Author Topic: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide  (Read 2577 times)

Nycginger

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CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« on: January 05, 2022, 11:04:27 AM »
Because I know there's a crap ton of smart people in this forum and because I'm a mustachian myself, and because I think this startup fits the mustachian ethos (we're making efficient use of space, helping people save money faster and pay off mortgages faster, and helping the environment), I thought I'd post about the startup I'm growing.

CoLife solving attainable housing by matching the massive demand for attainable housing to the massive supply of 24 million Americans that live in a 3 bed 2 bath home alone.

Here's our quick blurb:

CoLife (www.LetsCoLife.com) is the safe and easy platform for singles to rent a room in the 24 million and growing nationwide single owner occupied 3 bedroom 2 bath homes, lowering housing costs for renters and homeowners (and a whole lot more).

--We’re currently raising a pre-seed round with commitments from the former head of technology investments for The Carlyle Group, the former CEO of Corporate Solutions for JLL, and one of our advisors is the former head of business development and fintech for Uber.    

--Founder is experienced entrepreneur who grew first social enterprise with no outside investment and only $3,000 to $4 million in annual revenue and 170 employees from experience of voluntarily living in a halfway house for the homeless for a year and drove a car from Mongolia to London as part of his research for CoLife (and wrote books about both experiences).

--Based on the traction we've had of roughly 40k monthly GMV (NPS of 70, 5.75 to 1 LTV to CAC) with only 60k of investment, with 500k+ (8 times as much as we had on our first try while making mistakes and learning) we're going to smoke the 100k GMV level mark (2.5 times what we were doing before) that VC's want to see before investing in our next round.

Here's the pitch deck for CoLife:  https://docsend.com/view/yii3tfwifqzxe7i3

Here's our investment thesis: https://docsend.com/view/3wqcveix6a8gjyg7

We're adding a ton of value add investors, early Uber ops and other marketplace people. I also know there's a lot of smart devs hanging around Mr. Money Mustache. We're primarily looking for a growth marketer to join our team currently, possibly even as a cofounder.

Feel free to email me at Derek@CoLife.fit if you'd like to reach out directly. And if it's more appropriate to post this in investor alley or the landlords section, let me know and I can cross post there!

Thanks!

seattlecyclone

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2022, 11:16:59 AM »
Interesting idea. You've definitely hit on the fact that there's often a pretty big mismatch between the existing home sizes and household sizes. Ideally you'd renovate these 24 million houses into duplexes of one-bedroom units, because most people would probably prefer to live in a right-sized home by themselves than share space with a lodger. Unfortunately zoning makes that illegal in a huge percentage of the country. Roommate matching seems like as good of a workaround as any until the real problem is fixed.

SYNACK

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2022, 11:51:20 AM »
I think fear plays a big part of this. With Airbnb you rent a room then it is over fairly quickly. I believe Airbnb offers insurance too. But for actually renting a room then hopefully the person you are renting to is a good match and you don't get stuck with it given (from what I heard) how hard and painful it is to evict someone. But I agree though, if there are so many 3/4 bedroom 2 bath houses and often have 1-2 people live there then that is an untapped/idle resource.

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2022, 01:07:25 PM »
Interesting idea. You've definitely hit on the fact that there's often a pretty big mismatch between the existing home sizes and household sizes. Ideally you'd renovate these 24 million houses into duplexes of one-bedroom units, because most people would probably prefer to live in a right-sized home by themselves than share space with a lodger. Unfortunately zoning makes that illegal in a huge percentage of the country. Roommate matching seems like as good of a workaround as any until the real problem is fixed.

