I have so many questions, as someone trying to transition to a similar model but almost 100% certain it's not achievable in NYC, my home of 18 years.
What was your relationship to your landlord in that East W'Burg building? Did you have to cultivate that relationship in order to get your friends in the door to rent a unit whenever a vacancy appeared in the building?
Are any of the buildings you now describe under group ownership or owned by members of the collective, or is all of this proximity achieved as renters? How have you you accommodated friends who don't work in tech or might have different levels of financial resourcing?
We tried to develop a relationship with the landlord but they were very uninterested and hands off. We did not need the relationship though, we just chose a large building with high turnover so units opened often.
No, no buildings are under group ownership which definitely makes me unsure of what will happen long-term. (I have friends in the bay who have co-bought, and I highly recommend reading the Supernuclear Substack for advice on how to).
When we first moved into our original building, you could rent a small windowless "room" in an apartment for $1000 which is on the lower end for NYC. (We still have one of those rooms left, but all others have gone up in price unfortunately). For other friends, hanging out at our building for dinners and parties helped them see that they'd prefer a similar lifestyle, so a number of groups went on to form co-living houses or live near their friends in other neighborhoods
I have so many questions, as someone trying to transition to a similar model but almost 100% certain it's not achievable in NYC, my home of 18 years.
What was your relationship to your landlord in that East W'Burg building? Did you have to cultivate that relationship in order to get your friends in the door to rent a unit whenever a vacancy appeared in the building?
Are any of the buildings you now describe under group ownership or owned by members of the collective, or is all of this proximity achieved as renters? How have you you accommodated friends who don't work in tech or might have different levels of financial resourcing?
We tried to develop a relationship with the landlord but they were very uninterested and hands off. We did not need the relationship though, we just chose a large building with high turnover so units opened often.
No, no buildings are under group ownership which definitely makes me unsure of what will happen long-term. (I have friends in the bay who have co-bought, and I highly recommend reading the Supernuclear Substack for advice on how to).
When we first moved into our original building, you could rent a small windowless "room" in an apartment for $1000 which is on the lower end for NYC. (We still have one of those rooms left, but all others have gone up in price unfortunately). For other friends, hanging out at our building for dinners and parties helped them see that they'd prefer a similar lifestyle, so a number of groups went on to form co-living houses or live near their friends in other neighborhoods
I also talk about why it's important to choose a neighborhood that's not in too high demand if you want this to work in this post: https://prigoose.substack.com/p/how-to-actually-live-near-your-friends