I came across this article written by Anna Buckley in Apartment Therapy: 8 Things on a Craigslist Listing That Shout "Scam!"
When I read this article, I suddenly remembered what it was like for me at 18, right after graduating from high school. I laughed to myself as I recalled the many mistakes I made and all the challenges I had when trying to find housing my very first time abroad. I was a student from Japan, and I came to the United States not knowing a single soul.
Finding housing in a foreign country for the first time was a trial and error process for me. I didn't know how to look for a room, sign a contract, or even meet the conditions necessary for a lease. I recall being discouraged; I couldn't even get past the first step of moving away from home by finding a new place to live.
I laughed when I read the article above because it reminded me of my experience as an international student in the days of analog methods and how nothing has really changed despite living in a digital age of easy search and find.
Then I remembered two thoughts:
I can offer my tips on finding housing to people who come from abroad to a new place with nothing but dreams. I'm sure I can help them find safe and reasonably priced rooms.
People who come to a new city struggle to find a place to live because the search makes it impossible for them to concentrate on why they came to New York to begin with, whether it’s school, a job, or something else. I want to make the room search process smoother so that they can concentrate on their main goal.
That's what I thought when I decided to start my "co-living business" in 2008. At the time, there was no such thing called the "co-living industry."
The hardships I experienced as a young man taught me that the process of looking for housing, from the search stage to the leasing stage, is just the beginning.