Ideally for whom?  As a single, 3 bed 2 bath homeowner whose current house is right sized for me, I am neither looking for a roommate or a smaller space.  If I wanted to live in a one bedroom apartment or apartment style condo, I would, but I don't, so I don't, zoning has nothing to do with it.  I work from home, I have home based hobbies that I hope will one day be my retirement side hustle, I don't like shared walls, I like my private back yard, perfect for myself and dog ownership.  Simply put, my home life is way too big to be contained in a small apartment and that has nothing to do with marital or childrearing status.  The whole "single, divorced, empty nest or widowed people don't like or deserve to have a yard, basement, garage, hobby space etc. or need to choose between privacy and those things" attitude that I have seen far too often in my adult life is just dumb. 24MM people in the US would likely also agree.  The real problem is more likely the failure of municipalities to project population demographic growth and develop accordingly, foreign ownership (big issue here in Canada) where houses sit empty, Air B&B removing units from the long term rental market etc., not people choosing to live alone in houses.  We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.  There are also plenty of people who think that for-profit landlording is parasitic and the cause of the shortage of affordable housing - not an opinion I share - but it is likely closer to the cause of housing affordability issues than owners occupying their own homes with an extra bedroom they converted into a home office. 

As far as Mustachianism goes, I don't consider a loss of privacy or loss of residential space to be a fair trade off for earlier early retirement at all.  I suspect the majority of those 24 MM homeowners would feel the same.  Our houses are not "a resource", they are our homes, our private property, just like any other possession anyone else owns.   
 

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2022, 01:20:36 PM »
Ideally for whom?  As a single, 3 bed 2 bath homeowner whose current house is right sized for me, I am neither looking for a roommate or a smaller space.  If I wanted to live in a one bedroom apartment or apartment style condo, I would, but I don't, so I don't, zoning has nothing to do with it.  I work from home, I have home based hobbies that I hope will one day be my retirement side hustle, I don't like shared walls, I like my private back yard, perfect for myself and dog ownership.  Simply put, my home life is way too big to be contained in a small apartment and that has nothing to do with marital or childrearing status.  The whole "single, divorced, empty nest or widowed people don't like or deserve to have a yard, basement, garage, hobby space etc. or need to choose between privacy and those things" attitude that I have seen far too often in my adult life is just dumb. 24MM people in the US would likely also agree.  The real problem is more likely the failure of municipalities to project population demographic growth and develop accordingly, foreign ownership (big issue here in Canada) where houses sit empty, Air B&B removing units from the long term rental market etc., not people choosing to live alone in houses.  We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.  There are also plenty of people who think that for-profit landlording is parasitic and the cause of the shortage of affordable housing - not an opinion I share - but it is likely closer to the cause of housing affordability issues than owners occupying their own homes with an extra bedroom they converted into a home office. 

So you blame foreign ownership but are fine with for-profit landlording?

Anyway, how do those 24M people get around in their suburb full of single family detached homes?

Along those lines since you don't blame zoning might I introduce you to missing middle housing which is most likely illegal to build in your neighborhood.

seattlecyclone

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2022, 01:33:35 PM »
Interesting idea. You've definitely hit on the fact that there's often a pretty big mismatch between the existing home sizes and household sizes. Ideally you'd renovate these 24 million houses into duplexes of one-bedroom units, because most people would probably prefer to live in a right-sized home by themselves than share space with a lodger. Unfortunately zoning makes that illegal in a huge percentage of the country. Roommate matching seems like as good of a workaround as any until the real problem is fixed.

Ideally for whom?  As a single, 3 bed 2 bath homeowner whose current house is right sized for me, I am neither looking for a roommate or a smaller space.  If I wanted to live in a one bedroom apartment or apartment style condo, I would, but I don't, so I don't, zoning has nothing to do with it.  I work from home, I have home based hobbies that I hope will one day be my retirement side hustle, I don't like shared walls, I like my private back yard, perfect for myself and dog ownership.  Simply put, my home life is way too big to be contained in a small apartment and that has nothing to do with marital or childrearing status.  The whole "single, divorced, empty nest or widowed people don't like or deserve to have a yard, basement, garage, hobby space etc. or need to choose between privacy and those things" attitude that I have seen far too often in my adult life is just dumb. 24MM people in the US would likely also agree.  The real problem is more likely the failure of municipalities to project population demographic growth and develop accordingly, foreign ownership (big issue here in Canada) where houses sit empty, Air B&B removing units from the long term rental market etc., not people choosing to live alone in houses.  We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.  There are also plenty of people who think that for-profit landlording is parasitic and the cause of the shortage of affordable housing - not an opinion I share - but it is likely closer to the cause of housing affordability issues than owners occupying their own homes with an extra bedroom they converted into a home office. 

