The Co-Living Show

What can American co-living investors learn from Europe's approach to shared housing?

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, hosts Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain welcome Gui Perdrix, a European co-living expert, author of The Art of Coliving, and former president of Co-Liv, to explore how community, technology, and automation are shaping the future of the co-living industry.

Originally from France, raised in Germany, and now based in Portugal, Gui brings a unique international perspective to the conversation. After operating co-living spaces across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, visiting...

What if you could build a portfolio of 107 co-living rooms without spending your days answering tenant messages, handling maintenance requests, and managing every little detail?

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, hosts Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Andres Martinez, a real estate investor and entrepreneur who went from working multiple jobs as an immigrant from Peru to building a 107-room co-living portfolio across 14 properties in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Andres shares how he acquired 10 properties in just 18 months using creative financing, subject-to deals, seller financing, and private money partnerships...

What separates a profitable co-living property from one that's constantly creating headaches for its owner?

In this solo episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain break down the eight must-haves for running co-living homes smoothly, efficiently, and profitably.

With approximately 300 rooms under management, Craig and Miller have seen what works, what doesn't, and which seemingly small property decisions can create major operational challenges.

From parking and bathroom ratios to storage, security, and reliable internet, they share practical lessons from their own portfolio, including mistakes they've made...

What if you could buy a rental property with a 3% interest rate in today's market? Creative financing can make that possible, but one poorly structured deal could cost you thousands.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Caleb Christopher, real estate investor and owner of Creative Title, to break down how subject-to deals, seller financing, and wraparound mortgages actually work.

Caleb shares how he went from accidental landlord to creative financing specialist, including a deal where he took over a property with a 3.65...

What does it actually take to run co-living properties when you live halfway around the world?

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Oren Kachel, an investor based in Israel who owns and operates U.S. real estate remotely, including co-living properties in smaller markets like Clarksville, Tennessee and Montana.

Oren shares how he went from fix-and-flips and multifamily investing to deciding to go all-in on co-living. He explains why he prefers smaller markets, how he evaluates properties from thousands of miles away, and why finding the...

Build With the Exit in Mind: Co-Living Resale with Josh Stanton

Most co-living investors spend a lot of time thinking about how to buy a property, renovate it, fill the rooms, and maximize cash flow.

But what happens when it’s time to sell?

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain sit down with Josh Stanton, a longtime co-living investor and real estate agent in Atlanta who has been involved with PadSplit since its earliest days.

Josh started with a simple house ha...

Financing a co-living property can get complicated fast—especially when traditional lenders, underwriters, and appraisers don’t fully understand the model.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Jeffrey Weller, CEO of Coast 2 Coast Mortgage, to break down what co-living investors need to know about financing their properties.

Jeff shares how his own experience buying and converting a PadSplit led him to recognize the challenges investors face when trying to finance room-rental properties. That experience eventually pushed him deeper into developing lending solutions spec...

Yoni Kaszynski is back on The Co-Living Show nearly a year after his first appearance — and a lot has changed.

What started with a house hack has grown into a 56-room co-living operation across properties he owns and manages in the Seattle area. Along the way, Yoni has expanded beyond simply buying properties into real estate sales, consulting, property services, and helping other investors launch their own co-living homes.

In this episode, Yoni joins Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop to break down what changed as he scaled — including his decision to finally give PadSplit a try...

Negotiating a real estate deal isn’t just about getting the lowest price.

In this solo episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop break down the SCALE Framework, the negotiation process they use to structure deals that work for both the buyer and the seller.

They walk through how to understand seller motivation, create valuable terms beyond purchase price, use new information from inspections and due diligence to renegotiate, establish your limits before emotions take over, and ultimately engineer a win-win deal.

You’ll also hear real examples from...

Most investors focus almost entirely on purchase price when negotiating a real estate deal. But price is only one piece of the offer.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop break down how they structure and negotiate real estate offers, including the different levers that can potentially save you tens of thousands of dollars or dramatically improve your cash-on-cash return.

They walk through the major components of an offer, including purchase price, closing timelines, inspection contingencies, appraisal gaps, financing contingencies, earnest money, seller concessions, and closing costs.

