This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Elisa, a partnership manager and business developer living in New York City who asked to be identified by only her first name to protect her employment. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I moved from Paris to New York in 2022 when I was headhunted for my job at a French startup. It wasn’t planned, and everything happened quickly.
I tried to look for an apartment while still in Paris, but deep diving into Facebook groups didn’t fill me with confidence, and I was worried about being scammed.
I heard about Cohabs from one of my best friends from France, who lived in one of the houses. Cohabs are share houses in cities around the world, and there are a few houses each in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
My friend offered for me to stay with her for two weeks so I could look for apartments, but then I fell in love with other people who lived there. It helped me make friends straight away.
There was an opening, so I moved into the same three-floor townhouse as my friend in Harlem. I love it.
You’re screened before you can move in
The Cohabs team ensures you have the right vibe and are there for the right reasons before you can sign a lease.
The questions were fairly straightforward: They asked my age, the reason I moved to New York, how I heard about Cohabs, what are my previous experiences with flatmates, and what are my hobbies.
You can sign a lease for six months or one year, and I chose one year.
House rules are written into the lease
The lease has some things you have to agree to that are above and beyond a typical lease agreement.
We agree to pay our rent on time, be respectful of others, clean our room when we move out to receive our deposit back, keep common spaces organized, wash our dishes, organize for the team of housekeepers, respect each other, let our housemates know when we invite people over, take out the trash, and reduce, reuse, and recycle.
The rent is fair to me for what I get
I pay $2,000 a month for my 135-square-foot fully-furnished room, which includes all utility costs.
I feel it’s fair when you consider that you’re renting a room plus the huge common spaces. Each floor has its own furnished open kitchen and living room. I share a bathroom with one flatmate, but there are different bathroom arrangement options based on your room.
The house feels super homey — it’s clean, and the furniture is vintage and really nice. A housekeeping team comes once a week.
There’s also an app to submit repair requests, so if you have a problem with the coffee machine, for example, you can create a ticket, and a member of the Cohabs team will come and help you fix it.
The shared spaces are big: We have a huge backyard with a barbecue, a rooftop with tables, a huge television room with sofas, a gym, and a laundry room.
16 of us live in the house
It sounds wild when I say I have 15 roommates, but it feels like I’m on “Friends” the TV show. I love having a little family in New York and friends I can count on.
Many of us are very far from our loved ones and are fairly new to New York. We have Americans, Spanish, English, and French among our nationalities. The age range is 23 to 32, which sounds like a lot but works well.
Every night when I come home from work, people are in the kitchen making food and having meals together. That makes me really happy.
This feels better than a typical share house
I was super nervous when I moved to New York because I only knew one person, so moving into the house was a relief. My number one fear was feeling lonely, so this was the perfect solution.
I’ve lived in shared flats and houses before, but the sense of community here is much stronger. The Cohabs team really emphasizes this — on the first Sunday of every month, they send us a brunch for everyone to bond over. They also organize events like going rock climbing together.
The bottom line is respect
We’re adults, so we know how to live in a community and respect each other. I haven’t seen any weird fights or drama.
Living together has been easy, as we have similar lifestyles, but if you want to have people over, you do need to warn everyone else.
My family came to visit from Europe, and my parents were impressed with the house. They stayed in a hotel, but if my brother came alone, he probably would’ve stayed with me in the house.
We’ve started some of our own traditions
Last Christmas, we put up a tree and hung pictures of our heads instead of ornaments.
For New Year’s Eve, we all bought a tiny bottle of Champagne and told each other our goals for the year. Every time one of us achieves that goal, they get to pop their bottle of Champagne.
My family and friends have asked me if at some point I want to go and live in a more conventional place. The truth is I really don’t.
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