As far as Mustachianism goes, I don't consider a loss of privacy or loss of residential space to be a fair trade off for earlier early retirement at all.  I suspect the majority of those 24 MM homeowners would feel the same.  Our houses are not "a resource", they are our homes, our private property, just like any other possession anyone else owns.

Their whole business model is finding homeowners who are interested in having less personal space in order reduce their net housing costs. You are not among that group, and that's fine. You're correct that we have every right to occupy as much space as we can afford. Plenty of people are discovering that they can't afford that much space, especially as they age and they have to outsource more of the maintenance. That's who this company is targeting. I'm suggesting that for those who are in the target market, it would usually be better to allow for buildings to be split into private right-sized spaces as an option. Given a choice between splitting a duplex vs. renting a room in your current detached house to a stranger, which would you prefer?

ixtap

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2022, 01:38:02 PM »
I would think that most homeowners who want a roommate are already finding one. Not even sure why it matters if they are single nor SFH. DH and I had a roommate in our two bedroom condo for awhile and now we don't. Soon, we will leave the two bedroom condo and someone else will use it differently...

While we have discussed exactly how we would split this unit, that would probably reduce the overall value while costing a lot to achieve.

FIRE Artist

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2022, 02:26:56 PM »
Ideally for whom?  As a single, 3 bed 2 bath homeowner whose current house is right sized for me, I am neither looking for a roommate or a smaller space.  If I wanted to live in a one bedroom apartment or apartment style condo, I would, but I don't, so I don't, zoning has nothing to do with it.  I work from home, I have home based hobbies that I hope will one day be my retirement side hustle, I don't like shared walls, I like my private back yard, perfect for myself and dog ownership.  Simply put, my home life is way too big to be contained in a small apartment and that has nothing to do with marital or childrearing status.  The whole "single, divorced, empty nest or widowed people don't like or deserve to have a yard, basement, garage, hobby space etc. or need to choose between privacy and those things" attitude that I have seen far too often in my adult life is just dumb. 24MM people in the US would likely also agree.  The real problem is more likely the failure of municipalities to project population demographic growth and develop accordingly, foreign ownership (big issue here in Canada) where houses sit empty, Air B&B removing units from the long term rental market etc., not people choosing to live alone in houses.  We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.  There are also plenty of people who think that for-profit landlording is parasitic and the cause of the shortage of affordable housing - not an opinion I share - but it is likely closer to the cause of housing affordability issues than owners occupying their own homes with an extra bedroom they converted into a home office. 

So you blame foreign ownership but are fine with for-profit landlording?  I don't blame any single thing, the issue is complex, but my government is targeting empty foreign owned properties because it is perceived to be a problem that has been politicized rightly or wrongly.  A home that is being deliberately left empty because it is being uses for foreign money laundering, driving up housing prices in high value markets (Toronto and Vancouver) is a very different issue than someone who owns rental properties with intention of those properties being occupied by long term renters.   

Anyway, how do those 24M people get around in their suburb full of single family detached homes? I assume they get around the same way everyone else gets around, foot, bike, transit, car.  I don't live in a suburb/bedroom community, I don't assume all those 24M people necessarily do either, but if they did, how is a single adult owning a car to commute any different than a couple owning two cars, or a family with 3 or more?  Single people do not hold any higher moral obligation to walk everywhere than anyone else does.   
 


