My experience with Coliving in New York City, and why you should do it too

For the last 4 months, I have been working towards moving from Belgium to New York City. It’s a city where you need a home, otherwise you’ll go nuts pretty fast. When looking for a place to stay, I never really thought about coliving as an option. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was before I arrived here in April this year. Four days before I left Europe, I was looking for a place to stay on Air-BnB and I found one in Brooklyn that was affordable. It mentioned that I would have a shared room, but I didn’t really think much about it at the time.

When I travel I always stay in Hostels. They’re affordable hotels in good locations where you share a room with anywhere from 2–50 people (pro tip, don’t go higher than 9 people, from there on it gets kind of crazy  Simply put, I’m used to sharing rooms. But what’s different about coliving is that the people you’re staying with will be there for an extended period of time. You build up friendships, get lunch together, share the same TV remote…

With that said, I’d like to break down the pros and cons of coliving.

What I like about coliving so far:

1. Coming from a different country, It’s nice to get to know people right away. It’s a real friendship starter; what better a a way to become friends with people than live with them?
2. It’s a sort of relationship that’s not really comparable to anything else. They’re not your family (even though we say we are), they’re not your high school friends, and they didn’t grow up in the same city you did. We are totally random strangers who all come together with totally different backgrounds and aspirations.
3. It’s cheap AF. Compared to a normal lease it’s relatively cheap. Also considering the fact that you don’t need to buy any furniture, utensils, plates, bowls, appliances, utilities, etc.
4. It’s flexible. Your contract only lasts for a month, so you can leave or move-in whenever you want. Even within your city, you can move from place to place if you wanted to. In addition, you can move-in or out on any day of the month.
5. You pay for a place to stay, not your personal square footage. What I mean by this is that in this economy, millennials do not feel very attracted to ownership. Alternatives to buying a place like renting and now coliving are way more attractive to us.
6. You simply have more space than in a normal New York apartment. In NYC, rent prices are insane; we’re talking 2500$ for a 2 bedroom apartment. Any less than that, you’re basically living in a shoebox. With coliving, because you share space, the rooms are bigger.
7. The company takes care of everything. If a window breaks, the toilet doesn’t flush, or the fridge is broken, you don’t need to check your savings account. It’s all been taken care of.

What I don’t like:

1. Sometimes it’s too busy. There are 15 people staying in my coliving space divided over 2 floors, and sometimes that’s too much. You don’t always feel the need to be around other people. I solve this by taking the subway somewhere, put my headphones in and close my eyes. But it’s just something to be aware of.
2. If you don’t like your roommate you're f*cked. Sometimes it just happens and you’ll just have to wait it out or ask for a room change. It’s important to have open communication with your roommate about concepts of cleanliness, quiet time, etc.

In despite some minor concerns, I love the trend of sharing. It’s the only way younger people can afford living in cities, and it’s actually quiet fun! I hope you enjoyed this article and I hope you found it useful!

Also, if you want to know more about the coliving space I’m currently staying with, check out this website! outpost-club.com

If you liked it please give this article a big Applause! what do you think about Coliving, would you try it? Have a great day everyone! For more articles and more information on what I do go check out my Website www.louisdekeyser.com