The Stayawhile Vision
We’re a small New York City-based team on a mission to re-think housing on a global level. Here’s a look at our vision.
Not too long ago, life was local.
Our lives were anchored to our homes. Our social interactions were primarily face-to-face. We commuted to traditional offices and lifelong jobs by train or car. We kept faint ties to faraway friends, sent them annual holiday cards and the occasional email, but mostly, we carried out our daily existence close to home.
The world has changed. Today, we take mobility and connectivity for granted. Many of us can put in the same full day’s work from beside a beach in Bali, from a coffee shop in Buenos Aires, or from a balcony in Bordeaux, should we so choose.
We still have homes, but we may only sleep in them from time to time. We travel often and spontaneously — for work, for relationships, for adventure, for sports, for music, for food, to unwind, and just to be. We consider the world to be our home and all aspects of it there for our self-actualization.
People who live this way used to be considered shifty, rootless, even vagabond. But nowadays, this transient lifestyle has become ever more popular. That’s because we are consciously choosing not to buy homes or cars. We are getting married older and with more intent. We have learned that material possessions do not make us happier. These societal and technological shifts have given us the freedom to move from place to place, without stigma or financial impact.
But the traditional housing industry has not caught up with us.
To simply rent a studio apartment in most of the world is an arduous, multi-week, cost-intensive process.
One must:
- Navigate a multitude of listing sites of varying quality
- Schedule time-consuming appointments with individual agents and brokers
- Engage in independent quality checking of the building and services
- Pay significant application and brokerage fees
- Purchase new furniture and deal with the hassle of moving and assembling it
- Set up accounts with various utility companies to pay bills
To make matters even worse:
- Lease terms are almost always set for non-negotiable year-long periods
- Security deposits are entirely trust-based and non-transparent
- In parts of the world where cash is still king, payment might require multiple trips to the bank, complete with requisite currency conversion and ATM transaction fees on each withdrawal
- Anytime a person feels the urge to move they must undergo the entire process again!
All of these roadblocks are perpetuated by a bureaucratic industry that is intrinsically motivated to maintain the status quo.
We founded Stayawhile in 2016 because we wanted to offer a fundamentally more flexible housing model — a global network of designer apartment rentals that removes all of these needless friction layers, increases convenience, and enables individuals to move from city to city with only a suitcase.
All Stayawhile apartments are fully-furnished, can be booked on demand, have utilities included and come without hidden fees. Renters undergo one background check and are then able to access all of the apartments in our network. The minimum stay is just one month.
We believe there come times in all of our lives that call for this more flexible housing model.
For some, these are periods dictated by change and transition: a new job, a major home renovation, a divorce, or some other unforeseen event.
For others, they’re periods defined by choice and excitement: taking the leap to live abroad and work remotely, moving to a new city to pursue graduate school, or newfound flexibility thanks to an early retirement.
For entire industries, a shorter-term model of housing makes sense: entrepreneurs, management consultants, athletes, film production crews, all require temporary housing or multiple residences to fulfill their roles.
Sound interesting? Come find out more.
