Indian Co-living Story: What is co-living?
Is it just about the fancy community events with young and hungry millennial population living in hostels or it is the solution for the modern urban living?
Before I jump into the topic of Co-living, let me start with a story which will give you little perspective on what I want to convey about this massive trend happening all across the world.
Hitchhiking between apartments in Mumbai:
I moved to Mumbai, the city of dreams for Indians, in 2015. As a new addition to the workforce of Indian working population, it was a treat to start my career in this exciting city (exciting because one is always running to find shelter in this city). As an outsider, I naively went for the first real estate broker I could find who would connect me to an apartment owner who was renting his apartment in an area called Dadar which was just two kilometers away from my workplace. What I did not know was that this owner was not only renting out to nearly eight people in a 2bhk apartment but also was notorious for cutting away all the security deposit from tenants when they left the lease for no known reason to the mankind by showing ridiculous electricity bills by syncing the electricity meter with the utilities of the building.
I found great friends in that apartment, (yes one of the flatmates moved to Silicon Valley working with some kick-ass AI firm and another guy joined world’s one of the most powerful financials services company, they are my friends now), but I had to forgo my security deposit worth nearly 30000 rupees when I left the apartment to find a better house for myself.
Well and good, I thought. I decided I will move away from my workplace a little bit to find much more habitable and affordable apartment with not so shady landlord. I started calling brokers again. I felt as if I had two jobs, my day job and night job where I was stalking real estate brokers and rental properties.
Remember, this was August, Mumbai rains were pouring and poor me was running around to find a decent house to live in and kickass in my career in that beautiful city.
Then I found my friends from my b-school who promised me during those outrageous farewell parties at b-schools that if all of us end up in the same city after college, we all will live together. Being the proud members of the millennial generation, we wanted to live in the most happening area of the city, Bandra. But little we knew about the rental rates, landowners and sewers of Mumbai.
Among four of us, we divided jobs of hunting down brokers, visiting properties, managing financial transactions with the landowners and organizing parties (Obviously I was heading this department!). It was like, we created a mini startup of 4 guys looking for good housing for ourselves which will allow us to have warm beds to sleep on weekdays and a great house to host our friends and enjoy on weekends.
This pseudo venture was super successful.
For the period of 3 years, six of us (We had to add two more people to this gang to bring in the economies of scale to maintain sustainability of this weird partnership) managed to live together by going through three different apartments, hundreds of nights sharing swanky living rooms in our rented apartments and nearly four lacs (400k) rupees worth of brokerage and security deposit.
We partied together, we faced the crazy rains of Mumbai together, we negotiated with hundreds of brokers together and we tolerated our neighbors together. I have friends, stories and experiences which I will never forget till the end of time from those times.
For those 3 years, we co-lived.
Hyderabad Beckoned:
I moved out of the city after that to a city called Hyderabad, the city of Nizams and presently the city of Biryani. I knew, I am not going to face the same rental rates in this new place. But still there were the brokers, landowners and sewers to take care of. Again as a new-comer, I thought I am going to face these troubles.
But three years had passed since the time I went through all this. The world had moved on. Now there were options. One could go on Facebook groups like ‘Flats and flatmates’ and talk to existing tenants of the apartments in the city instead of heckling with real estate brokers who just want to tire you until you say “Just take my money and find me an apartment” and then show you good housing to rent OR go on websites like Nestaway, Magicbricks and NoBrokers.com to directly connect with landlords who obviously are not as relaxed as the Facebook group members.
But I wanted an option where I could just download an app, click ‘Find a house’ and pay the rent. (Remember I am a millennial, we have apps for everything)
Enter Co-living.
Booking at the bar:
I literally booked my stay in a new co-living space in the city while i was meeting a old friend who was showing me around the best brewery in the city. This space is created by my employer brand and I won’t go into details of the operations. But at the end of the day, I found the app which has a button which says ‘Find a house’.
I will not linger on these brands and their achievements as that information is readily available on the internet. Just Google ‘Co-living in India’ and you will find all the information and possibly your new rented apartment, fingertips away.
These brands have managed to do what we were doing in Mumbai on an institutional level. Indian cities are infested with very poorly managed hostels and un-inhabited rental housing. These brands are converting these small unorganized ventures into habitable, technologically activated and affordable rental apartments where people can get all the living amenities along with a warm bed to rest after long days of work. There are hundreds of Co-living spaces popping up across the county which can provide better living conditions and affordable rents for people moving to new cities for their career or education.
Check out following links if you want to know more because this article is not about that:
Superficially, these co-living spaces may look like hip places for young, ambitious and energetic people who enjoy community events organized by the brands creating these spaces. But they are more than that.
Co-living is a modern form of housing where residents share living space and a set of interests, values, and intentions. It’s ‘Live and Let live’ concept with a new take on this old idea, imagined by a millennial generation that values things like openness and collaboration, social networking, and the sharing economy.
Fundamentally, co-living is a cultural distinction, as it can encompass many structural forms, including rental and ownership, urban and rural. Still, in its current embodiment, co-living tends to be urban and integrated into a single building, house, or apartment. And the demographics tend towards 20 and 30 something professionals more than families, boomers, and retirees.
I know above definition sounded hip! Because it is. Co-living is all about creating a more habitable and quality form of housing for young people who have less baggage and lesser bank balance. These tenants not only enjoy their stay at these co-living spaces but also understand that its their responsibility to contribute to these mini communities. (India is still new to this concept of contributing to the housing space provided by privately owned brands, but we will come around). This trend has emerged because brands have realized rental housing market can be organized and the consumers are willing to accommodate similar minded people if basic necessities are taken care of by an external entity which is solely committed to provide those amenities unlike the landlords or brokers.
I know, I have demonized the landlords and real estate brokers a lot in this story, but they are not that bad either. The scenario has changed, previously they had no way of earning a buck from these extremely expensive real estates. They had to take the matters into their own hands and manage the tenants on their own in most cases, which I can tell you, can be hell of a task. Imagine set of six b-school graduates (Our mini house hunting gang from Mumbai) negotiating with the landlord or broker to drive down security deposits, complaining about every malfunctioning electric device in their apartment and demanding to fix everything on time without fail. Nobody wants to talk to super detail oriented, financially savvy and super demanding (lot of times very self entitled, don’t forget the millennial part) professionals like us, especially when these owners know that they have installed a mediocre AC and broken sink in their apartments.
Now they are partnering with these co-living brands to turn their assets into money minting machines without ever talking to a single tenant. Not only these brands are managing the tenants but also providing state of the art amenities at these co-living spaces. Hassle-free is the key for these homegrown asset owners.
Ultimately it is about finding a common ground between housing for the independent tenants and hassle free income for the real estate owners.
These co-living spaces are quickly becoming the hotpots of culture and community in the upcoming cities of India. This is attracting other brands to use the co-living spaces for their advantage as well. Various startups, brands and businesses which ride on this wave of sharing economies are trying to find innovative solutions to cater to these communities of co-living spaces.
Stay tuned for the next article about various brands using co-living spaces for their own marketing.
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored article. It is just my recollection of how the process of finding a rental apartment has changed in last 4 years in India and the rise of co-living.
