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How do we solve housing for digital nomads?

 

by @levelsio 9yr  | 61 comments

Thereโ€™s been a lot of discussion on this recently.

Nomads usually stay in hostels, hotels and short-term apartments. But itโ€™s all not very optimal.

Iโ€™ve heard people suggest getting funding and building a network of houses you can stay at for a subscription price (e.g. Bruno Haid is working on that).

I donโ€™t want do physical stuff, so Iโ€™m thinking of building a platform around making housing better for nomads.

What are the housing problems nomads face? And how can we solve them with products/services?

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Hi Awesome Nomads!

I hope to help solve this problem for digital nomads that are pet lovers! :dog::cat:

Iโ€™m the Founder of Pet Digs - a new pet sitting and travel web app. Pet sitters stay in a place for free in exchange for looking after a pet!

We just launched in the San Fransisco Bay Area and aim to expand to other cities soon! Currently sitters need to be US residents or citizens but would like to open it up to international travelers next year. Membership is also free while we are in Beta.

Please let me know if you would be interested in joining our community or would like more information. We hope to make travel more affordable and easy for digital nomads and keep pets comfortable in their homes.

Thanks!
Sara

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@jacobjay 8yr

This thread is great! Thereโ€™s certainly a large scope of folks with differing needs, from just taking an AirBnB for shorter stays, to spending longer and looking for better value rentals. I myself fall a bit further along the scale still. I like to spend long enough somewhere to get into its ecosystem, and I like to go back again to see both the changes and some familiar faces! Not so much nomadic, but having many homesโ€ฆ

So whilst I agree thereโ€™s no major problems if you spend less time and just use AirBnB, I know the problems of going somewhere for a few months or more and finding good flatmates, as opposed being entirely independent. Camps and coworkations can solve part of this (except theyโ€™re ad-hoc and ephemeral), so might permanent places like Coconat (from the sound of things).

As I feel like Iโ€™m getting older (relative to having been nomadic my whole life :wink: ), Iโ€™m liking the idea of ownership, having a โ€˜baseโ€™. (Partly discussed <9>.) This seems increasingly valuable, but simultaneously I donโ€™t want to end up tethered. I actually bought myself an apartment, but the tether is too great. This may seem unresolvableโ€ฆ

But now Iโ€™m playing around with a model which fits somewhere between the typically free but culturally โ€˜alternativeโ€™ nomadbases, and onerously high-commitment housing cooperatives. Iโ€™ll post here once Iโ€™ve fleshed it out a bit more, but suffice to say Iโ€™ll be buying a place to try the model next year. (Iโ€™ve previously experimented with a large leased house in Delhi for four years.)

I would love to hear from anyone else interested in the idea of โ€˜fractionalโ€™โ€  cooperative ownership and establishing a network of โ€˜affordableโ€™ locations one could move amongst, either full-time, or as part of further nomadismโ€ฆ To give some idea of ownership-costs, for use of one month per year Iโ€™m looking at targeting โ‚ฌ4,000 (lifetime acquisition), plus running costs of โ‚ฌ250 (annual); so about โ‚ฌ525/month if amortised over 15 years. This means full-time could be under โ‚ฌ50k.

I should add that whilst ownership within a cooperative is my goal, participation without ownership commitment would also be possible (i.e. ad-hoc renting). Some have mentioned in this thread that in such a shared-house scenario diversity would be important โ€” the model will definitely address that!

โ€ I donโ€™t like the word โ€˜fractionalโ€™ for its connotations but I canโ€™t think of a better way to concisely describe it at present.

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Hey all! Iโ€™m working on a project that might help with some of these questions. If anyone would be willing to answer some questions, that would be great. the survey takes about 2.5 minutes: https://mandy58.typeform.com/to/byJ2xc

thanks!!

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@jb510 8yr

@wanderingdev #8 is a bit confusing/misleading.

My housing budget traveling solo is not one half our housing budget traveling as a couple.

Solo: $750-1000
Together: $1000-1500

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Iโ€™ve thought of something like but itโ€™s just really, really hard to scale. Iโ€™m not sure what the solution is yet to be honest. Also, agents usually donโ€™t work with listings that are very cheap because they work on commission only and thereโ€™s such high turnover in that industry. The old, traditional real estate/rental industry is at odds with the needs of digital nomads and we are a microcosm of the market at the moment.

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@alih 9yr

Hi, Iโ€™m new.

Renting for 9 months but living only during the first and the last 3 months would effectively give you 1.5x local price (you pay for 9 months, use 6). I plan to try this โ€œsandwichโ€ renting in about a month or so in Novi Sad. Even if I canโ€™t sublet the middle 3 months (โ€œholeโ€ or โ€œmeatโ€?) it still looks like a good deal.

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@levelsio how about house swaps, would that be a possibility? I know not many have a permanent flat or so, but for example, Iโ€™m in cape Town, currently renting a one-bedroom flat and would love to spend some time in Europe but canโ€™t afford any accommodation. Happy to swap my flat for the time Iโ€™m away with another nomad. That way, we both understand how to respect each otherโ€™s flat to make it a more sustainable option for future. Thoughts?

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@atu 9yr

Your project sounds awesome. I hope you will do it.

What do you think about add your space on nomadhouse.io?

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@madihg 9yr

Hey guys! Dropping in late on the conversation. Currently in Paris but living in San Francisco, originally Lebanese โ€ฆ You get the jist :smile: I sifted through the 50+ comments and wanted to add the community aspect. If anybodyโ€™s part of Thousand Network or the TED network, itโ€™s so good to land in a city and know there are people passionate about the same things as you.

Itโ€™s partly what attracted me to thecaravanserai.co. Pieter, you mentioned Bruno in your intial comment. I met him a while ago and decided to help out. Anyone who wants to help find amazing locations, I think the caravanโ€™s being pretty generous with a $12k reward :smile: Obsvly, help is more than welcome!

From a philosophical perspective, โ€œhousingโ€ or โ€œhomeโ€ became synonymous with people at one point and Brunoโ€™s project melds people and โ€œphysicalโ€ home soโ€ฆ Now it feels that carvanserai โ€˜isโ€™ home :smile:

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The main issues to address are

  • Housing where landlords are already aware that people are nomads or otherwise work from home, donโ€™t physically leave and go to a job and otherwise can pay rent and earn without even leaving the house

  • Internet already set up, no one who is a nomad should have to sign up for something or 2 year contracts etc on their own. Again going back to landlords who have to know that internet is really important and things like the router easily accessible if itโ€™s an old POS that we have to physically go and reboot a lot. No internet = no money should be understood and it being completely unacceptable for the landlord/mgmt to be away a week or similar before internet issues can be fixed.

