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The Co-Living Show

The Co-Living Show

By: Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain
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Co-living is one of the most misunderstood, and highest-potential, ​ strategies in residential real estate investing. Most investors hear the buzzwords, see the cash-flow claims, and immediately assume it’s either too risky, too operationally intense, or too complicated to scale. The truth is simpler: coliving work exceptionally well when built on systems, governed by operational clarity, and executed like a real business, not a side hustle. The Co-Living Show exists to make that clarity accessible for serious professionals who want smarter returns without gambling on guesswork.
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Hosted by BiggerPockets authors Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain, The Co-Living Show goes far beyond surface-level real estate content. This is the only real estate investing podcast dedicated exclusively to the economics, operations, regulations, and strategic frameworks that drive high-density co-living and shared housing at scale. Whether you’re new to the model or a high-earning, time-poor professional seeking exposure to a sophisticated cash-flow real estate strategy without becoming an operator, this show delivers the confidence, understanding, and insight needed to invest intelligently.
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Each episode takes you inside the real-world systems behind co-living performance. You’ll hear from operators running multi-market portfolios, attorneys specializing in zoning and compliance, designers who understand space optimization and profitability, lenders financing room-by-room rental strategies, and property managers and city officials shaping the future of affordable housing innovation. You’ll also hear from the Co-Living Cash Flow Community, everyday investors solving operational challenges and executing the exact frameworks discussed on the show.
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👉 Join the community: www.millermcswain.com/community
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There is no fluff here. No hype. No motivational noise. Every conversation is grounded in data, regulatory insight, operational logic, and investor-level clarity. Co-living is not “passive income.” It’s not a shortcut. It’s a system. And systems — when executed correctly — produce scalable, predictable returns that outperform traditional rental models. This is not speculative theory. It’s cash-flow real estate strategy in action.
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Craig brings acquisitions, underwriting, and market strategy. Miller brings operations, pricing systems, and standardization frameworks that make coliving scalable. Together, they deliver an operator’s perspective of an asset class most investors only see from the outside. As BiggerPockets authors, educators, and practitioners, they simplify complexity without diluting truth: coliving works, but only when done correctly.
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You’ll hear underwriting breakdowns, operator case studies, deal teardowns, regulatory realities, tenant strategy, market analysis, and the economic logic behind high-density residential investing. You’ll learn how to invest passively, partner with experienced operators, or simply understand the business model in depth, even if you never plan to manage a property yourself.
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The Co-Living Show does not claim co-living works.
It proves when, why, and under what conditions it works.
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If you want confidence instead of conjecture, systems instead of speculation, and clarity instead of chaos, this is your source of truth for professional-grade residential real estate investing.
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Subscribe and join thousands of investors building deeper understanding, stronger portfolios, and smarter strategies, without wasting time on noise.
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This is the future of residential real estate investing. And now you’ll finally understand how it works.
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© 2026 The Co-Living Show Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Finance Personal Success
Episodes
  • EP 15 - How Twin Brothers Built 7 Co-Living Homes in 2 Years

    EP 15 - How Twin Brothers Built 7 Co-Living Homes in 2 Years
    May 20 2026

    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 repeatable co-living model built around furnished rooms, strong tenant retention, self-management, and family partnership.

    This conversation is especially valuable for newer co-living investors who are trying to figure out what the next few steps look like after buying their first property.

    In this episode, we cover:

    - How Hem and Harsh scaled to 7 homes and 35 rooms
    - Why 5 bed / 3 bath homes are working in their market
    - How they use house hacking to keep acquisition costs low
    - The benefits and challenges of running a family-owned co-living business
    - Why they chose to self-manage instead of using PadSplit
    - How furnished rooms help them command higher rents and improve retention
    - Their favorite platforms for finding tenants, including Facebook Marketplace and Furnished Finder
    - How they keep vacancy low without overcomplicating operations
    - What they learned from their first eviction
    - Why local REI groups and co-living communities helped accelerate their growth
    - Their next phase: new construction co-living homes

    The episode also includes a community Q&A about rising utility costs and how co-living operators can respond when expenses increase faster than rents.

    Join The Co-Living Community on Facebook to connect with other operators, ask questions, and learn from people actively building co-living portfolios.

    Follow Miller: @millermcswain
    Follow Craig: @thecraigcurelop
    Learn more about CoLivingPro: colivingpro.io
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • EP 14 - PadSplit vs. Self-Management: The Great Co-Living Debate

    EP 14 - PadSplit vs. Self-Management: The Great Co-Living Debate
    May 14 2026

    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 bought 12 co-living houses in one year, mostly in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, using a strategy built around high cash flow, aggressive renovations, and long-term holds.

    Craig and Miller challenge Travis on the tradeoffs of PadSplit, including fees, platform risk, saturation, and whether it still makes sense at scale. Travis also shares what he has learned from renovations, appraisals, permits, tenant retention, and building software for PadSplit hosts through PadPulse.

    In this episode, we discuss:

    • How Travis got into co-living after years as an entrepreneur
    • Why he bought three houses at once when he started
    • His target of under $40,000 per finished room
    • Why he focuses on cash flow more than short-term equity
    • The hidden risk of negative equity in co-living renovations
    • How PadSplit changed his operations
    • The pros and cons of relying on a third-party platform
    • Why some markets become saturated faster than others
    • How to think about amenities, pricing, and tenant retention
    • Why offering a discount to a good resident can be cheaper than turnover
    • What Travis is building with PadPulse
    • His long-term vision for co-living and private equity

    Connect with Travis:
    PadPulse: padpulse.io
    Email: travis@padpulse.io
    LinkedIn: Travis Schwartz

    Follow the hosts:
    Miller McSwain: www.instagram.com/millermcswain
    Craig Curelop: www.instagram.com/craigcurelop

    Join the free Co-Living Community:
    www.millermcswain.com/community

    If you enjoyed this episode, leave a rating and review, and share it with another investor who is trying to scale their co-living portfolio.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 7 mins
  • EP 13 - Invoice Authorization: The Co-Living Buyer's Secret Weapon

    EP 13 - Invoice Authorization: The Co-Living Buyer's Secret Weapon
    May 6 2026

    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 to position it with listing agents, and why the appraisal is the linchpin of the whole strategy.

    Connect with Matt: Email: matt@investslb.com
    Ask about the Co-Living Agent Accelerator

    Follow Us:
    Miller - www.instagram.com/millermcswain
    Craig - www.instagram.com/craigcurelop

    If you got value from this one, share it with an investor who's about to close on a co-living property, it might save them five figures.
    Show More Show Less
    35 mins
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