Along those lines since you don't blame zoning might I introduce you to missing middle housing which is most likely illegal to build in your neighborhoodI never said I don't blame zoning, zoning is included in my statement about municipality projection and development.  My city has already been aggressive with infill and densification, getting creative with laneway houses, garage suits and tear down two, build three or four units in their place, replace a row of single family homes with an apartment block, rezoning popular central neighbourhoods from low rise only to mid-high rise developments.  My neighbourhood is not exempt from any of that, it just about 20 years out from the wave of redevelopment getting here.  Right now it is happening in the central most core that was originally build up in the 50's/60's, my neighbourhood would be considered outer central, the next ring if you will, developed in the 70's and early 80's, but it already includes townhouses and low rise apartment blocks that have been here since the original development.  What you presented here is nothing I am not already aware of, and still not a reason to think I have any obligation to live in a one bedroom apartment, or take on boarders.  I would argue that cities should have started densification 20 years earlier BUT, work from home is now changing the playing field, the market forces driving the pressure to centralize density are likely changing as a result of COVID, the next couple of years will tell I guess.         
 


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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2022, 02:32:22 PM »
Ideally for whom?  As a single, 3 bed 2 bath homeowner whose current house is right sized for me, I am neither looking for a roommate or a smaller space.  If I wanted to live in a one bedroom apartment or apartment style condo, I would, but I don't, so I don't, zoning has nothing to do with it.  I work from home, I have home based hobbies that I hope will one day be my retirement side hustle, I don't like shared walls, I like my private back yard, perfect for myself and dog ownership.  Simply put, my home life is way too big to be contained in a small apartment and that has nothing to do with marital or childrearing status.  The whole "single, divorced, empty nest or widowed people don't like or deserve to have a yard, basement, garage, hobby space etc. or need to choose between privacy and those things" attitude that I have seen far too often in my adult life is just dumb. 24MM people in the US would likely also agree.  The real problem is more likely the failure of municipalities to project population demographic growth and develop accordingly, foreign ownership (big issue here in Canada) where houses sit empty, Air B&B removing units from the long term rental market etc., not people choosing to live alone in houses.  We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.  There are also plenty of people who think that for-profit landlording is parasitic and the cause of the shortage of affordable housing - not an opinion I share - but it is likely closer to the cause of housing affordability issues than owners occupying their own homes with an extra bedroom they converted into a home office. 

Along those lines since you don't blame zoning might I introduce you to missing middle housing which is most likely illegal to build in your neighborhoodI never said I don't blame zoning, zoning is included in my statement about municipality projection and development.  My city has already been aggressive with infill and densification, getting creative with laneway houses, garage suits and tear down two, build three or four units in their place, replace a row of single family homes with an apartment block, rezoning popular central neighbourhoods from low rise only to mid-high rise developments.  My neighbourhood is not exempt from any of that, it just about 20 years out from the wave of redevelopment getting here.  Right now it is happening in the central most core that was originally build up in the 50's/60's, my neighbourhood would be considered outer central, the next ring if you will, developed in the 70's and early 80's, but it already includes townhouses and low rise apartment blocks that have been here since the original development.  What you presented here is nothing I am not already aware of, and still not a reason to think I have any obligation to live in a one bedroom apartment, or take on boarders.  I would argue that cities should have started densification 20 years earlier BUT, work from home is now changing the playing field, the market forces driving the pressure to centralize density are likely changing as a result of COVID, the next couple of years will tell I guess.         
 


Fair enough, I misread you statement about "zoning has nothing to do with it" in response to seattlecyclone's post about zoning.

