Judul : Go inside the housing startup that puts millennials up in multimillion-dollar Silicon Valley mansions
link : Go inside the housing startup that puts millennials up in multimillion-dollar Silicon Valley mansions
Go inside the housing startup that puts millennials up in multimillion-dollar Silicon Valley mansions
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
Members of the co-living housing network, HubHaus, take in the view from their backyard in Los Altos, California.
As millennials continue to move in droves to the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most expensive rental markets in America, housing companies are catering to them in new ways.
Young people have long crowded into single-family homes and apartments with large numbers of roommates, in an effort to save money and find community. Now companies are capitalizing on the trend by creating all-inclusive housing that comes with perks like free internet, maid service, and a built-in social networks. In exchange, residents pay rent to the startup instead of a typical landlord.
Founded in 2016, co-living startup HubHaus is a fast-rising challenger in the space. Unlike competitors like WeLive and Common that offer rooms in apartment-style digs, HubHaus puts people up in multimillion-dollar houses. “Members,” as residents are called, can join one of 41 (and growing) houses in the San Francisco Bay Area and instantly tap into amenities.
We met up with HubHaus cofounder and CEO Shruti Merchant in the Los Altos, California, home valued at $3.69 million that she shares with eight other people. Here’s what it was like.
In 2015, 23-year-old tech entrepreneur Shruti Merchant was living in Cupertino, California, in a single-family home she would never be able to afford if it weren’t for her six roommates.
A group of her friends put together a down payment and turned the suburban estate into a communal living, or “co-living,” oasis. The medical school drop-out found that co-living had its perks — like the quality of real estate they could afford together — but was not without its flaws.
Because of the number of roommates, turnover was high. The residents kept busy hunting for people to fill vacancies and collecting rent payments each month. It became a hassle.
The idea for HubHaus came from her desire to create hassle-free shared housing. The startup leases homes from owners and finds community-seeking tenants to fill them.
“We take care of the logistics so people can focus on the community,” Merchant said.
Over the past year, the company has expanded to 41 houses in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Members pay on average $1,275 a month to live in beautiful homes located near top Bay Area tech companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Tesla, as well as movie studios in LA.
Rent ranges from $500 to $2,600 per month, based on variables including location, access to a private or shared bath, square footage of the room, and amenities like a pool and parking.
Each home has a space-themed name. On a recent visit to a HubHaus location in Los Altos, California, called “Ground Control,” tenants milled about the kitchen. But it was quiet.
This came as a surprise, in part because the eight-bedroom home holds nine residents. “A house with that many people is called a frat,” Cy, a resident and a Stanford student, said.
The homes are filled with young professionals. Half of the residents at Ground Control work or intern at Tesla and can walk to the office within 20 minutes.
Merchant guesses that about two-thirds of total HubHaus members work in technology.
HubHaus sets some ground rules to ensure the comfort of its members. Quiet hours begin at 10. The common area is clutter-free. “No one wants to play house mom,” Merchant said.
Members take turns doing chores, and there’s a chart posted to the fridge.
A professional cleaning service also comes twice a month, which is included in the cost of rent.
When a new house opens, HubHaus provides common area furniture and kitchen essentials in boxes. It’s up to the new members to decide what goes where and how each person will pull their weight around the house.
Angel, an engineering intern at Tesla, found a HubHaus listing on Craigslist and interviewed to join. She saves money by living with so many roommates in the pricey South Bay.
She enjoys living with other Tesla employees who can share their experiences at the company.
“If each of us took home a part every day, we could build a car,” Angel said.
Her roommates recently hosted an unofficial Tesla party to celebrate the Model 3 road testing.
Bryan, an immunology graduate student at Stanford, used to spend most of his free time driving from San Francisco to Palo Alto. “The commute was killing me,” Bryan said. “And it was so difficult to meet people.” He said HubHaus gave him a built-in social network.
Cy, a physics and chemistry graduate student at Stanford, left a studio apartment in a dorm to live in HubHaus. The large number of roommates made him hesitate before signing the lease.
Seeing all the properties in the network, Cy said he was “blown away by the places I would never be able to afford.” When he needs space, he puts on headphones and retreats to his “cave,” which has spectacular views of the valley, room for a desk, and a private bathroom.
The more roommates a HubHaus can fit, the more luxurious the property. The ranch-style Los Altos house is worth an estimated $3.69 million, according to real estate site Zillow.
HubHaus signs only one-year leases. When a tenant moves out, Merchant interviews applicants and sends the top few picks to the house. Members help make the decision.
Merchant said a person who’s just looking for a cheap place to crash is not the right candidate. HubHaus wants members who will invest in building up the network’s sense of community.
HubHaus is aiming to operate 1,000 rooms by fall 2018. In May, the company raised $1.4 million in venture funding from General Catalyst, which will help HubHaus grow its team.
Source: TechCrunch
The rapid growth might remind some of Campus, a co-living startups that declared bankruptcy in 2015 and left 150 people homeless. Merchant said she talked to the Campus cofounders while building HubHaus and wants to learn from their mistakes.
Namely, Merchant said she avoids properties that are so expensive she will have a hard time finding enough residents who are willing to pay the average rent of $1,275 per month.
All of HubHaus’ locations are profitable, according to Merchant.
Merchant argues that HubHaus has an edge on its competitors because it knows how to build community. Using single-family homes instead of apartment buildings is an integral part of that.
“It’s designed so you can interact with each other,” Merchant said.
Simply put, “it’s home,” one resident said.
Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.
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