Coliving is becoming one of the hottest new apartment trends in the world, especially among 20 somethings. Coliving units are economical, fully furnished, and extended stay apartments that are all inclusive of utilities and wifi. Coliving buildings are perfect for people who are new to the area, don’t want to spend hundreds on new furniture, and don’t want to worry about paying monthly for utilities. They foster social lifestyles typically having large common spaces and plenty of events. Most units are multi bedroom and allow for roommates to come as full groups or individuals can be matched with roommates before signing a joint lease. Basically, it’s Airbnb meets the show Friends.

Last week I attended the opening of 3 new construction coliving buildings in Journal Square. While the buildings only opened a month ago, they are already fully occupied.

Because Jersey City legalized Airbnb in 2015, it is clear Jersey CIty is the perfect place for these coliving buildings because instead of just bringing in nightly guests, this creates long term Jersey city residents. Mayor Fulop interviewed the managers of the property for over an hour while touring the properties common spaces, kitchens, bedrooms, and huge backyard area.

The buildings are run by Bedly, a Coliving startup that has buildings in Boston, New York, and now Jersey City. They pride themselves on providing rents for tenants that are between 20% to 25% of their income, where NYC area rent averages closer to 55% of income. Jamil Karriem, Head of Business Development at Bedly said, “Historically, renting an apartment has been a nightmare. Paying 20% broker fees, trying to find the least sketchy roommate on craigslist, begging your friends to help you build cheap ikea furniture. Not to mention calling your unresponsive landlord 2x a day to come and fix the leak in your ceiling! Bedly is the first real estate company to put the tenant first. Our customer experience is our product, everything we do is centered around making housing simple and delightful.”

I met some of the tenants at the event and was amazed by their feedback about their experience so far. The majority of them were from out of Jersey City and all of them were really happy with the situation. Their jobs ranged from neurologists to office managers with 30 minutes or less commutes to their office in downtown Jersey City or Manhattan.

Bedly is the first Coliving company to come to Jersey City, but according to Jersey Digs https://jerseydigs.com/wework-plans-welive-one-journal-square-jersey-city/, WeLive (Wework’s new coliving business) will be opening buildings in Journal Square soon. Also, Ollie, a venture backed coliving company has a large coliving building opening up in 2019 according to their website http://www.ollie.co/journal-square/. Other large companies such as Common, has raised over $50 million to open coliving buildings but have yet to announce one in Jersey City. Coliving buildings have now opened in many major cities including Manhattan, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.

All inclusive prices at Bedly buildings start at $1000 and there are no broker fees. You can set up a tour with Bedly in person or view a virtual reality experience on your phone or computer. Many tenants sign up without even seeing the place in place in person.

For more information, check out Bedly.com.