A co-living property can look like a great deal on paper, but one overlooked sewer, structural, zoning, or insurance issue could cost you thousands after closing.

In this episode, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop break down the nine-part due diligence checklist they use before buying a co-living property. They explain which inspections are worth paying for, how inspection findings can create negotiating leverage, and when a serious issue should make you reconsider the deal.

You’ll learn how to evaluate:

• General property inspections
• Sewer scopes
• Electrical panels and capacity
• Roof condition<...

How do you scale a co-living company from a small operation to nearly 4,000 units across major U.S. cities?

In this episode, Miller and Craig sit down with Sergii Starostin, co-founder and CEO of Outpost Club, to explore the strategies behind one of the country’s largest co-living operations.

Sergii explains how Outpost expanded through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, including taking over properties from Bedly, Quarters, Common Living, and June Homes. He also shares how the company evaluates acquisition opportunities, determines which markets make sense, and chooses between master leases, revenue-sharing agreements, and property ma...

Can AI help you become a more informed co-living owner without taking over your property manager’s job?

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Tanya Zorov, a co-living investor who lives in New Jersey and owns two properties in Jacksonville, Florida.

Tanya explains how she purchased two already-operating co-living homes, kept the existing property manager in place, and began using AI to improve her oversight of the portfolio. She shares how she combines income and expense data, monitors cash flow, tracks repairs, studies room performance, and ev...

Can you scale a co-living business without buying every property?

In this episode, Miller and Craig are joined by Dave Edwards, founder of CoLiving Operations, for a detailed breakdown of co-living arbitrage.

Instead of purchasing a property and taking on a mortgage, an arbitrage operator leases the home from its owner, receives permission to operate it as a co-living property, and rents the individual rooms. This can reduce the capital needed to get started while potentially producing stronger monthly cash flow.

Dave walks through his first co-living arbitrage deal: a six-bedroom...

Not every large house is a good co-living investment.

In this solo episode, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop break down the eight factors they evaluate before buying a property for co-living. Drawing from their experience acquiring and operating dozens of homes, they explain how neighborhood demand, property layout, parking, bathroom ratios, and other details can determine whether a deal succeeds or becomes an operational headache.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

What if your real estate portfolio could support your lifestyle instead of controlling it?

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain sit down with Eric Lafon to break down how he is using house hacking and co-living to build financial and geographic freedom.

After being laid off from his software job just before Christmas, Eric moved to Denver and took action on a goal he had been considering for years. He purchased a four-bedroom property, converted it into seven rentable bedrooms, and now generates approximately $7,000 per month in rental income.<...

Most investors focus on finding deals.

Very few think about changing the laws that determine whether those deals are even possible.

In this episode, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain are joined by legislative attorney Sam Hooper to unpack the legal side of co-living. They discuss zoning, occupancy limits, housing policy, and why creating better legislation is ultimately more powerful than relying on loopholes or gray areas.

You'll hear about:

Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain sit down for a solo episode of The Co-Living Show to unpack how they took a struggling co-living portfolio from around 50% occupancy to 90% occupancy in just a few months.

This was not a simple “post better listings and fill the rooms” story.

Before the turnaround, the portfolio had major operational issues. Owners were frustrated, residents were unhappy, vendors had concerns, systems were inconsistent, houses were set up differently, and occupancy was far below where it needed to be.

Craig brought the acquisition and growth side. Miller brought the oper...

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain interview Jeff Hurst, CEO of Furnished Finder, about the growing connection between mid-term rentals, furnished room rentals, and co-living.

Jeff explains why room rentals are becoming one of the fastest-growing areas on Furnished Finder, why the platform needs more affordable supply, and how co-living investors may be able to use Furnished Finder to reach renters looking for flexible housing.

The conversation covers what today’s Furnished Finder tenant is looking for, how co-living operators can test the platform, what makes a furnished room mo...

Off-market deals are where the deeper discounts live, and in this episode, Craig and Miller bring on Robbie Faithe to show you exactly how to find and structure them. Robbie is an Albuquerque investor, broker, and private lender with 18 years in the business and a full off-market acquisition funnel.

