What are the Pros and Cons of Living ina a Co-living Space?

Posted by divya on September 11th, 2019

You must have heard about co-working; a place where people from different or similar fields work together under one roof with shared utilities, parking, and the Internet. Nowadays there is a new buzz in the town: Co-living or Co-housing. This is equivalent to co-working but with housing and accommodations!

Young people in many countries have widely accepted co-living and co-working trend. Co-living is slowly replacing the concept of traditional housing, providing a comfortable lifestyle to millennials without making a big hole in their pockets. It has changed the definition of expensive living with affordable housing.

Moreover, it helps working professionals and students to build a different network and work on their personality development outside their comfort zone. As all these claims seem to be perfect, but there are some disadvantages to this revolutionary idea. However, before diving into the pros and cons of co–living, let’s have a quick look at what it is and how it works in brief.

What is Co-living?

Co-housing isn’t exactly like a hostel or dormitory, but it is somewhat similar to hostel rooms, such as common rooms and roommates. Initiated in 1970 in Denmark, Co-housing was introduced in the U.S. in 1990, with 15-35 homes in cities. The amenities were a shared kitchen and a meeting room for residents to gather — these homes combined to form communities, which vary in prices and additional facilities. Every community has its own regulations that help them provide a better and quality life to people living there. The neighbourhood may contain townhomes, small-family homes, or other co-ops.

 How does Co-living Work?

Co-living is an entirely new leaf of our shared economy. In simple words, the houses are reimagined to provide a better way of living to the working people and students while aligning with the basic needs of a modern lifestyle.

In a typical co-living space, residents have their own bedroom and bathroom with a shared living space and kitchen. Simply, co-living or co-housing approach of living is assisting people by sharing their living expenses. 

We have discussed what Co-living is, where it came from, and how it works. Now let’s have a quick look at the co-living and co-housing trend and why it is popular.

There are many factors that have influenced the popularity of this new concept. From appealing facilities to freedom of living to find people with the same interests, the number of youth getting attracted to co-housing concepts is increasing significantly.

This has encouraged people from across the world to accept and encourage this trend. There are several startups and established organizations that are offering multiple housing locations in many parts of the globe. 

Here are the pros and cons of Co-living spaces:

1. Easily Affordable:

In the co-living approach, the buyer only purchases some share of the co-op owned building, not an entire home. It ends up being a lot cheaper than renting an apartment or buying it.

2. Low Maintenance:

If you are among those people who love to customize your home as per your preferences, without spending a fortune over it, then co-housing society can be an excellent option for you to try. In cohousing communities, the owner or buyer is solely responsible for the maintenance cost of their apartments, not for any work that is a part of the building, such as yard work or repairs of any kind.

3. Lively Community:

It has been observed that people tend to live in co-ops much longer as compared to the rented apartments. The reason behind can be the opportunity to interact with a lot of people with different interests and fields and build long-term relationships. It simply means, there are high chances that people living in your neighborhood in co-housings turn into close friends.

With several advantages of co-living, here’s the opposite side of the story: 

The disadvantages of co-living:

1. On-going Bills

If you are living in a co-living space then it’s not only the room rent that you have to pay. There will be other bills also such as electricity, food, water, and other such amenities provided to you. So, before choosing to move-in somewhere, note down your expenses so that you won’t be surprised at the end of the month.

2. Less cooperation

Not everyone is the same. You might live with a person who likes to play music in high volume irrespective of other’s concerns. Living with a stranger is always full of risks. You can never be ensured who would be your next roommate. Unlike bills, you can’t jot down your roommate requirements. So when deciding whether to give it a try, give yourself time to think about it thoroughly because even you can be stuck with a person whom you don’t like.

Every day, a lot of new and different ideas turn into reality. You might be in those millions of people who never heard of co-living concepts before. However, we can say that co-living has its own pros and cons, but it can be one of those revolutionary ideas that can change how you live. From working professionals to students to older generations, co-living has proven beneficial for all age groups. It’s time to embrace this new trend and give it a try!