Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
Some of the finest moments in modern cinema were created while reflecting upon the loneliness and the quest for community: Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were fantastic in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. This great film portrays two young adults who are drawn to each other intensely but then undergo a medical procedure to erase each other from their memories.
As you watch this story unravel, you can see just how insecure people can be, yet desperate to connect on healthy levels with each other. After being asked in many different fashions what they are craving these days, consumers are not just craving affordability, they are also seeking out company. More than half of Americans now feel lonely and disconnected, and the fact that many are expected to be connected to technology 24/7 has blurred the lines between healthy work and personal space.
Longer work hours have been taken on by many and make it hard for people to build healthy outreach on their own organically. While one is working, they are bound to have thoughts about the next time they will be able to do something socially or with family, and it is so rewarding to have that time finally arrive to feel fulfilled. As the demands of careers have increased and people take on side gigs to be able to survive, many individuals are placing a high value on landlords and employers who provide it for them.
WeWork and Airbnb were early to the shot to reap rewards from this demand for community, with one changing the face of travel, and the other completely disrupting the office space model. Co-Working companies such as WeWork, Riveter, and The Wing offer series with informative speakers, classes on things like coding, and other member events that were specifically designed to help build connections.
Airbnb was in the beginning just honed in on lodging but has now grown its platform to include experiences that involve a higher level of sharing. Startups that have used technology and lightning-fast internet speeds to succeed such as StarCity are out there providing dorms for adults, a function greatly focused on our constant quest for community. HubHaus and Common rent homes with the purpose of shared roommates in mind, and startup Ollie offers smaller luxury apartments in a co-living environment.
Technology is used in abundance to stoke valuable and organic connections between people and incorporate the use of mediums such as Slack channels to connect users together. HubHaus uses calculated algorithms to match roommates, another example of modern means that will change the way people think and act regarding real estate and rental property.
As people are realizing just how unpredictable life can be, jobs with shorter longevity are also becoming increasingly common in regards to the gig economy workforce. Since some don’t know how long their jobs will last, long-term commitments and expensive furniture are not as popular as they once were. There is still an incredibly healthy housing market and numerous reasons to buy, but as some of the long-term opportunities in the job market are evolving, technology is now evolving the available choices for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Feather, Fernish, and CasaOne are doing a quite well-renting furniture to those who seek an extra amount of flexibility in their living environments. Again displaying a focused emphasis on massive flexibility, other companies such as Dorrmat and OpenDoor are putting to use algorithms to determine how much houses are worth and providing “instant offers” for homes in red-hot markets such as Phoenix.
It’s not just the residents who seek leases with greater flexibility, many companies now do as well. When businesses encounter the pleasure of experiencing rapid growth, they are sometimes on the hunt for commercial real estate companies that have platforms to balance space, demand, and fair cost. One company called Breather has taken flexibility to an even greater level and allows workers to rent productive space by the day, hour, or month.
The next frontier regarding technology as it is used by real estate professionals is exciting and also as seemingly limitless as ever. There is an entire array of new startups that are finally tackling issues such as affordability, gaining that sense of community, and being overall flexible. During the process, the ways in which we exist are rapidly transforming.
Just a few years back, some entities had completely lost touch with the meaning of home and had left this need to connect to the side. As very sterile environments without many styles and digital void were created, many out there were beginning to feel a bit lost. It’s refreshing to see this new breed of businesses that are boosting the group effort, and encouraging people to resist the urge to always “Go it alone”!
