What would you give up to live affordably in New York City? Or to be minutes away from the beach in Santa Monica, California? In today’s expensive and hyper-competitive real estate market, some homebuyers are arriving at the same answer: space.
Between a marked uptick in rent and home prices and the disappearance of the classic “starter home,” young Americans are downsizing to afford to live in the places — and financial situations — they want.
CNBC Make it recently profiled three people making it work in less than 300 square feet. Here’s what it’s like.
‘People might call this place just a room or a closet, but to me, it is home’
In 2020, Alex Verhaeg moved into a 95 square-foot apartment in Manhattan’s East Village. He paid $1,000 a month.
“People might call this place just a room or a closet, but to me, it is home,” he told CNBC Make It in 2022.
The then-23-year-old barber, bike messenger and content creator found the apartment on Zillow and didn’t realize quite how small it was before he toured the place. At about 16 feet by 8 feet, Verhaeg’s apartment is smaller in area than an average parking spot, which comes in around 150 square feet. Rent has since bumped up to $1,100.
The place doesn’t come with a bathroom. Instead, residents share the three bathrooms and two showers located on each floor of the building. There isn’t much of a kitchen either. Verhaeg uses an electric cooktop that sits atop a dresser he uses for food storage.
“The main benefit of living in such a small space is that it makes you appreciate your things and be a minimalist,” he said. “You really can’t just go out and buy random things because you don’t have the space to store them.”
‘I only have one high-quality version of everything, and each item has its own place’
In 2022, in the wake of a breakup and a death in the family, Sung Yoo decided she needed a change. For the 40-year-old, that meant a cleanse of sorts, which saw her sell or donate most of her belongings, pack her winter items…
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