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.

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.