MICRO APARTMENTS ARE THE NEW STUDIOS: The New York Observer reports that as folks debate whether we should be creating tiny apartments, in fact they already exist all over the place:
And we’re not just talking about the city’s first designated micro-unit development, which, in fact, secured a construction loan yesterday—but places like this 90-square-foot unit on the Upper West Side. Though Felice Cohen, the occupant of that comically-tiny space, has since moved to a 500-square-foot pad (her landlord tried to double her rent), ironically, her new apartment is scarcely larger than one of the Bloomerbergian micro-units, which will measure between 250 and 375 square feet.
Nor is Ms. Cohen so rare. The Tiny Life has also documented New Yorkers who live in apartments that are significantly smaller than micro-units. And a Harlem landlord recently tried to rent studios ranging in size from 100 to 250 square feet for $1,275 and up, according to the Daily News. Which, from the photos, at least, seem to be not nearly so well set-up as the city’s “Mike-ro” units, which architecture firms vied to design. (The Harlem building was attempting to convert from an SRO, though the city requires SRO rooms to be at least 150 square feet.)
MANHATTAN BRIDGE DWELLINGS ARE THE NEW TINY APARTMENTS: If you don’t mind being termed a vagrant by the New York Post and/or living near trolls, you may want to consider living under the Manhattan Bridge:
Crafty hobos are turning the Manhattan Bridge into a veritable shantytown, complete with elaborate plywood shacks that are truly “must see to believe.”
One of the coffin-sized living spaces — which have been built into the bridge frame near the Manhattan entrance — is secured with a flimsy bike lock and bolted to a metal beam by its inhabitant.
The pods are built into the underside of the upper deck, below car traffic but above the subway and bike lanes.
To reach his makeshift studio, the bridge dweller — a stocky, neatly dressed Chinese man in his 40s — climbs a chain-link fence to a nook above the bike lane, witnesses said.
He unlocks the red bike lock with a key, slides a plank of wood back like a door and crawls in.
If you’re a realtor, I believe the term to describe this home is “cozy”.
GET RICH IN MANHATTAN ON $65K PER YEAR: Mr. Money Moustache, an advocate of extreme early retirement, brings us an inspiring tale of a reader who paid down a whole bunch of debt without having a whole lot of job-related income without having to live under a bridge or in a van down by the river. A sample:
- We set to work renting our extra room on Airbnb, adding an additional $2-4k/month to our net income.
- I picked up additional work, earning an additional $10k over 6 months.
- In December, I negotiated another 5% raise.
- My husband received a modest raise (2.5%) during this time as well.
- We also reduced our buffer to $1k since we had lines of credit and were growing impatient – some might say we were living on the edge.
- In January 2014, my mom, who thought what we’re doing was awesome, gifted us her old gold with permission to sell it. Through Midwest Refineries (thanks for the pro-tip on how to sell gold), we receive about $4.5k for it which was dumped directly it into the loan.
- Throughout this time, we sold pretty much anything we didn’t have a use for – extra furniture, an extra iphone, a guitar, my wedding dress – and it added up!
By the way, if you’re looking to retire extremely early, there’s a good discussion on the topic over on FatWallet.
That’s all for today–have a great weekend! I’m hoping to get back on a more regular posting schedule soon–been busy round these parts lately.
I always wonder whether these “retire extremely early” or “travel the world forever” ever consider doing a job that might benefit civilization/society/others? Seems extremely narcissistic.
And yes, I’m glad to not pay Manhattan prices. And with every New Yorker issue I glance at Goings On About Town and sigh wistfully.
It depends on the person. I’ve heard of many that do the “retire” thing and then volunteer, which I consider to benefit others, especially if they have high value skills and use them while volunteering. Sure, there are probably some that want nothing more than to sit on the couch all day, but I suspect they are in the minority.