I dealt with this a LOT in Toronto which was by far the hardest supposedly first world city Iโ€™ve ever tried to rent in. Even other Canadians had trouble with slumlords often insisting on a yearโ€™s rent+ upfront and taking advantage of foreigners and new immigrants who otherwise didnโ€™t have a choice. I met other Canadian founders who told me horrible stories, one in particular was married to a doctor and the local landlords still insisted that she showed 4 years worth of tax returns to prove that she was actually a doctor. I dealt with substandard bullshit and ended up moving 4 times unplanned in 2 years wasting about 6-8 months in total and blew through a lot of time I was paying for via my own funding unnecessarily

Nomad housing should have these problems pre-solved so that people can essentially show up, dump their stuff, go straight to work and enjoying their new surroundings, meeting new people etc.

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@archagon 9yr

I donโ€™t really consider myself part of the digital nomad community, but I travel around and work on personal projects so I fall into many of the same slots as you guys.

Hereโ€™s a comment I posted about my ideal housing situation on HN a little while back:

Iโ€™ve been thinking lately of where I would like to live for most of my late twenties and early thirties. Iโ€™m definitely a bit of a loner, but at the same time, I like living as part of a close-knit community. I wish I could find a little โ€˜tribeโ€™ of self-directed folks roughly my age in an old, creaky house somewhere in the mountainsโ€ฆ or on a remote islandโ€ฆ or in a forest, or something. Just people working on their projects, tending to their garden, raising some chickens (or maybe some kids), enjoying the fresh air, and mostly living away from the rest of society. An art commune for the 21st century, I guess.

(snip)

In terms of the politics, I lived in a student cooperative in college, which I think was a pretty good model. Money went into a central pool to pay for various things, and all decisions (including membership) were made democratically, in house meetings. Everybody was responsible for part of the chores (determined at the beginning of the year) and people could also run to be elected for managerial positions (workshift, social, kitchen, etc.) Of course, as with any organization, there were occasional conflicts, poor meeting attendance, etc. But our house didnโ€™t fall apart and it was a life-changing experience for many of us.

In addition to the above, one other critical aspect would be for the house to have some degree of diversity. For me, this would mean a 50-50 gender split (Iโ€™ve found the social atmosphere in such communities, both online and offline, to be much more pleasant and interesting; the cooperative house mentioned earlier had a somewhat rigidly enforced gender balance and it worked out well) and a population comprised of more than just programmers, web designers, and bloggers. (How about some painters and writers? Academic researchers? Self-driven people of all kinds would be welcome.)

In terms of location, Iโ€™d prefer a small, peaceful community thatโ€™s close to nature but nonetheless within a few hours of a major city. Right now Iโ€™m in the Cรดte dโ€™Azur and one of those beautiful hillside villages would be ideal for me. Paris is only a few hours away, after all.

(This is, of course, in addition to all the basics that people have already mentioned, such as good internet and desk space.)

I see a lot of ideas for temporary house shares or house swaps in this thread, but I wonder if anybody is looking for a more permanent residence?

(To be clear, I donโ€™t really see this as a business opportunity. I wouldnโ€™t want to live in a house that operates as a for-profit business, especially if itโ€™s funded by VC capital. The organizing body should probably operate as a cooperative business, with everything owned by the members and all profits going back into the house. As an example, the Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley has operated successfully under this model for many years.)

(More on topic, for the time being, Iโ€™ve had great luck with Airbnb flatshares for shorter stays and country-specific subletting websites for longer ones. But it never feels like home.)

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@loniklara 9yr

Iโ€™d love to see something like this as well. But I wonder how it would work out logistically. Even if a bunch of people got up the funds to purchase a place, or even build a house, ideally youโ€™d want a lot of diversity meaning people with different passports - and how do you make it so that everyone can actually live there?

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The outline of this thread was to discuss problems/services geared towards addressing problems that nomads face when acquiring housing. There are a wide spectrum of nomads, from ones working on a shoestring through to those who have lots of disposable income. Each has their own unique set of circumstances. Trying to suggest that there are no housing problems is disingenuous.

Some nomads are in a position of living on a shoestring budget. Their problems are a โ€œmoney problemโ€ as Peter suggests. Others have the flexibility of a better budget and it becomes more than a money problem. It becomes a time problem. How does one quickly find a reliable place to stay at a reasonable price that offers amenities that cater to nomad needs? If youโ€™ve got more money than time how do you find housing that satisfies your needs (quiet, a desk, accessible, reliable + fast internet) etc.

I would have loved a NomadList.io kind of site for each destination outlining a list of reasonable places and amenities. Something allowing me to quickly narrow down places that met my needs and matches my budget that are recommended by other nomads.

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@shayna 9yr

Great point. Itโ€™s exactly what I tell people to do when they get in to Salvador (Brazil):

  • Book a hostel or hotel for a week or two.
  • Walk around some neighborhoods that seem nice and youโ€™ll see signs advertising rooms for rent.
  • And/or go to a meetup (expats, entrepreneurs, church, people involved in some sport or activity you enjoy) to meet locals and other folks who have lived there for a while. Ask them about neighborhoods and heck, sometimes people there have a spare room / apartment available or know someone who does.

Many of the inexpensive rentals have no web presence, perhaps because the owner is not computer-savvy, or perhaps because they donโ€™t need one; they manage to get tenants offline.

Other possibilities:

  • Areas around universities may have inexpensive apartments due to the student population
  • Have a local friend who speaks the language check the newspaper classifieds and get in touch with the landlord/owner on your behalf
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@kathrynoh 9yr

Searching on foot can be the best value, but on foot - costs time, and if your time is worth money, spending days on foot to save $50 - $100/ month is probably not the best investment of your time

This seems to be something that happens a lot โ€“ and then the same person is perfectly happy to drop $$$ on the latest Apple device or travel gear :smile:
Itโ€™s become a competition to find the lowest rent without thinking about the other costs.

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โ€œBut, Iโ€™ve been doing this for over 20 years. Been to over 30 countries. It has never been easier to find housing.โ€

Iโ€™ve been doing this for about 2 and only really started to experience the unknown roaming through SE Asia in the last 6 months. I can tell you that in my experience finding housing has been a tremendous drain of time and energy that I would rather have dedicated to building my company.

โ€œHere in Hoch Minh City, it is quite easy to drop in, stay for a week and live like a local. Iโ€™ve seen it take an hour for some people to get set up with housing.โ€

Sounds simple if you know where to look. I โ€œdropped inโ€ to Ho Chi Minh back in late Nov and I can tell you it was no picnic. My wife and I had no idea where to go so we ended up in backpacker central in District 1 where everything was noisy and overpriced. It took us a lot of time to get our bearings (days, not an hour), know where to go and pop into various places inquiring in order to find a reasonable place. All the while we had to figure out transport, stayed in unsuitable places with unreliable internet and spent too much.

I would certainly agree that Nomad Housing support tools wouldnโ€™t be a billion dollar idea but I would readily throw up my hand to say I sure as hell would have used and benefited from such tools over the last 6 months as well as specific listings of nomad friendly places.

