlyweds:

Kate Winslet is a city girl. Country life drives her bonkers. The suburbs leave her feeling unfulfilled. Yet in role after role, she ends up barefoot and pregnant in the ‘burbs and it never ends well. If you find yourself recently married, do not pull a Winslet and move to suburbia just because Leo asks you to. Trade in your East Village apartment for a sublet on Metro North in three-month increments. Move back to the city, try commuting again. Then decide if your happily ever after resides in New Rochelle.

Images: CinemaSeries; IMDB; Ali Leila; IMDB

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