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.

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.

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’s really happening behind the scenes and what you should be doing instead.

What We Cover:

• Why co-living doesn’t fit traditional insurance models
• The risk of having 5+ unrelated tenants under one policy
• Common scenarios where claims get delayed or denied
• How commercial-style co-living insurance works
• When to switch from landlord policy to co-living coverage
• How to think about insurance as you scale your portfolio

Why This Matters:

If you’re making co-living-level income, you need co-living-level protection.
This episode gives you a clearer path to protecting both your property and your business.

🔗 Resources & Links

• Join the Co-Living Community: https://millermcswain.com/community
• Co-Living Pro: https://colivingpro.io
  
  

📲 Connect with Us

• Miller McSwain: https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain
• Craig Curelop: https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop
  
  

If you found this helpful, share it with another operator.
This is one of those topics most people don’t think about, until it’s too late.

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 Learn:

• How Franco scaled to 600+ rooms under management
• Why co-living works even in expensive markets (remote investing strategy)
• The truth about tenant demand, pricing, and vacancy cycles
• How to structure leases to avoid winter vacancies
• Why most operators fail due to poor underwriting (not operations)
• Franco’s remodel strategy (including converting homes for under $10K)
• The biggest mistakes new co-living investors make
• How to build systems and teams to scale beyond 20+ rooms
• Why affordable, safe, and clean housing beats fancy amenities
• Real talk on tenant screening, evictions, and long-term retention

🧠 Key Takeaway:

Co-living isn’t complicated because of tenants,
It’s complicated because of systems, operations, and scaling.

Master those, and the upside is massive.

🔗 Connect with Franco:

📧 Email: Franco@highestmanagement.com
🌐 Website: highestmanagement.com

🔗 Connect with Us:

📸 Miller McSwain: https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain
📸 Craig Curelop: https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop

💬 Join The Co-Living Community:
https://millermcswain.com/community

🚀 Resources Mentioned:

👉 CoLiving Pro (Marketing + Pricing Tool):
https://www.colivingpro.io

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow the show, leave a review, and share it with another investor looking to scale in co-living.

The Co-Living Lending Playbook: How Smart Investors Structure Deals

Financing is the part of co-living that most investors underestimate… until a deal almost falls apart.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Jessica Khani, a top 1% loan originator and real estate investor who has helped structure and close a large portion of their portfolio.

They break down what actually happens behind the scenes of getting deals funded—and why the right lender is often the difference between scaling and getting stuck.

This is not theory. These are real stories, real deals, and real mistakes.

🔑 What You’ll Learn:

• Why co-living financing is different from traditional real estate
• How to choose the right lender (and what questions to ask)
• Conventional vs FHA vs DSCR loans explained simply
• Why “shopping for the lowest rate” can cost you deals
• Creative financing strategies (interest-only, seller concessions, etc.)
• Real stories of deals nearly falling apart—and how they were saved

🔗 Connect with Us

• Miller McSwain → https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain
• Craig Curelop → https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop
• Jessica Khani → https://www.instagram.com/homeswithjessicakhani/
  
  

💬 Join the Community

Want help with your next deal or financing strategy?

Join The Co-Living Community to connect with other operators and get real feedback.

⭐ If You Found This Valuable

Share this episode with another investor and leave a review, it helps us reach more operators.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Alfredo Goytia, a co-living operator who scaled from 0 to 800 doors in just 12 months.

This is not theory—this is real-world execution.

Alfredo breaks down exactly how he built a high-performance co-living operation, including:

• The systems required to scale from small portfolios to hundreds of doors
• Why co-living operations are more about processes than properties
• How automation and tech replace traditional property management models
• The biggest mistakes operators make when trying to scale
• Why managing 8 tenants vs 800 tenants comes down to systems—not complexity

We also dive into:

• Transitioning from traditional rentals to co-living
• Property management software and tools for scaling
• Lead flow, tenant communication, and operational bottlenecks
• The mindset shift required to operate at scale

If you're serious about co-living investing, scaling rental portfolios, or building systems-driven real estate businesses, this is one of the most tactical episodes we’ve ever recorded.

As Alfredo shares, scaling isn’t about doing more work, it’s about building better systems.

📲 Connect with the hosts & guest:

• Miller McSwain: https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain
  
  
• Craig Curelop: https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop
  
  
• Alfredo Goytia: https://www.instagram.com/fredofyre

Scaling a co-living business isn’t about buying more properties.
It’s about building systems that actually work.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Dave Edwards—an experienced co-living operator who has managed over 400 rooms—to break down the real operational systems behind scaling co-living rentals successfully.

If you’re a real estate investor, house hacker, or co-living operator trying to increase cash flow, improve occupancy, and streamline property management, this episode gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it actually takes to run co-living at scale.

🚀 What You’ll Learn About Co-Living Investing:

• How to scale a co-living business from 1 property to hundreds of rooms
• The exact systems used to manage 400+ co-living units efficiently
• Common mistakes new co-living investors make (and how to avoid them)
• How to design your property and operations for long-term scalability
• The best lock systems, tenant management workflows, and maintenance processes
• Why most co-living operators struggle with operations—and how to fix it
• How to think like a professional operator, even with your first deal

🧠 Why This Episode Matters:

Most real estate investors focus on acquisitions.
But in co-living, operations determine your profit.

Dave shares lessons learned from managing hundreds of tenants, testing multiple systems, and refining processes over time—so you don’t have to learn everything the hard way.

This episode is especially valuable if you’re:

• Scaling beyond your first co-living property
• Struggling with tenant management or turnover
• Trying to increase occupancy and rental income
• Looking to build a repeatable co-living system

💡 Key Takeaway:

You don’t need 400 rooms to build scalable systems.
But you do need to think like someone who does.

🔗 Connect with the Hosts:

Miller McSwain (Co-Living Investor | Author of Co-Living Cash Flow)
👉 https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain

Craig Curelop (Real Estate Investor | Author of The House Hacking Strategy)
👉 https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop

🎙 About the Guest:

Dave Edwards is a co-living operator based in Houston who has managed 400+ rooms and built scalable systems for operations, tenant management, and property optimization.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djedwards83/

📘 Resources for Co-Living Investors:

• Get the book: Co-Living Cash Flow (https://millermcswain.com/book/)
• Join the Co-Living Community (Facebook Group)
  👉 https://millermcswain.com/community/

⭐ Enjoying The Co-Living Show?

If this episode helped you:

• Follow the show
• Leave a 5-star review
• Share it with another investor

From $400K Loss to Lending Millions: The Co-Living Comeback Story

In this episode, we’re joined by Fernando Corona, a co-living lender who’s helped investors close hundreds of deals—and built his business after losing over $400,000.

We break down the real path to success in co-living: failure, resilience, and learning how to solve problems most investors avoid.

Fernando shares how he:

• Went from zero income to owning multiple co-living properties
• Built a lending business by solving his own financing problems
• Uses creative loan strategies to help investors scale faster

We also dive into:

• DSCR loans vs. bank statement loans
• Financing renovations into your purchase
• Why most investors misunderstand risk
• How to think like an operator, not just an investor

👥 Connect with the Hosts & Guest:

Miller McSwain: https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain/
Craig Curelop: https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop/
Fernando Corona: https://www.instagram.com/itsfernandocorona/

🔔 Subscribe & Follow:

Follow The Co-Living Show for weekly episodes covering:

• Deal analysis
• Operations & systems
• Financing strategies
• Real stories from active operators

If this episode helped you, share it with someone who’s trying to get their first (or next) co-living deal.