What I found is that AirBNB is terribly overpriced in most of SE Asia (compared to hotels.com and bookings.com as well as hitting the ground asking) and finding a reliable place to live and work from at a reasonable price point takes far too much effort. Iโ€™d bet there is a modest niche market there dealing with the nomad community making things easier.

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@jonmyers 9yr

Man, I donโ€™t really get it, Iโ€™m sorry.

I always find it annoying when people bitch about a city - and their frame of reference is the backpacker area.

If you donโ€™t want hassles, avoiding the backpacker area in Saigon, let alone most cities is standard.

Noisy, overpriced (in the long run) and scammy is par for the course for any backpacker area Iโ€™ve ever been in - in Southeast Asia, over in India, etc.,

This is just simple Googling and having a realistic budget.

I also donโ€™t think AirBnb is a total ripoff in Saigon. Thatโ€™s exaggerated.

A simple search for places priced $10 - $50/ night yields โ€œ59 Resultsโ€.

The prices go down for weekly and monthly commitments.

Itโ€™s not the best value, but itโ€™s a low friction way to drop in.

Agoda yields even more results and is a way better value.

Searching on foot can be the best value, but on foot - costs time, and if your time is worth money, spending days on foot to save $50 - $100/ month is probably not the best investment of your time.

โ€“

I understand the acclimation period, getting your bearings and all that stuff, however, I donโ€™t understand bolting to a backpacker area and expecting that to be a good place to acclimate from, a realistic portrayal of a city or a place from which to get your bearings.

The answers are up in that Google search bar for the basics.

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Jon,

I always find it annoying when people bitch about a city - and their frame of reference is the backpacker area.

I actually really enjoyed Saigon once I got out of the backpacker area. The point is, without doing quite a bit of upfront research it can be difficult to โ€œdrop inโ€ to a city and not end up in the backpacker area.

Man, I donโ€™t really get it, Iโ€™m sorry.

I think thatโ€™s because youโ€™re arguing for how easy housing is now vs. how hard it is when you started out. Thatโ€™s understandable, you figured out a system that works and eschew the value of any further efficencies to be gained because youโ€™ve invested in figuring things out already.

Also, like I said, there is a pricing tension in this market and having the inventory offline - actually works to our advantage.

I think you mean it works to your advantage because you have a system figured out. It is a disadvantage to any who have yet to figure it out.

Despite your insistence to the contrary, there are people who believe they would benefit from Nomad Housing support tools. Thatโ€™s the whole point of this thread โ€œHow do we solve the housing problem for nomads?โ€.

You have to simply get here, get on the ground and work the streets.

This is just simple Googling and having a realistic budget.

Jon, I think ultimately youโ€™re missing the point. There are young bucks like me out there who are hungry for the knowledge and experience people like you have to bring to the table. We havenโ€™t figured out a system that works and are hungry for tools and resources we can leverage to make following in your footsteps easier.

I think the community as a whole would gain a great deal if you were able to share some of your insights into how youโ€™d get started in a new unknown city, with a tight/realistic budget.

How would you do it?
What steps would you take?
What would you search for?
What signs do you look for?
What do you avoid?
How do you know a good spot from a bad one?
etc

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Housing is a non-problem for me. Iโ€™ve got Airbnb bookings for the rest of the year all over the world. The only thing Iโ€™d like to change about that is that the Airbnb fees are quite steep for long term stays, there should be some kind of membership that effectively puts an upper limit on fees for the year.

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@makerboat 9yr

Hi! I am new to this forum, but I also had the vision of having a network of amazing places where one could stay some time (1-6 months) in different places in the world, sharing with creative people, not only entrepreneurs but also designers, artists, techies, etc. I have a large apartment in Barcelona (http://www.makerboat.com/myportfolio/barcelona-startup-house/) that I am sharing thru Airbnb for the lack of other alternatives, and a house in the mountains of Peru where anyone is welcome to stay for free :slight_smile: (http://www.makerboat.com/myportfolio/colca-free-camp/) and I will soon have a boat docked in the center of Barcelona for free stays too. My motivation is more about meeting interesting people and collaborating than about making money out of renting, although I understand that is a viable model for many. I would like to know what you guys have in mind and join any efforts in building this network of nomad houses.
best,
Mauricio

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@jonmyers 9yr

Iโ€™m very skeptical of this idea.

True, there are nomad houses popping up here and there, but I fail to see the critical mass (now), and way to achieve scale, which would make it feasible to address - this said problem.

Also, Iโ€™m in the camp that itโ€™s not that much of a problem, yet.

Airbnb, Craigslist, forums, on the ground, FB groups, the list goes on.

I donโ€™t see nomads who put in any effort have that much of a problem connecting. I see it as more of a cash problem.

Even that, the nature of the problem is dependent on the market and inventory.

Here in Hoch Minh City, it is quite easy to drop in, stay for a week and live like a local. Iโ€™ve seen it take an hour for some people to get set up with housing.

Back in New York, yeah - sure, you can do that. If you have a lot of money, and I donโ€™t see that fact changing.

On Airbnb, I was an early adopter.

I remember being booked for SXSWi and using it to find cheap accommodations in Austin, due to the fact hotel prices were insane then.

It was a great value then.

Same when I would return to visit NYC.

Great value in the early days.

In some markets itโ€™s still a good value, but I think thatโ€™s shrinking.

In fact though, I try to avoid Airbnb in some markets and go as local as possible.

The Airbnb market has now adjusted in a large portion of their markets. The hosts have caught on, Airbnb is now an entire โ€œbusinessโ€ for many people, and Airbnb has a big incentive to get prices to a mean, which are right there below hotels.

Almost, not quite.

As far as CouchSurfing.

Itโ€™s a different culture, and I donโ€™t see people taking on the financial risk of a nomad house, and not wanting to maximize the profit.

Why would you?

As a host of a house, it can get costly, tiring and - why would you not want to maximize your investment of time and return on a platform like Airbnb, which has scale.

The proposition doesnโ€™t make financial sense to me.


If you really want to do something about - housing for nomads, I would think in terms of going after progressive hoteliers, regional hotel chains in key hubs.

Create a massive nomadic housing blueprint you license to them.

I would create an end to end customer journey map based on the nomadic experience, housing and leveraging their properties. Give them a specific blueprint on amenities, pricing, work centers, food, fitness, entertainment and โ€œliving like a localโ€.

Work with them on the implementation plan - and observe end to end, by mapping every single obvious trigger. Internet login (fucking pain) - sort it. Workspace (fucking pain) - sort it, etc.

These hoteliers are scared shitless of Airbnb, yet they do not even have the means to evaluate the nature of the threat in their analyses of markets and competition. Itโ€™s a horizontal market attacking them. Incumbents suck ass at evaluating and responding to horizontal threats.

