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:

• The biggest legal obstacles facing co-living operators
• The difference between occupancy limits and zoning restrictions
• States leading the way in co-living legislation
• How investors can work with lawmakers to improve housing policy
• Why long-term success depends on changing the rules—not just working around them

If you want to build a scalable co-living business that can stand the test of time, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Follow us on Instagram:

Craig: https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop
Miller: https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain
Sam: https://www.instagram.com/legelawyer

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 operational systems, leasing process, marketing structure, and resident experience. Together, they walked through the hard process of cleaning up the portfolio, standardizing the houses, communicating with owners and residents, fixing the leasing funnel, and rebuilding trust.

In this episode, Craig and Miller talk about the real lessons from the turnaround, including why top-of-funnel marketing, conversion, pricing, tours, retention, resident experience, and change management all had to work together.

You’ll hear how they approached:

• Taking over 20+ co-living houses
• Standardizing property systems
• Improving resident communication
• Handling messy transitions
• Rebuilding listings across Zillow, Roomies, Facebook Marketplace, and Apartments.com
• Using better photos, videos, pricing, and automation
• Testing different follow-up and conversion strategies
• Moving from resident-led tours to self-guided tours
• Adding welcome baskets, calls, community events, and referral opportunities

This episode is especially useful for co-living investors and operators who want to scale without creating operational chaos.

Connect with Craig and Miller:

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

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

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

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 more attractive, and why shorter lease terms may create new opportunities for higher rents.

They also talk about the differences between Furnished Finder, PadSplit, Airbnb, Zillow, and other rental platforms, plus where Jeff sees the future of flexible housing going.

Join our Facebook community: www.millermcswain.com/community

Follow us on Instagram:
Craig Curelop: www.instagram.com/craigcurelop
Miller McSwain: www.instagram.com/millermcswain

Connect with Jeff Hurst on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-hurst-atx/

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:

• Why buying off-market juices your co-living returns
• How seller financing works, and how to explain it without scaring the seller
• Negotiating on payment instead of interest rate
• Why you don't need your own cash to do a deal
• The exact cold-call script Robbie uses with sellers
• How to get started off-market with no license and no experience
• The "return on energy" metric that drives Robbie's buy box
• Plus: should you furnish your co-living rooms? (This week's listener question)

Join our free Co-Living Community on Facebook: https://millermcswain.com/community

Follow us on Instagram:

• Miller: https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain/
• Craig: https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop/
• Robbie: https://www.instagram.com/robbiefaitherealestate/

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 sq ft house, $1–2K/month cash flow per property, and how years of work with their lender let them become their own comps and skip the appraisal headaches most operators run into.

You'll also hear the stuff nobody talks about: sewer scopes, three-inch vs. four-inch pipe, why en suites are worth it, using AI to stage bedrooms, and how their faith shapes both how they build and who they rent to.

What we cover:

• Airbnb vs. co-living: scalability, stress, and turnover costs
• What it really costs to convert a short-term rental
• The 8-bed, 3-bath formula and stabilization math
• Floor plans that flow vs. hotel-style builds
• Solving lender and appraisal problems on high-bedroom-count homes
• A memorable housemate story and the lesson in compassion behind it

Connect with Brian & Gina:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brianandginaking
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-kingdeski-48952511b/
Website: https://trinitydesignconstruction.com/

Here are some of Brian and Gina's latest projects on Padsplit website.
https://www.padsplit.com/rooms-for-rent/listing/33417?utm_source=copylink&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=property_share&utm_content=33417&ref=1022554
https://www.padsplit.com/rooms-for-rent/listing/31947?utm_source=copylink&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=property_share&utm_content=31947&ref=322872
https://www.padsplit.com/rooms-for-rent/listing/32891?utm_source=copylink&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=property_share&utm_content=32891&ref=322872

ChatGPT Prompt:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hpy0-uFm49KIX8kz0mkIWYl4n673EjQn/view?usp=sharing

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

Join The Co-Living Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecolivingcommunity

Enjoyed the episode? Leave a rating and review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it helps the show grow.

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:

• How deferred maintenance crushed his occupancy, and the turnaround that reversed it
• The "graffiti train" effect and why small messes escalate fast
• Building a "tattle culture" with cameras, fines, and clear expectations
• Why he ditched house managers for dedicated cleaners
• Welcome baskets, onboarding calls, and slashing 90-day churn
• The case against pushing rents, and why filling rooms wins
• Refinancing co-living, navigating appraisals, and staying upfront with lenders
• His current thesis: buy ugly, renovate right, and pull your capital back out

—

🏠 Join our FREE co-living community: https://www.millermcswain.com/community

📲 Follow us on Instagram:
Miller McSwain — https://www.instagram.com/millermcswain
Craig Curelop — https://www.instagram.com/craigcurelop

🔗 Connect with Pascal Wagner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascalwagner

Enjoyed the episode? Leave us a rating and review, it helps us reach more co-living operators.

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. bad market dynamics, why he now targets 11-bed/4-bath houses that cash flow $2K+ a month, and the four phases of scaling a co-living business from scrappy solo operator to a real management company.

Plus: the power of niche vs. general masterminds, the $1 first-month trick to fill empty rooms, when to make your first hire, and a co-living horror story involving nine people in a four-person house that changed how Corey screens forever.

In this episode:

• The SWAT cleaning system that keeps 40+ houses clean with one VA
• Telegram vs. WhatsApp for resident communication
• Tenant screening: smoking, pets, guests, income, credit & criminal history
• Why co-living cash flows in both up and down markets
• The 11-4 floor plan and why 7-bed houses no longer pencil
• The four phases of scaling and when to hire
• A jaw-dropping co-living horror story

Follow us on Instagram:

Craig Curelop — @craigcurelop
Miller McSwain — @millermcswain
Corey Enman — @corey.enman

Join our free co-living community: www.millermcswain.com/community

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 whether you're a host on the platform or operating right alongside it.

A standout takeaway: stop thinking of PadSplit as a vendor and start thinking of it as a partner. They bring the platform and the marketing muscle; you bring the operations — and together you solve the affordability crisis while building a real business.

Follow along:

Craig Curelop → instagram.com/craigcurelop

Miller McSwain → instagram.com/millermcswain

Suzanne Vetillart → instagram.com/suzannevetillart