FIRE Artist

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2022, 02:46:50 PM »
Ideally for whom?  As a single, 3 bed 2 bath homeowner whose current house is right sized for me, I am neither looking for a roommate or a smaller space.  If I wanted to live in a one bedroom apartment or apartment style condo, I would, but I don't, so I don't, zoning has nothing to do with it.  I work from home, I have home based hobbies that I hope will one day be my retirement side hustle, I don't like shared walls, I like my private back yard, perfect for myself and dog ownership.  Simply put, my home life is way too big to be contained in a small apartment and that has nothing to do with marital or childrearing status.  The whole "single, divorced, empty nest or widowed people don't like or deserve to have a yard, basement, garage, hobby space etc. or need to choose between privacy and those things" attitude that I have seen far too often in my adult life is just dumb. 24MM people in the US would likely also agree.  The real problem is more likely the failure of municipalities to project population demographic growth and develop accordingly, foreign ownership (big issue here in Canada) where houses sit empty, Air B&B removing units from the long term rental market etc., not people choosing to live alone in houses.  We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.  There are also plenty of people who think that for-profit landlording is parasitic and the cause of the shortage of affordable housing - not an opinion I share - but it is likely closer to the cause of housing affordability issues than owners occupying their own homes with an extra bedroom they converted into a home office. 

Along those lines since you don't blame zoning might I introduce you to missing middle housing which is most likely illegal to build in your neighborhoodI never said I don't blame zoning, zoning is included in my statement about municipality projection and development.  My city has already been aggressive with infill and densification, getting creative with laneway houses, garage suits and tear down two, build three or four units in their place, replace a row of single family homes with an apartment block, rezoning popular central neighbourhoods from low rise only to mid-high rise developments.  My neighbourhood is not exempt from any of that, it just about 20 years out from the wave of redevelopment getting here.  Right now it is happening in the central most core that was originally build up in the 50's/60's, my neighbourhood would be considered outer central, the next ring if you will, developed in the 70's and early 80's, but it already includes townhouses and low rise apartment blocks that have been here since the original development.  What you presented here is nothing I am not already aware of, and still not a reason to think I have any obligation to live in a one bedroom apartment, or take on boarders.  I would argue that cities should have started densification 20 years earlier BUT, work from home is now changing the playing field, the market forces driving the pressure to centralize density are likely changing as a result of COVID, the next couple of years will tell I guess.         
 


Fair enough, I misread you statement about "zoning has nothing to do with it" in response to seattlecyclone's post about zoning.

oh, yeah, I meant zoning has nothing to do with my decision to live in a single family home, I could live in a multifamily property, apartment or condo within a 5-10 minute walk of my house if I so chose. 

Anyway, to make a long story short, there is no way there is a market of 24MM single residing home owners out there in the US just waiting for a solution to fill their empty bedrooms, if I were going to invest in something, I would expect to see numbers based on reality. 

Ron Scott

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2022, 04:13:32 PM »
Based on the traction we've had of roughly 40k monthly GMV (NPS of 70, 5.75 to 1 LTV to CAC) with only 60k of investment, with 500k+ (8 times as much as we had on our first try while making mistakes and learning) we're going to smoke the 100k GMV level mark (2.5 times what we were doing before) that VC's want to see before investing in our next round.


Ginger,

I think this is more of a Mary Ann crowd.

But let’s meet, NYC UWS, LC at the fountain. 1-15 @ 10. Jeans, black coat.

« Last Edit: January 05, 2022, 04:17:34 PM by Ron Scott »

ixtap

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2022, 06:57:19 PM »
Wait, are we saying that 1/3 of owner occupied homes are both 3 bedroom or more AND occupied by a single individual??

And 2/3 of single adult households are homeowners?

I am really struggling with these statistics.

kite

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2022, 07:30:11 AM »
This reads like long term AirB&B stays. Stays over 30 days confer a larger risk on the homeowner/landlord in many jurisdictions. 

GodlessCommie

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2022, 09:58:42 AM »
Anyway, to make a long story short, there is no way there is a market of 24MM single residing home owners out there in the US just waiting for a solution to fill their empty bedrooms, if I were going to invest in something, I would expect to see numbers based on reality.