Give them the antidote.

Airbnb is the โ€œlocal experienceโ€.

Further, they see the writing on the wall, but have no idea how to address the threat. The โ€œbusiness customerโ€ that pays the bills is changing. As the J O B continues to die, and independent nomadic people take on the roll of the new middle class (mobile) - current hotels offerings are sorely out of date for the mode and impetus of nomadic travel, which will surely grow, but isnโ€™t quite there yet.

With a partner approach, at least you have the potential to launch with scale versus having a house or a platform, which will lack inventory.

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@htatche 9yr

Thank you so much for contributing with your time to this Jon.

You are right, there is already AirBnB, and that is the answer I get from some people.
You say that there is no market, you are right with that too.

Also you have pointed out communities like FB, Craiglist. Yes, of course, there is also people who advertise their apartments on there since for ever.

You address my project like I want to build the next Airbnb. The reality is different, I am not even aiming to make a living from it, at least for now. Just this week few other old colleagues joined me in my venture and I made it clear that at the moment our target market (I prefer to call it community) is ridiculously small.

So what ? Google didnโ€™t wait to get millions of users to address the searching problem. And I am sure that you donโ€™t book your hotels by looking at the road signs and making a phone call once you land somewhere.

Enough funny things said. What I am trying to say is that I believe in this community and this way of living. I started to believe in it few years ago and for me it is a dream that I want to be living. It is so deep in my blood that I will make anything as a nomad to push this community further. Right now (and I repeat, you are probably right), there is maybe no need for it, but I believe there will be.

Donโ€™t you think that there is a lot of people also awaiting to join you and live the dream you are already living in Vietnam ? Of course they are ! So instead of just staying โ€œletโ€™s stick with what we have" why not build something that fits this purpose specifically ? A website that keeps them away from having to filter, search, and filter more, until they find a place where they know they will be able to work comfortably, maybe even meet other nomads around, from day one ?

Did the founder of the first nomad house in Thailand waited for companies to start promoting their remote work offers ? No, he didnโ€™t, and it wasnโ€™t until individuals like @levelsio builded up services like remoteok.io that his pioneer idea started to make more sense than ever.

A while ago I became myself a nomad and for example in South America AirBnB really doesnโ€™t make it.

  • They are overpriced (who would be paying more than 700 Euros for a decent apartment in Bolivia)
  • They donโ€™t put me in contact straight away with other nomads, although I like to be with the community
  • They donโ€™t offer me extra services or comfort I would like to have
  • The list goes on (for long) but there is no point in only chatting. I will build it first.

You talk also about the nomad houses. Actually, I didnโ€™t even consider them when I brainstormed all this, and only yesterday (this is how fresh we are!) I was contacted with the founder of a nomad house in Austin, US, who sees my website as an opportunity to list his house and future ones.

And hell yeah, why not ? This is what it is all about ! Letโ€™s move this forward.

In the future I want people to be able to book a comfortable place where they can actually live and work without even having to think before booking the stay if the place suits them. The most important thing for me here, is not to become rich. This is before anything a nomad making something for nomads.

If you would like I can even send you over the guidelines of my project, there is no reference to the green notes on it. It only expresses what I believe in, and the reason why I am building this.

On NomadStays I want to offer much more than a booking platform, so yes, it makes sense to build it. I donโ€™t know where it will lead, maybe others will pop up with a much better infrastructure, but at least I will have done my part. In a way itโ€™s only the top of the iceberg, I am only planting a seed. I believe that the work scene is only starting to shift, an for now still it makes no sense for people who think it is enough to use Airbnb, Facebook groups, email lists, and post-its on the streetlights of Bangkok or Bogota.

Sorry I donโ€™t answer all your questions Jon. As I said before, I will build this and only then we will see if itโ€™s worth or not :slight_smile:

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@jonmyers 9yr

No worries man, I wish you well in this venture. However, as I said, I was and remain skeptical.

Iโ€™m not seeing the parallels to the early stages of Google and search. The market for search was then - a broad stroke market.

Housing for nomads is a subset market of a market and a short stroke, immature market.

Also, like I said, there is a pricing tension in this market and having the inventory offline - actually works to our advantage.

Digital platforms bring pricing effencies to markets.

Much of the reason the pricing of housing in Saigon is so low compared to market is precisely for that reason.

Digital effencies and markets of scale have not touched the inventory.

You have to simply get here, get on the ground and work the streets.

That leads me to another point.

This is a perceived problem not a real problem and I see a lot of entrepreneurs go into denial and go down a rabbit hole due to anecdotal evidence and unsound business fundamentals.

Not to pull old man rank.

But, Iโ€™ve been doing this for over 20 years. Been to over 30 countries. It has never been easier to find housing.

If you canโ€™t find housing or connect to networks these days, either youโ€™re lacking Google, a browser and Internet connection or just not cut out for this life.

As far as living the dream.

Thatโ€™s easy.

The answer is through entrepreneurship, building real skills and businesses that make money - and raising your income.

Nobody is going to sustain this lifestyle through a low cost housing mentality and race to the bottom.

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Guys, maybe not relevant question. Inherently working remotely means that you can work from your home or work office. With all the SaaS tools we have. This remoteok.io has lots of job offers to work remotely. So what to you see, to people rather travel or in the future they will find work from hometown? And sure more likely persons with age between 20-30 will travel.

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@ramblurr 9yr

This is entirely my sentiment, though Iโ€™ve been doing it for a quarter of the time.

What is the housing problem youโ€™re trying to solve? I see several different angles here in this thread:

  • Low cost housing for nomads by nomads
  • A collaborative meeting or workig place for nomads
  • Curated lists of โ€œnomad friendlyโ€ housing at a location
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@vladepap 8yr

Iโ€™m very interested in a community/network of coliving spaces aimed at nomads.
There is alot of different housing options out there, true, but not always something to hit the requisites that I have found I need: reliable, high speed internet, community life (with others who are working at a distance, and opportunities for extra curricular activities.

Keep up this thread, coliving is coming!

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I suggest to consider workaway. It is very good way to stay with local families and help them with some of their work. The idea is that you help them up to a max. of 5 hours per day and in return you receive free accomodation and food. The rest of the day you can usually do what you want. Many hosts offer free internet service and therefore it is ideal for digital nomads.

I have done it for three months in Costa Rica in various locations. One was next to the largest national park. I was working there as a receptionist in a small local hostel and could even use the interenet while was on duty. Just a perfect arrangemtment for me. But i also worked on an organic farm in the mountains and at a finca close to the beach.

You can sign up as a workawayer at http://www.workaway.info.