In this episode:

What happens when two people with 26 years and 2,500+ flips under their belt discover co-living? For Brian and Gina Kingdeski, it meant ditching a struggling Arizona Airbnb portfolio and going all-in on building co-living homes from the ground up.

In this episode, Brian and Gina explain why they made the switch, how they fill rooms faster than almost anyone in the space (8 rooms in under two weeks, often before closing), and the construction details that separate a beautiful, high-performing co-living home from a cold, chopped-up "dorm." They get into their 8-bedroom minimum, the ~$7,500/month gross on a converted 1,300...

Pascal Wagner bought 12 properties in two years, and then his occupancy dropped to 65%. In this episode, he shares how he booked a one-way ticket to Atlanta, fixed the bleeding, and rebuilt his portfolio into a 104-room operation running at 95% occupancy and a 25% cash-on-cash return.

Pascal is a true problem-solver, and he gives a masterclass in co-living operations: how to keep houses clean, set firm standards, reduce churn, and build a team that lets you sleep at night.

What you'll learn:

Corey Enman runs the largest co-living property management company in Phoenix — 40+ houses and 100+ rooms — and in this episode he gets tactical about exactly how he does it. This is a pen-and-paper one: the specific softwares, screening rules, and operations systems he's spent three and a half years refining.

Corey walks through his SWAT cleaning system (sweep, wipe, attend to the bathroom, take out the trash), why he switched residents to Telegram instead of WhatsApp, and the screening criteria that keep his houses problem-free, including why he turns away smokers every time. He also breaks down good market vs...

Most of the co-living world runs on PadSplit — but Craig and Miller don't operate on it themselves. So they invited a PadSplit insider to explain exactly how it works.

Suzanne Vetillart, a Host Advisor at PadSplit and an 8-year Seattle investor, joins the show to demystify the platform: what it is, who it's for, what it costs, and why the affordable housing opportunity is only getting bigger. From the membership agreement and fee structure to the early-adopter advantage in markets like Seattle, this episode is a clear, honest look at PadSplit from someone on the inside — useful whet...

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain sit down with twins Hem and Harsh, the operators behind CH Room Rentals, to unpack how they scaled from their first house hack to 7 co-living homes and 35 rooms in just a couple of years.

Hem and Harsh share their story of immigrating to the U.S. from India, working full-time through college, saving aggressively, and using house hacking as their entry point into real estate. What started as one 5-bedroom home in Charlotte quickly turned into a...

In this episode, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain sit down with co-living investor Travis Schwartz to talk about one of the biggest debates in the co-living space: Should you self-manage your rooms, or use a platform like PadSplit?

Travis brings a unique perspective. After starting out by building his own systems, managing leads, and filling rooms himself, he eventually moved his portfolio onto PadSplit. That decision helped him simplify operations, cut down on manual lead management, and shift his focus back to acquisitions.

And the results were significant.

Travis...

Matt Osman is back... and this time we're going deep on one tool that can dramatically reduce the cash you bring to a co-living acquisition: the invoice authorization.

In simple terms, it's an addendum where the seller agrees to pay your contractor directly at closing. Done right, it lets you fold renovation costs into your loan, keep the seller whole, satisfy the lender, and walk into a co-living-ready property with a fraction of the out-of-pocket spend.

Matt shares real examples (including a $100K invoice authorization on one deal), the front-end vs. back-end negotiation playbook, how...

The Co-Living Insurance Gap (and How to Fix It) | ft. Matthew Osman

Co-living is growing fast—but insurance hasn’t caught up.

In this episode, we sit down with Matthew Osman, a co-living realtor and operator who’s been working on one of the most overlooked risks in the space: improper insurance coverage.

Most operators assume they’re covered under standard landlord policies.
 But once you go beyond 4 unrelated tenants, you may be operating in a gray area, or worse, completely exposed.

We break down what...

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, we sit down with Franco Montano, a seasoned operator managing 600+ co-living rooms (and owning 150+ himself), to break down what it actually takes to scale a co-living portfolio.

Franco shares how he transitioned from running a 42-location T-Mobile business with 750 employees into real estate—and why co-living became his highest ROI strategy.

If you’re serious about building a cash-flowing co-living portfolio, this episode is packed with real-world insights you won’t hear anywhere else.

🔑 What You’ll Le...