I won't bet the house on 24M number, but
- people may not realize that they can monetize the extra bedroom
- people may think (rightly or not) that it is too much trouble
- for these two categories, streamlining the process may nudge them to try

It's kind of how AirBNB got as big as it did. It was possible to do short-term rentals before. Craigslist, VRBO (and sites it acquired), were there. It wasn't as easy before, for both renters and hosts. So just by creating a single online marketplace, AirBNB created an incentive for many hosts, and essentially dramatically grew the market. Same here, it may be possible to grow this market.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2022, 10:00:49 AM by GodlessCommie »

Sibley

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2022, 10:03:11 AM »
I'm single with a 3 bedroom home. It's me and my cat.

Sure do your start up. But don't contact me. I'm not interested.

ixtap

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2022, 10:06:48 AM »
Anyway, to make a long story short, there is no way there is a market of 24MM single residing home owners out there in the US just waiting for a solution to fill their empty bedrooms, if I were going to invest in something, I would expect to see numbers based on reality.

I won't bet the house on 24M number, but
- people may not realize that they can monetize the extra bedroom
- people may think (rightly or not) that it is too much trouble
- for these two categories, streamlining the process may nudge them to try

It's kind of how AirBNB got as big as it did. It was possible to do short-term rentals before. Craigslist, VRBO (and sites it acquired), were there. It wasn't as easy before, for both renters and hosts. So just by creating a single online marketplace, AirBNB created an incentive for many hosts, and essentially dramatically grew the market. Same here, it may be possible to grow this market.

Bullshit, airBnB got as big as it did because investors bought up properties and put code locks on. It is almost impossible to find someone's spare bedroom in most regions.

seattlecyclone

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2022, 10:12:27 AM »
Anyway, to make a long story short, there is no way there is a market of 24MM single residing home owners out there in the US just waiting for a solution to fill their empty bedrooms, if I were going to invest in something, I would expect to see numbers based on reality.

I won't bet the house on 24M number, but
- people may not realize that they can monetize the extra bedroom
- people may think (rightly or not) that it is too much trouble
- for these two categories, streamlining the process may nudge them to try

It's kind of how AirBNB got as big as it did. It was possible to do short-term rentals before. Craigslist, VRBO (and sites it acquired), were there. It wasn't as easy before, for both renters and hosts. So just by creating a single online marketplace, AirBNB created an incentive for many hosts, and essentially dramatically grew the market. Same here, it may be possible to grow this market.

Bullshit, airBnB got as big as it did because investors bought up properties and put code locks on. It is almost impossible to find someone's spare bedroom in most regions.

And why did investors decide the rise of Airbnb was a good time to do that, as opposed to a decade prior? It's because the platform made it easy to rent these properties out with an appealing price and vacancy rate.

GodlessCommie

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2022, 10:29:45 AM »
Bullshit, airBnB got as big as it did because investors bought up properties and put code locks on. It is almost impossible to find someone's spare bedroom in most regions.

...and in other regions - the ones that (appropriately) regulated the market - spare bedrooms are all you can find.

It is besides the point, though. I never claimed that AirBNB grew the market for spare bedrooms. It grew the market for short-term rentals.

A company focused strictly on long(-er) term rentals of spare bedroom could grow that market, too. Admittedly, it is unlikely to grow as big as AirBNB, since there is little opportunity for investors - but the market can grow.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2022, 10:34:38 AM by GodlessCommie »

GodlessCommie

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #18 on: January 06, 2022, 10:34:03 AM »
Now, since it is a pitch to investors (a bit unusual to see it in this forum, but whatever), I wonder what happens when AirBNB decides to divert, like, 0.5% of its power to go after this segment?

bryan995

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #19 on: January 06, 2022, 12:56:43 PM »
I don't see this working well.  Too niche.  Seed funding denied!

kite

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #20 on: January 06, 2022, 01:14:48 PM »
Now, since it is a pitch to investors (a bit unusual to see it in this forum, but whatever), I wonder what happens when AirBNB decides to divert, like, 0.5% of its power to go after this segment?

There are reasons they haven't done it already. 