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@htatche 9yr

There is a ton of things we can still do to solve this problem. Right now I am almost finishing a journey around South America and this week I am pre-launching a new venture that focuses on booking nomad accommodation. Happening from Cochabamba, Bolivia :wink:

I plan to offer accommodation through a platform that will only list apartments, houses, or rooms that are well-prepared to allow a digital nomad to work from day one. This means, book your stay, jump on a plane, and once you arrive only worry about your work. Every service you like will be close by: cafes, co-work spaces, gyms or fitness centers, even laundries. Also, I aim to connect nomads between them throughout the platform so they can pin-point new places around, rate them, maybe even get exclusive deals ! @levelsio has already done an uber fantastic work with connecting people so we can only make it better and bigger.

We can also work together with companies so we push the remote work idea further than ever. Imagine companies seamlessly booking the stay for your next 6 months contract anywhere you like in the world, just like you book a hotel ! Without bothering about anything else other than you to comfortably live and work from day one. I just want to make it unbelievably easy for anybody to move around the world, knowing that upon arrival they have a nomad-perfect place to live and work, with all the amenities that nomads need or require.

If this sounds good to you and want to bring your 2 cents, please guys subscribe already on nomadstays.co (as nomads or hosts :P). There is a tiny form to fill so I will know better in which countries do I have to concentrate efforts to find apartments that fit the best our nomad criteria.

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Each nomad member could rent long term (1-3 years) in a place he likes and then switch with โ€”or sublease toโ€” other members.

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That wouldnโ€™t really work unless you could be guaranteed swaps/rentals during the periods you wanted to be away. Everyone has such divergent schedules.

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You need a lot of members and could rent on AirBnB if itโ€™s empty. Itโ€™s probably easier than

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Personally, Iโ€™d love to see more opportunities to go in together with other nomads for housing (which could bring the prices down significantly). The only โ€œnomad houseโ€ type situations Iโ€™ve seen where people are living and working together usually have way more amenities than I need (or am willing to pay for) and I never see them in Europe (where I spend most of my time). Iโ€™d love to see a nomad retreat that didnโ€™t include all meals + yoga + group sessions of one sort or another. Would just like to have the creative space to work in with other nomads around.

I also (and this is a unique situation, I know) travel with my dog, so for me the only things I can be part of are the ones willing to accept her too.

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We are working on cross of hostels,co-working spaces in exotic places of India.
Our only concern is size of market, can anyone help us in estimating market size?

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@tprophet 9yr

We might be able to test out the concept in Zagreb if there were enough people interested. One of my co-founders (an American guy) lives there and heads up our engineering team.

So, what would people need? Should the living space and the working space be separate or together? Itโ€™s much easier to do it separately but in the same building, for example, the working space on the ground floor and the living space upstairs. Do people want their own apartment, or shared apartment but own room? Or shared rooms?

The nice thing about Zagreb is that itโ€™s in the European Union so you can order from Amazon etc., and itโ€™s easy to travel from there to other parts of Europe (lots of air service elsewhere). Itโ€™s generally a very civilized place, you can drink the tap water, things are well organized, there are fun things to do, beautiful nature nearby and Croatian people are friendly. You can buy anything you need there, both Carrefour and Interspar are available. English is widely spoken and is generally excellent. However, Croatia is a lot less expensive than western Europe.

The main hang-up is visas. What period of time would people be willing to commit to? People from the EU (or holding EU residence cards) can stay in Croatia indefinitely, but people from other countries can only stay for 90 days without applying for a Croatian visa. Staying beyond a year is generally not possible.

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@tprophet 9yr

Did you know Marriott doesnโ€™t own a single hotel? Theyโ€™re just a management company. They set standards to which properties using their brand must adhere and are paid franchise fees by anyone using their brand.

There is a similar opportunity in this space for the right entrepreneur. The proof of concept is a single property. Ideally, a nomad house for startups will be a cross between a really nice hostel, a co-working space and a hackerspace.

Honestly, for what incubators are spending on office space in the US, they could provide a live/work space in many places around the world and their investment would go much farther toward building an MVP. I donโ€™t see why more incubators arenโ€™t interested in branching out, since a fully immersive experience would likely be more valuable during the product building phase anyway.

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Hot topic!

Right now I live in the coliving house Art House Medellin with other fellow online entrepreneus in Medellin, Colombia.
In August my girlfriend and me, we are a nomdic couple, stayed on Canary Island Coliving Camp The Surf Office.
There are more exciting projects like Nest in Copenhagenโ€ฆ
These spaces are full with like minded nomads and have services like cooks, cleaning and activities on demand.

On Coliving.org you find a map and manifest about that concept.

We started to seek for coliving communities rather than styaing in hostels or apartmentsโ€ฆ

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@tikhon 9yr

Have any nomads used the a16z startup teleport.org ? Itโ€™s still early and in mostly early-access. Thanks!

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@avermat 9yr

I would like something that was broken up by calendar months.

It would behave something like thisโ€ฆ

  • I choose August 2015
  • Iโ€™m added to a group thatโ€™s looking to group-rent a house for that month
  • There would be subgroups for which country Iโ€™m interested in
  • In the subgroups people would vote on Airbnb listings, hotels, etc.
  • We could commit with escrow somehow until it tipped
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@dylanized 9yr

Tbh I donโ€™t really have a burning desire to house share with other nomads. I do have a huge need to know which are the nomad-friendly hotels in a given a city (i.e. affordable on a weekly or monthly basis, clean, have good wifi).

A votable list of hotels or recommended airbnbs would be huge - and would answer 90% of the questions that get posted to the Chiang Mai Facebook group. Icing on the cake would be a mini-forum for each city, so I could meet people who are there currently. Thatโ€™s where the coordination could happen. my 2 cents

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@nambrot 9yr

I think Iโ€™m with @levelsio here (sorry Pieter :))

The MVP for this is simply around coordination. You want to know who else wants to stay in city X for 1 month. Once you 5 people found each other, you just agree upon on Airbnb and share it for the month. Activities, communities, incubator, skill exchange are all nice addons, but IMO not critical. As @darren said, the rest will come by itself. The most important thing is critical mass.

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โ€œThe MVP for this is simply around coordination.โ€

+1 for this. The real attraction for me would be people that I would value spending time with.

Coworking spaces/camps that include accom might also be related, for that sort of thing someone shared this list with me recently:
https://docs.google.com/a/endzone.co.uk/spreadsheets/d/1vZedhL3KIefM_7lruukJM48QAimBn8OMZ9LQFgzDct8/edit#gid=0

Also check out sites like findanomad.com for coordinating locations.

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@nambrot 9yr

Thatโ€™s a great Link there, wish it were more complete.

@dylanized

I agree with you in cheap hotspots like Chiang Mai, but for more remote places without a significant community it can be a challenge. I for myself for example would love to do Kansas or Kenya or something like that. Sharing housing (and transportation, activities etc.) is critical there.

