How Co-Living Can Help You Get Started Earlier, Faster, & Better!

[Grant Shipman]

Hey BiggerPockets Fam,

I've been doing Co-Living now exclusively since 2017, and the numbers speak for themselves. Co-living is how I went from renting a room, Delivering Dominos, no savings, and not being able to qualify for a loan to financial freedom & a $2M net worth in 15 months.  Now you can use it to "start cooking with gas".  Here's the facts why! 

1. Higher Demand

The rental market is shifting. One-person rental units are in the highest demand, and co-living directly appeals to this market. Shared housing provides affordable, flexible rental options for young professionals, remote workers, and students.

As shown above, co-living properties have more demand than traditional two-bedroom units and appeal to a wider tenant base.

2. Lower Start-Up Costs

Traditional real estate investing requires 20%-25% down, making it difficult for many to scale quickly. However, co-living allows you to acquire properties with as little as 0%-5% down, drastically reducing the amount of cash required.

Instead of needing $100K+ to buy a rental, a co-living strategy lets you start with a fraction of the cost while achieving higher returns.

3. Higher Returns

Co-living generates up to 5X the cash flow of a traditional rental. Why? Because instead of collecting one rent check per month, you’re collecting multiple payments from different tenants. It's like selling pizza by the slice!

A traditional single-family rental may net you only $280/month, whereas a co-living setup can bring in over $1,100/month from the same property.

4. Less Risk

With traditional rentals, if your one tenant fails to pay, you’re in trouble. Co-living, on the other hand, mitigates this risk by creating multiple income streams. If one tenant moves out, the property remains cash-flow positive. Additionally, it's easy for a house on one lease to get absolutely trashed by the renter. However, in Co-Living the most a renter can trash is their room. When you have multiple responsible adults sharing a house, if one "bad egg" slips in then you have the others renters to kick them out or report them. Additionally, in Co-Living the property manager walks the property once per month to deliver toilet paper & cleaning supplies (aka property inspection).

Co-living provides built-in diversification, lowering your financial risk compared to single-lease rentals.

5. Investors Love It

One of the biggest challenges in real estate is raising capital. Traditional deals often don’t excite investors—offering $200/month in cash flow isn’t very compelling.

But with co-living, you can offer 5X the returns, making it much easier to secure funding.

Now, instead of asking an investor to put up a 20% down payment for $200/month cash flow, you can pitch them a 5% down investment yielding $1,000+/month—a much more attractive deal.

Why Co-Living is the Future

Co-living isn’t just another strategy—it’s a high-demand, high-cash-flow, lower-risk investment model that aligns with today’s rental market trends. By leveraging shared housing, you can:
✅ Lower your initial investment
✅ Maximize cash flow
✅ Reduce financial risk
✅ Make better deals for investors

Questions for the Community

1. What's your initial thoughts on the above?
2. Have you tried co-living in your market yet? What challenges or successes have you experienced?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and continuing to learn together!

[Grant Shipman]

cool! 

Thanks for asking a clarifying question.  I'm speaking of co-living in a typical A or B level neighborhood house, so instead of a 20-25% down payment, we are speaking of a 1-5% down payment.  Do you think risk & reward always needs to be symmetrical?