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Comment by nickthemagicman | Hacker News Reader

I'm never home. Between work and social life, I'm literally only home to sleep. I have minimal amounts of stuff too. How come there's no just, beds for rent, for like 200 bucks a month?

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Same boat except for one deal breaking exception. Sex life. Having a large private space makes both getting laid far easier as well as then increases the quality of the sex.

I imagine there are a lot of people in my camp as well.

"If a man could fuck a woman in a cardboard box, he wouldn't buy a house" - Dave Chappelle

Japan has both those things. 1K apartments and love hotels!

Are love hotels socially acceptable though? Like you're talking to a girl on tinder, work the fact that you cook great Italian cuisine in to the conversation, she is all "oh yum", and then you invite her to cook with you at a love hotel? I can't see that working out :/

You meet a someone on a night out. Both of you live with your parents because that's what society deems you do until you get married, so you rent a love hotel for the night. Yes it's socially acceptable. As socially acceptable as a one night stand can get anyway.

They are an accepted part of life here, yes. Married or long-term couples often use them too, since living with parents or grandparents is common here.

I don't think you would be able to agree to get someone to come immediately to your house here unless you were already friends. (inviting or going to someone's house alone == sex).

You want https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel

Not very popular in the states yet, but we'll see.

Those are pretty expensive though aren't they? Comparatively $50 a night.

Hotel rooms are $100 a night, yet appartements their size aren't nearly as expensive on a monthly basis.

I could see capsule rooms going for $100 a month.

Yeah, I have a friend who just moved to Japan (and he's lived there before) who told me the same thing.

Some friends and I ate lunch with him the day before he left, and he mentioned that living in Japan isn't too expensive if you know where to live, and he knows how to only pay $300/month in rent. So I asked him if he meant capsule hotels. He told me what you said, and then he said that he meant hostels. Hostels are dirt cheap, even if you pay extra for a private room. You can probably live in Japan for less than $300/month rent if you're willing to sleep in the hostel's common area.

I saw this in Munich airport some weeks ago: http://www.napcabs.com

They're also expensive (10-15€ hour), but I guess for a long lease (weeks) the price could be better (around the 20-30€ day in Osaka/Tokyo) because the ROI will happen quickly.

I believe they are expensive because:

* They have a captive audience and no competition inside the security area in the airport - people who want to sleep between flights, but can't/don't want to go through passport control, customs and security to a hotel,

* They have to be cleaned between each visitor, many times per day.

That would be the dream. Renting a capsule hotel.

I own almost nothing. I sleep on the floor. I eat very simple food (and cook almost everything in an Instant Pot). I can't justify paying over $200/month for rent.

Likewise, I can't believe there no demand for that.

I've personally seen that in the Manhattan market, wouldn't be surprised to see in the SF market, but as user unimpressive noted, no structured development catering to your use case. Even in Japan where capsule hotels have been common for a long time, I found this 2010 NYT article describing how long-term usage is still not widely adopted back then (don't know about now). [1] The value isn't very good, either.

The Hong Kong housing market has more experience with long-term residents of ultra-small housing, but either the optics or value aren't good. [2]

Lots of situations popping up evocative of immigrants with loads of Millenials/people cramming into a single dwelling to hit around your number are leading to more municipal occupancy ordinances around the country aimed at curbing that. Boulder, CO had an interesting civic interaction between these "illegal co-ops" and NIMBY's last year, and the co-ops got terms they could live with.

I can imagine very stiff resistance to any solution in the US from NIMBY landowners, but the numbers would be interesting to work out to see if your $200 USD price point can be sustainably hit in a top 40 US MSA. Factors you didn't mention I'm curious about, did you envision paying $200 USD per month:

* ...and be able to lock your belongings in the bed/capsule while you are away?

* ...and use a communal group (i.e., not private) shower?

* ...and have no kitchen or even refrigerator/freezer included in rent?

* ...and have no noise abatement like described in the NYT article?

* ...and have no control over HVAC?

* ...and access to only rate-limited WiFi (but LTE/5G signals and paid upgrades available)?

* ...and not be able to bring non-paying visitors (also, those visitors you do bring have to be same gender)?

* ...and have no parking (unless paid for)?

* ...and cannot smoke or drink on premises?

* ...and use a laundromat next door or on premises?

* ...and be able to eat in a communal dining room?

* ...and use your own towels?

Details, details....

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/global/02capsule....

[2] http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/asia/luxury-cage-homes-hong-ko...

Those are awesome questions. I think the bed and showers is the key. Like how dorms were but even smaller.

Here in London, there are landlords who will rent out individual beds in multiple-bed rooms. For example, for £60 / week (about $300 / month) [1] you can rent one room in a three-bed bedroom.

If you're serious, you should check whatever small ads website is popular in your region and see if there are people offering the same thing.

[1] https://www.gumtree.com/p/1-bedroom-rent/bed-in-triple-room-...

Because do-gooders legislated tenement halls out of existence.

sounds like a terrible life honestly

People want different things. Shocking, isn't it?

It's really not bad. I'm always having fun or making money or exercising. Will retire early too.

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