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Oh, Kenya or Uganda would be cool

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@atu and I have a plan to start this the simplest way possible. We both have opportunities to do the first experiment with such arrangement, because we are both moving cities soon (him to Chiang Mai and me to Austin, TX). What weโ€™re going to do is find a suitable monthly rental on airbnb, with a month block available (Austin in particular has some awesome designy places that accommodate up to 6) and weโ€™ll post here to dates and details and find people open to joining the experiment. The hope is there are enough people on here in Austin looking for a place to live that month. I feel like Chiang Mai will have much more people who fit that scenario. We are researching these potential โ€˜Nomad Housesโ€™ โ€˜Nomad Homesโ€™ โ€˜Nomes?โ€™ And will post here when we find them. Would appreciate everyoneโ€™s help to spread the listing to everyone they know who might be in that location, because we would want to fully fill the place before either of us book it through airbnb. The fun part will be to document the experience, and create another in person interaction for this community. From there, I hope to move every month and find new Nomes, allowing the proceeding ones to be seeded with new guests. Really excited to make it happen with you awesome guys and gals!

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@nambrot 9yr

@nomadicpad I believe this is exactly what @darren and I were thinking as well. The only problem is liquidity and I believe Peter is probably the best suited because he has the most exposure to make this happen.

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Awesome @nambrot What do you mean by liquidity? Do you mean having a fluid marketplace of interested digital nomads? I think if we could start with this โ€œin-the-worldโ€ approach, physically creating the supply side by actually sourcing and living in these units, a social network could form around that network using a beautifully designed platform for support. Then the idea is that anyone could hop on this site and on the drop of the 'Enter" key, figure out what nomad homes are available in the area, at one periods of time. But we need to go out there as a group and start building these incubators (as @atu calls it) in our respective cities, and actually live in them to learn from the experience. The community would need to have rules, as far as respecting peoples space, cleaning up after yourself, and setting up the place for the next guest when you leave. While the idea is to bring like minds together, thereโ€™s still a big hurdle as far as rental logistics go (my friend runs a lucrative airbnb rental biz, but also works 80 hours weeks keeping it in working order.)

Thatโ€™s why Iโ€™d like to see this become something between couchsurfing and Airbnb. Something you pay for, because the convenience and value added from having a space when needed with people you will benefit from is well worth the cost (plus rent is already a necessity of life), but to make this a reality the community will have to be willing to make some minor sacrifices to make it work (Like cleaning up, being self sufficient, giving back wherever possible). Thatโ€™s good, because it will only attract people that absolutely need this to become a reality!

The exciting thing for me is to create something that makes living nomadically easier, so more people will start to join this โ€œNomadic Revolutionโ€ as @levelsio called it. Because I truly believe we all have the potential for genius, even those sad souls stuck in a cubical, unaware of the potential out there! Exciting stuff guys, letโ€™s keep the dialogue going. @darren @atu

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@atu 9yr

You basically resume how I see โ€˜Nomad Housesโ€™.

As @nomadicpad said, letโ€™s start with something simple and test if other nomads likes it. I feel that it could be awesome if the these house have some really cool stuff, like a chef cook, someone to clean the house, some benefits like that. Itโ€™s only available in SEA for now (cheaper), but it could be awesome.

Make the first โ€˜Nomad Houseโ€™ a heaven for nomad, and everyone would join these houses.

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@levelsio 9yr

Haha which Peter you mean? If you mean me, Iโ€™m Pieter with an i :smiley:

Anyway, awesome guys/girls.

FYI Iโ€™m making a join-a-house platform too as an MVP. Not specifically for nomads btw, since I think it can be bigger than that. Just sharing houses you rent on AirBnB, I have good ideas for a platform for that. Will be months from now tho before it launches.

Meanwhile, Iโ€™d say if you wanna build a network of houses, go do that. I donโ€™t wanna touch anything physical though, too much risk for me as Iโ€™m not funded with capital!

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@atu 9yr

It could be non-physical, we could bring people together like small social group, give them some house idea, let them pay on the platform to share AirBnB price (avoid problem with rent payment) and thatโ€™s it. We are just on top of AirBnB.

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@levelsio Well @Atu and I can be on the ground and we can work together to help the join-a-house platform. I personally am excited to seed the community, and learn from the people I stay with because I still have tons to learn as far as coding, entrepreneurship goes. But would love to be involved in anyway possible. Letโ€™s chat about it, as weโ€™ve been planning to!

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@darren 9yr

Yeah to me itโ€™s less about the housing itself, and more about the people you have the possibility of sharing with.

If these X people are arriving in Z location at time Y, how can they be introduced and coordinate together in the quickest and easiest way possible. Build this, Peter!!!

Everything else will fall out of thisโ€ฆ Housing, working, travel and partying. Itโ€™s about connecting similar minded people at the right time. Each of your nomad sites do a job well, but they are not working in union, yet.

:slight_smile:

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@atu 9yr

This is the idea that we had with @nomadicpad. We will build a sort of nomad house incubator. I mean come with your skillset and you will meet people like-minded with a different skillset to match them and learn a lot from other people.

What do you think about that ?

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@nambrot 9yr

I would love coordinated work around approaches like these http://www.hackerparadise.org/

Basically places where nomads can live and work and play together

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@dylanized 9yr

What I would love is this:

For each location on NomadList, users can submit โ€œAmenitiesโ€. There could be different categories of Amenities - Hotels, AirBnbs, Coffee Shops, Gyms, Coworking spaces, and so on.

Users could submit an amenity, along with a comment. Then other users could vote up the amenity, or vote it down, and add comments.

So then there would be curated lists of these amenities for each location, with the best amenities rising to the top.

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@dylanized you have the right concept, this would make Nomadlist a lot more useful for me.

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@atu 9yr

I also had this idea about bringing people together in terms of having different skillset in the same house.

@nomadicpad Can we discuss about that, I have lot of ideas and I would love to partner on something.

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Hey atu, would love to chat. Are you on the #slack group?

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@homakov 9yr

Normally just a hotel, if month+ i get a serviced apartment. I had a condo contract for 1 year in Bangkok and no way I will have such a long contract again.
Donโ€™t really see any problem about housing.

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@patrick 9yr

At workfrom.co they are building a list of coworking places.
This is also relevant, and can be integrated to the product.

So, an aggregator of alle available resources with a curated layer on top is what I am thinking of.

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Iโ€™ve been thinking about the same thing! Thereโ€™s lots of considerations, one being that the supply side (reasonable monthly rentals) are hard to come by. Thatโ€™s the problem due to Airbnbโ€™s popularity and the inflated expectation of fees hosts have been charging.

I think something needs to be created inbetween an airbnb and couchsurfing. Where itโ€™s a paid service, but not so capitalist. Having it be a network of nomads would allow the hosts to benefit from bringing people into their apartment, connections are formed, and the idea of keeping the month price at a reasonable level becomes more realistic. Would love to chat more about it. I bought the name Nomadicpad.com, but am not so experienced at UX and building the platform, but would love to partner up anyway possible!

