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.

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain are joined by Jordan Smith, a co-living operator who has built a 30-bedroom portfolio with a strong focus on systems, automation, and operational efficiency.

Jordan breaks down how he got started with his first house hack, what the numbers looked like on that first deal, and how his background in management consulting shaped the way he now runs his portfolio. The conversation covers lead generation, pre-screening, automations, communication systems, maintenance workflows, tenant issues, and the operational mindset required to scale co-living well.

They also discuss why co-living should be treated like a real business, not just a real estate strategy, and why investors need to think carefully about return on equity as they grow.

If you want a more practical look at what it takes to build a sustainable co-living operation, this episode is for you.

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

Connect with Jordan Smith:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/smith.t.jordan

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain are joined by co-living pioneer Clara Arroyave, who scaled a 160-room co-living portfolio generating nearly $2M annually using the arbitrage model.

Clara shares how she filled rooms without paid marketing by partnering directly with employers, universities, and HR departments, how her portfolio grew rapidly in Boston, and what ultimately happened when COVID disrupted the arbitrage model.

She also explains the lessons she learned from scaling quickly, why arbitrage shouldn’t be your long-term strategy, and how she’s now focused on purpose-built co-living developments.

Topics covered include:

• Building a 160-room co-living portfolio
• Filling rooms through employer and university partnerships
• The risks of the arbitrage model
• Designing co-living properties that maximize occupancy
• Why private bathrooms increase tenant retention
• The future of co-living housing

If you're investing in co-living, house hacking, or room-by-room rentals, this episode provides real insights from someone who has operated at scale.

Follow the hosts and guest:

Craig Curelop – https://instagram.com/craigcurelop
Miller McSwain – https://instagram.com/millermcswain
Clara Arroyave – https://instagram.com/lifeisrocknroll

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain welcome Harrison DeMaira, a large-scale co-living operator with experience managing everything from small townhouse conversions to 100+ unit buildings and 400-unit purpose-built co-living developments.

Harrison breaks down what changes when you scale co-living into multifamily—and what operators get wrong when they assume co-living leases like traditional rentals. We cover the real leasing funnel, scrappy marketing that still works (signage + employer outreach), the operational systems you must build early, and how to think about furnishing, unit design, and resident experience at scale.

We also unpack:

• What Common Living was and why it went defunct (and what co-living operators can learn from it)
• Why Harrison avoids 2-bedroom co-living units
• The bathroom-to-resident rule he won’t break
• Why leasing + marketing is the foundation that makes everything else easier
• Outsourcing earlier (and the accounting mistake most operators make)
• And an unforgettable operations story involving an emotional support duck and a missing snake

If you’re trying to fill rooms faster, scale beyond one property, or understand what multifamily co-living really looks like—this episode is for you.

Follow the hosts:

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

Guest: Harrison DeMaira

• Email: hpd@harrisondemaira.com
  
  

If you enjoyed the episode, please follow the show and leave a rating/review, it helps more operators find the podcast.

In this tactical episode of The Co-Living Show, hosts Miller McSwain and Craig Curelop sit down with Colorado investor and agent Tanner Pyle to unpack one of the most creative deals you’ll hear this year:

👉 A $1.3 million property
👉 Structured with owner financing
👉 Acquired with just $5,000 out of pocket

But this episode goes far beyond the headline.

Tanner breaks down exactly how he negotiated the seller financing, how he structured the down payment, and what made the deal work in a rising interest rate environment. You’ll hear the real numbers — mortgage, utilities, renovation costs, and how the property performs as a short-term rental.

Then the conversation shifts into deeper operator-level strategy:

• When short-term rentals outperform co-living (and when they don’t)
• Why parking can make or break a co-living deal
• How garages can create hidden cash flow (storage, ADUs, or conversion plays)
• The screening mistake that cost Tanner and why “don’t be a charity” matters
• “Speed to lead” and how to fill rooms faster
• Why mixing strategies too early can slow your scaling
• How to find a true investor-friendly (and co-living-aware) agent in your market

This episode is for serious operators, not dreamers.

If you’re analyzing deals, house hacking, or scaling into co-living, this one is packed with execution-level insights.

Connect With Us:

📸 Miller McSwain
https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain

📸 Craig Curelop
https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop

📸 Tanner Pyle
https://www.instagram.com/tanner.pile

In this episode of The Co-Living Show, Craig Curelop and Miller McSwain sit down with Caitlyn Verdugo — aka Co-Living Cait — an Atlanta-based co-living agent, investor, operator, capital raiser, and coach who’s been in the space since the early PadSplit days.

Atlanta is one of the most mature co-living ecosystems in the U.S., and Caitlyn has seen the model evolve from “rent-by-the-room” experiments into a real operating business. She shares what she’s learned from acquiring and running co-living homes, how she approaches conversions (including garage builds), and why she intentionally designs each house to feel like a home — not a template.

This conversation is packed with operator-level nuance: screening beyond platform checks, searching local eviction records, managing resident conflict without becoming a mediator, and how to build systems that protect your time while improving resident experience.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• Caitlyn’s origin story: real estate agent → house hacker → co-living operator
• How she used her real estate commission creatively to reduce money needed to buy
• Why Atlanta’s market maturity makes PadSplit a major factor in marketing + leasing
• Lessons from her first co-living conversion (capital gaps, holding costs, and what she’d do differently)
• What she looks for in co-living properties: layouts, vintage builds, no HOA, conversion potential
• Garage conversions: HVAC strategies, insulation, code risks, and payback vs. “ROI” framing
• Her signature approach: naming houses + themed rooms to enhance resident experience
• The screening stack: forms, interviews, and why she checks eviction records manually
• How she prevents resident conflict with boundaries, addendums, and expectations
• Handling tenant-landlord conflict fast (and why respect is non-negotiable)
• Women in co-living: safety realities, contractor dynamics, and solving problems differently
• Building She Leads Co-Living / Wealth By The Room to support women operators
• How to find operators in your market (Facebook groups, meetups, and “search within groups” strategy)
• The Big 3: a tenant horror story, her first house rule, and her most valuable operating system

Follow the Hosts

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

Join our FREE Community: www.millermcswain.com/community

Guest: Caitlyn “CoLiving Cait” Verdugo

Find her as CoLiving Cait across social platforms and check out her community:

• She Leads Co-Living (women-focused events + network)
• Wealth By The Room (education + coaching series)
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/colivingcait