October 16, 2021
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Who Wants To Live In A Shipping Container?

For those answering "hell yes," one Wharton grad has got you covered.
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Planning on following in ex-Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat's footsteps and ditching Wall Street for a piece of tech? Stunned by how far or not far your money will get you with regard to housing out in San Francisco? Simply prefer the womb-like feeling one gets by living in small spaces? Consider today your lucky day.

Luke Iseman has figured out how to afford the San Francisco Bay area. He lives in a shipping container. The Wharton School graduate’s 160-square-foot box has a camp stove and a shower made of old boat hulls. It’s one of 11 miniature residences inside a warehouse he leases across the Bay Bridge from the city, where his tenants share communal toilets and a sense of adventure. Legal? No, but he’s eluded code enforcers who rousted what he calls cargotopia from two other sites. If all goes according to plan, he’ll get a startup out of his response to the most expensive U.S. housing market...Iseman collects $1,000 a month for each of the 11 structures parked in the 17,000-square-foot warehouse he rents for $9,100. Tenants include a Facebook Inc. engineer, a SolarCity Corp. programmer and a bicycle messenger.

Like it so much you want to spread the gospel of container living to the masses? There may be an employment opportunity for you with the firm.

He bought his metal box for $2,300, delivery included, then cut out windows with a plasma torch and installed a loft bed, shower and bamboo flooring. He estimates his all-in cost at $12,000, and plans to sell refashioned containers for about $20,000 through his company, Boxouse.

This Wharton Grad Wants You to Live in His Shipping Containers [Bloomberg]

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