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The MVP style would be a curated list of places that have reliable internet and a space that can be used as a work desk, from Airbnb, Booking, whatever.

We could all recommend our favourite Airbnbs. They used to have an affiliate program and apparently are planning to bring it back, so you might want to talk to them and see if they can hook you up.

I have started doing this on a wishlist, but obviously it takes time to grow as these are places I go to and stay for a while. Feel free to pick those up if they are useful.

https://www.airbnb.com/wishlists/17914860

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Read and participate in 14,117 discussions on Nomad List

Suggested topics

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Are there any digital nomads in the Islands e.g Bermuda, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis?


in Antigua , Guatemala by @momo11 3yr 3 years ago  | 3 comments

Does anyone ever travel to any Islands like Bermuda, Barbados, Barbuda and St. Kitts & Nevis?

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Tax advisor for permanent nomads?


by @eljaques 4yr 4 years ago  | 1 comment

I'm in need of a tax advisor who understands "our" typical situation. I'm all good on being legal on taxes at this point, but as I'm doing more investing and there's more compliance and KYC and such, it's getting more complicated to deal with this topic. Not living in my country of citizenship, company in another country, resident in yet another country, banking in a different country ... you know how it is, a pile of red flags.

Would be great to find a good tax advisor to sort things in a way that makes my situation as "explainable" and easily dealt with as possible. Any leads?

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How to get into the digital nomad lifestyle?


in Switzerland by @filiptk 4yr 4 years ago  | 1 comment

Hi, I've got a question to anyone who had experience with the digital nomad lifestyle. I'm 24, I'm in my last year of university doing computer science, got 3 years of experience mostly doing web development.

I never liked the idea of staying in one place, getting a job and growing roots - hence the will to take the opportunity and travel the world. My main question is โ€“ how do I go about it? Are there any useful resources I could look into?

How do I go about insurance and such once I decide to move. I currently live in Switzerland and do freelance work for one company. It's not a lot, since my studies don't allow me to pick up a full time job, but it allows me to cover simple expenses.

I'd be happy to get some insight into how things work and also happy to network with anyone interested.

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What is the best online insurance for digital nomads ?


by @berberos 4yr 4 years ago  | 4 comments

Hi guys ! hope you are doing well.

I would love to get your feedback regarding the best insurance for digital nomads. i'm traveling around Asia since 1 year and for next 4 or 5 years. Would love to buy an insurance to cover especially :

- health

- laptop, phone ...

- Flights

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Any Ph.D students dissertating while a digital nomad?


by @larsheather 4yr 4 years ago  | 5 comments

Anyone know of any groups or resources for Ph.D. students working on dissertation while living as a digital nomad? I know there are several virtual writing groups around, but wondered if there were any specifically for digital nomads, particularly those who are dissertating.

Thanks!

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Does international health insurance for digital nomads exist?

 

by @al_steffen 4yr 4 years ago  | 59 comments

Hey Nomads!

Iโ€™m looking for an international health insurance (no travel insurance) for my nomadic life. It should cover the basic services and at least be accepted in the EU (itโ€™s ok if itโ€™s not accepted in the US as Iโ€™m aware they rarely are). Nice to have: enter into a contract online. Anyone got a good experience or a recommendation?

Thanks in advance!

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I dream of being a digital nomad? How do I do it?


by @programmingmark 4yr 4 years ago  | 2 comments

Hello digital nomad!

I dream of being an independent digital nomad. But it feels very elusive & unattainable with my success rate. In full disclosure, whilst I have dreamed about making money online since high school; I have not earned a single cent making money online. $0, nada, zilch!! On the contrary, I have spent a lot of time & money on books, podcasts. Even though I have spent a lot of time reading/listening to others, I do not have anything to show for it!

I have made attempts in the past to start an online business, but these fizzle out quite quickly when I do not see traction especially when the goal I have set myself is too high.

Instead of reaching for the ultimate nomadic lifestyle goal, I want to start much smaller. Really small! I am simply looking to make $50 profit per month from a new online business. Thatโ€™s it.

I need some advice from you please!

  • Is $50 profit too low? How long did it take you to earn $50 profit per month?

  • What is a good way of achieving this goal?

Thanks
Mark
aka the $0 online business entrepreneur

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How do digital nomads pay tax?


by @rodriigovieira 4yr 4 years ago  | 19 comments

Hello everyone! Iโ€™m new here and probably this is a very newbie question, but it doesnโ€™t leave my head.

How do you, nomads, pay your taxes? I mean, if youโ€™re constantly traveling, how are you going to pay taxes for a certain country if you are going to stay there a short period of time?
Or do you return to your โ€œoriginal countryโ€ and then pay them?

By the way, this forum has very nice cool formatting features! :smile:

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Best place for Digital Nomad in Latin America?


by @rose_davis 4yr 4 years ago  | 7 comments

Hi!

I am planning to move to Latin America for 3-4 months (Oct-January). Iโ€™ve narrowed down 6 different places that I want to visit before committing to settling down, but Iโ€™d love to get some community input.

Here are the cities Iโ€™m considering:

  • Quito, Ecuador
  • Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Medellin, Columbia
  • Cartagena, Columbia
  • Antigua, Guatemala
  • San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala

The most important things Iโ€™m looking for:

  • Fast/easily accessible internet
  • Easy to meet other nomads/make friends in general
  • Safe for women
  • Some sort of spiritual community (Iโ€™m also a yoga teacher)
  • Easily walkable city

Anyone have any experience with these places and can give some insight? Iโ€™m also completely open to other recommendations.

Thanks!
Rose

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How is Sicily for digital nomads?


by @gaelm 5yr 5 years ago  | 15 comments

Hi all, I was looking for a cool spot in Southern Europe for winter and Iโ€™m considering Sicilyโ€ฆ Have you ever been there? If yes, how was your experience? If not, why?
thanks!

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How is Bari, Italy for digital nomads?


in Bari , Italy by @mitch_dina 5yr 5 years ago  | 7 comments

Greetings!
Does anyone have experience in Bari, Italy please? We are thinking of going from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Bari by boat in mid-March. Has anyone taken a boat across? Is it nice or can it be choppy? (We are trying to avoid planes, to reduce our carbon footprint, so adding more surface travel.) Also, any info you might be able to offer about Bari and the surrounds? Next step will likely be trains up Italy as the Spring progresses.

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How is Mauritius for digital nomads?


in Mauritius by @wakkos 5yr 5 years ago  | 14 comments

Hello all,

Iโ€™m planning on spending a couple of month in Mauritius Island and even when Iโ€™ve been there for a week, never rented or worked there.

Does anyone here has tips or experience to share about Mauritius?

Cheers!