GodlessCommie

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #21 on: January 06, 2022, 01:43:55 PM »
Now, since it is a pitch to investors (a bit unusual to see it in this forum, but whatever), I wonder what happens when AirBNB decides to divert, like, 0.5% of its power to go after this segment?

There are reasons they haven't done it already.

Well, I mean, there were reasons no one tried a social network with a 140 character limit...

It's not wrong to try what others haven't tried. But it is so functionally close to AirBNB that I would be almost more afraid of success than of failure.

SYNACK

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #22 on: January 06, 2022, 04:58:30 PM »
Maybe instead of being generic (ie like Airbnb) focus on a segment that has a need. For example, what if you are elderly and live alone but you can offer someone to rent a room in your house in exchange for extra help and companionship? the service here would vet the people on both sides of the transaction. And perhaps makes it easier to handle undoing the arrangement (even eviction) should the issue not work out.

Or someone's mom lives alone and she has a hard time with chores and loneliness but she doesn't want to move into a senior care facility (and not medically necessary). But you can use such a service to help find mom a roommate or two. That helps defray some cost but also have someone with her all the time. And they can all help each other out but without being a senior care facility. Ie a step or two below that.

Or how about an elderly person that wants other similar elderly people to share their home in exchange for rent but also for companionship. The service needs not only make the match but also take some risk out of it. Ie a quality match, help with the meet and greet and some vetting etc..

In short perhaps the market is a segment of the 24M homes and directed at seniors. I have no idea if this is possible already but I know a lot of older folks have a hard time with this. Anyway, just a suggestion.

Beach_Bound

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #23 on: January 06, 2022, 05:22:44 PM »
Let's fact check the claim that there's a "massive supply of 24 million Americans that live in a 3 bed 2 bath home alone".

Census data says that there are 140 million housing units total, 64% (90 million) of which are owner occupied.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/VET605219

Census data also says households consisting of 1 person make up 28% of households. 28% of 90 million owner occupied housing units is 25 million owner occupied housing units consisting of one person. This assumes that single person households are just as likely to own as other household sizes. We're already perilously close of OP's claim of 24 million, and we haven't addressed the number of bedrooms or bathrooms yet.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/242189/disitribution-of-households-in-the-us-by-household-size/

Finally, census data says that 61% of housing units have 3 or more bedrooms. That gives us 15 million housing units with 3 or more bedrooms occupied by a single person... if we make the assumption that number of bedrooms is not correlated to number of people, which seems incredibly unlikely. I would expect single person households to occupy housing units with fewer bedrooms. I'm not going to get into the number of bathrooms, but excluding houses with 1 bathroom would reduce the number even further.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/206393/distribution-of-housing-units-in-the-us-by-number-of-bedrooms/

I don't object to the idea of the start up. It sounds like a mash up of airbnb, a dating app, and a credit/background check company. I can see some value in that. But I do object to marketing that idea with bad (and easily verified) claims.

sonofsven

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #24 on: January 06, 2022, 05:35:25 PM »
I don't know that being "too similar" to Airbnb isn't by design. A "better" version, maybe?

pegleglolita

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2022, 04:44:34 PM »
We don't live under communism, I get to have as much square footage as I desire as long as I can afford it.

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slugsworth

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #26 on: January 20, 2022, 11:09:09 AM »
This isn't a new concept. Here is a link to a report about similar programs. https://depts.washington.edu/uwchips/docs/UW-report-homesharestudy2021.pdf

windytrail

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Re: CoLife: Solving attainable housing nationwide
« Reply #27 on: January 21, 2022, 04:40:06 PM »
I support tackling the housing crisis from a variety of angles. Personally, I advocate for building more housing in my community (aka Yes in My Backyard) through zoning changes and for more state laws to force cities who resist the hardest to build. But it probably doesn't hurt to see if some of these people with extra rooms wouldn't mind having a roommate.

There is no one solution that will solve this issue overnight and we need to get better organized to make big wins. There is hope, however.


 

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