Yahoo Finance This startup is helping renters live in different countries around the world
A new company is hoping to offer its users a chance to live and work in different cities around the world, by just signing a lease that offers a lot of flexibility.
Roam, which was conceived just over a year ago, provides its customers with a private, fully-furnished bedroom and bathroom for US$500 per week or $1,800 a month.
The startup works on a "co-living" model, which has residents share kitchen and work space facilities in the buildings owned by Roam. But this isn't some hostel you'll be staying in: the properties offer more high-end amenities like pools, libraries and a yoga studio.
Roam currently offers accommodations at a contemporary boutique hotel in Ubud, Bali, one of the Indonesian island’s cultural hubs. This isn't designed for someone just looking to enjoy a vacation, though; Roam's model is tailored to people who want to immersive themselves in a new city for weeks or months at a time.
Other options are on the way, including a restored Victorian boarding house in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, which is scheduled to officially open at the end of May.
Another location in Spain’s capital, Madrid, is also slated to open at the end of the month. Accommodations in London and Buenos Aires are said to be in the works for 2016, and company says it hopes to end the year with five to eight properties.
Roam is also eyeing cities like Berlin and Amsterdam, as well as exotic locales in Asia. So far, no plans have been made to set up in Canada, but Roam CEO Bruno Haid told Yahoo Finance Canada that he would be “more than happy to consider” it if they found an “interesting” property development.
Currently, the company is targeting cities that have nice weather year-round, with vibrant urban communities and are close to economic centres.
Haid added that its current standard-rate leases will remain unchanged until Roam expands to pricier cities, such as New York and San Francisco, where users would pay a “premium” for their stay.
Haid says that in his early thirties he used to make frequent trips between New York, San Francisco and London, and that finding the right housing set up was “always a challenge.”
He said he was often forced to piece it together himself through a variety of options, from Airbnb or house-sitting for friends.
“There was always a personal need to find a reliable new form of housing that is location independent,” said Haid.
The idea for Roam began to take shape after a conversation with a friend who raved about life in Bali and how it would be great to split time between there and London, to “get work done and then go back to paradise.”
“It basically triggered a cascade of: ‘We really should rethink housing. Not only have a nice place independently, but also what public and private means … Are there better forms to organized living?’” Haid recalled.
New kind of community living
Haid said Roam offers a distinct advantage over hotels and Airbnb: a social environment where guests can immerse themselves into the local city life by interacting with their fellow tenants.
“The whole barriers of arriving at location are … often and honestly torn down, because you are immediately part of a group of people and the wider neighbourhood,” he said.
In particular, Haid says the communal kitchens will become a “social gathering point..”
“Even if you’re not the most outgoing person, just showing up in the kitchen just makes it a completely different experience,” he said.
He added while hotels often have restaurants and bars, in comparison, it is "quite anonymous."
“You are not inclined to go into the restaurant kitchen and cook together, but just this simple gesture makes a world of difference in how you get to know people and how to get to experience new cultures,” said Haid.
Changing where we call home
The company recently announced that it had received $3.3 million in funding from a number of prominent backers, including SoundCloud, and the Collaborative Fund, whose portfolio includes Kickstarter, Lyft and Reddit.
Haid said Roam has been able to attract investors because there has been a clear shift in the way people work and live around the world, with more people being able to have a more fluid lifestyle.
“The traditional 30-year detached home mortgage financed place doesn’t really work for our generation, and actually for a lot of generations, so there is idea that could be a new model of housing,” he said.
In fact, Haid says more 1.2 million globally, who have a disposable income of more than $80,000 and can work without a fixed location, may be in the market for Roam’s services.
Haid said based on the company’s operations in Bali, which opened two months ago, its clients come from three different types of backgrounds: Freelancers in their late twenties; couples in their late thirties who decide to downsize temporarily to “see the world”; and “empty nesters” whose kids have left for college.
He added that most of his clients so far have opted to stay between two to six weeks, but many are starting to inquire about the housing in Miami.
Roam is also working on a corresponding app.