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Are there any digital nomad fitness retreats?


by @ryanjames 5yr 5 years ago  | 1 comment

Hey all:

Does anyone here have any experience attending a full time fitness bootcamp or a fitness resort while working? I know there is one in Cambodia for digital nomads (Fitness Retreat Resort Kep Gym), unfortunately the time difference vs my work schedule would make my life suck if I tried to go there. Iโ€™m looking for a place between US and Europe timezones that lets you live with them, kicks your butt with fitness, but would also have good WiFi/accommodate working eight hours a day. Iโ€™m also open to other tangential ideas for something close-ish to get that same experience.

Thanks for any help!

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Best place to set up a company selling digital services?


by @pras_k 5yr 5 years ago  | 10 comments

Whatโ€™s the best place?
For residency Iโ€™m looking at Portugal and they have the NHR (non habitual resident) program which would exempt dividends from foreign income.
So all Iโ€™m really looking for is the best place to actually start the company.
Biggest factors are of course low taxes and ease of setting up the company plus a business bank account that enables me to receive payments through Stripe.

What I found so far:
Hong Kong
Corporate tax rate of 16.5% (8.25% for the first HK$2 million)
โŠ•/โŠ– offshore income from outside HK is exempt from taxation but itโ€™s not clear whether this can be done in the first year and prorated or if itโ€™s only through filing the offshore exemption claim. This might take two years and requires not income from HK at all. More info on that would be great
โŠ– seems very difficult to get a business bank account
โŠ– necessary services and fees are roughly around โ‚ฌ2000 / year
โŠ– accounting requirements seem to be very strict
โŠ• Doesnโ€™t require local partner
โŠ• Agencies available that seem to handle most of the work

Singapore
Corporate tax rate of 17% (0% on the first S$100k, 8.5% up to S$300k)
โŠ– requires a local director. What are the implications of this?

Malta
Corporate tax rate of 35%
There is the โ€œfull imputation systemโ€ but I donโ€™t really understand it.
"In most cases, the tax refund to the shareholder is 6/7 of the tax paid by the company on profits distributed as dividends. The tax refund rate may be different in the following cases: " This would result in an effective corporate tax of around 5%.
โŠ– European customers would have to pay VAT and Iโ€™d have to deal with that

Cyprus
Corporate tax rate of 12.5% and there seem to be ways to lower this
โŠ– European customers would have to pay VAT and Iโ€™d have to deal with that
โŠ– requires staying in Cyprus for 2 months / year

I find it surprising how much research this requires and how much โ€œit dependsโ€ information is out there when Iโ€™d assume that there are probably thousands of digital nomads who probably have very similar requirements.

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Do you "out" yourself as a digital nomad?


by @larsheather 5yr 5 years ago  | 2 comments

When you meet new people or reconnect with old friends, do you โ€œoutโ€ yourself as a digital nomad? The simple question โ€œwhere do you live?โ€ makes us uncertain now. We wonder if some places may be less welcoming to digital nomads, or if โ€œdigital nomadโ€ has a negative connotation in some places. If you are forthcoming from the start, does your status as a digital nomad make it hard to form friendships?

We would love to hear how other people navigate thisโ€ฆ how to balance being authentic in relationships vs. withholding the context (and allowing people to assume youโ€™re on vacation, for example).

Thanks!

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Property Ownership - should digital nomads buy properties?


by @sparrow_23 5yr 5 years ago  | 16 comments

I have been a digital nomad for the last couple of years. I have always worked in tech and now run a couple of profitable online businesses that give me a reliable income and allow me to fund a nomadic lifestyle.

I recently exited one of my businesses and I am considering to invest the income from the sale in properties, mainly for 2 reasons:

a) I donโ€™t want to keep wasting my money in renting apartments across the cities I stay

b) I believe in properties as investment and I want to diversify my investment portfolio (mainly stocks)

After years of constant wander from one place to another, now I am the type of digital nomad who sticks to few locations: I mainly rotate across 4 places each year (San Francisco, Medellin, Berlin, Bali). Buying a house in each of those location would be difficult and too expensive. Therefore, I was wondering if there was any sort of service that combines an investment opportunity with the ability to access different properties around the world (even if just for a limited time per year) ?

Imagine living in 4 cities per year and having a house in each place that you can exclusively use for 3 months and at the same time having your investment growing (this depending on the market, of course). Wouldnโ€™t that be great? I believe it could be done via a property fund selling you a share and giving you access to some of their properties for a limited timeframe each year.

Has anyone heard of anything like that?

Thanks!

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Apple TV and Netflix: Do these work for Nomads?


by @lricci 5yr 5 years ago  | 8 comments

We launch in 2 weeks. In the US, we use Apple TV and Netflix regularly. Do these work abroad?

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Ko Lanta or Ko Phangan - which island is better for a digital nomad?


in Ko Lanta , Thailand by @melinda 5yr 5 years ago  | 6 comments

Iโ€™m currently in Penang, Malaysia and I was thinking to head to Thailand next. What are the best islands in Thailand to get some work done? I was considering either Ko Lanta or Ko Phangan because those both islands have coworking spaces. I might need to take some client calls, also video. Is the wifi good enough? Are there any other differences between the islands?

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Do any digital nomads travely solely by motorcycle?


by @fraserdeans 5yr 5 years ago  | 10 comments

Last summer I spent some time travelling through Thailand and Cambodia and jumped on mopeds to get around. I fell in love with them, the freedom, the ability to get off the tourist trail and see areas of a country not written about in tour books.

Recently a friend of mine cycled from London through Western Europe down to Morocco. His journey, stories and photo blog have all inspired me to see Europe by road rather than missing it all by plane.

Iโ€™ve been encouraged to do the same longer term through Europe. Next month Iโ€™m heading off to Spain to start that journey.

I was wondering if any nomads here are on similar journeys? Does anyone motorcycle between cities setting up to work for a couple weeks then moving on?

If so, have you got any advice/tips for someone just starting that journey?

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Where should I register my company as a digital nomad? Singapore, Hong Kong?


in Singapore by @raphadk 5yr 5 years ago  | 14 comments

Hey guys, hereโ€™s a question Iโ€™ve been asking nomads I meet everywhere, but still havenโ€™t found good information. My startups mostly focus on american and european markets but I donโ€™t have a registered company, nor I live permanently on any of these countries.

I get the cash payments online in paypal (or adsense) and transfer it to Thailand (or Malaysia, or Bali, or Brazil, or wherever Iโ€™m at). The thing isโ€ฆ for low volume living expenses it seems fine, but as I scale the business, Iโ€™m starting to think more and more about fiscal law.

A fellow nomad told me to transfer it to Singapore, Hong Kong or The Virgin Islands, and then use an international credit card anywhere. I donโ€™t know if itโ€™s the best way to optimize thisโ€ฆ any ideas?

Also, could there be any problems in selling to these countries without a registered local company?

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