My latest PadSplit Makes $6,700 at Just 77% Occupancy. 66 Days Post Activation.

What does a REAL PadSplit actually make? Let’s break down my latest PadSplit - 66 Days After Activation!

This property is generating over $6,700/month at just 77% occupancy…
and most hosts don’t understand why.

In this video, I walk through:

The real numbers behind my PadSplit
How occupancy impacts revenue
What’s driving performance (and what’s not)
The operational strategy behind consistent cash flow

📊 PROPERTY PERFORMANCE
Gross Monthly Revenue: $6,700+
Occupancy: 77%
Model: 9 Bedroom / 6 Bathrooms.  4 Master En Suites & 5 bedrooms share 2 New Bathrooms

💡 WHO THIS IS FOR
New PadSplit investors
Hosts trying to increase revenue
Anyone evaluating co-living deals

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY
You don’t need 100% occupancy to generate strong cash flow—
you need the right Acquisition & Operational strategy.

🚀 NEXT STEPS

👉 Want help optimizing your CoLiving Business or PadSplit Property?
👉 Visit: www.colivingiQ.com

👉 Subscribe & Drop your questions in the comments

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is my project update. I want to go ahead and walk back through some of the strategies I used when I was going through this project. I want to help inform you so that you can make much better decisions. My gross income is $6,559.95. Fear, anxiety, anticipation, excitement, there's so many different emotional reactions that new investors have when they get into co-living or they get into real estate investing for that matter. I just want to go ahead and begin sharing some real project walkthroughs because the more real iterations and more projects that you actually see, understand the under the numbers, understand the logic, understand the strategy, and then from there start understanding some of the tactics that people like myself or other investors are using. This is how you get over those fears, that anxiety of not knowing, feeling like, what do they know that I don't know? Or how do I not get myself into a pickle? For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Quentin. I'm a real estate investor, I'm a mentor and a coach. I work with over 800 different co-living investors. All of them have gone through these same exact challenges: fear of missing out, fear of a better offer, not really knowing what tomorrow holds. So they're making based decisions on today's information. We want to get ahead of those things. This is my project update. I want to go ahead and walk back through some of the strategies I use when I was going through this project. I want to help inform you so that you can make much better decisions. Welcome to the project breakdown for hardwood. All right, let's jump right in. This is the project that I'm currently talking about. This is my latest one. I'm on day 66. Originally intended to buy this project to be a wholesale deal. I ended up finding this property. It made all of my underwriting criteria. I'm going to just jump right into it. The person that I was going to wholesale the property to, they ended up backing out. And then for after a couple months of holding it, giving them enough time to kind of work through their own financing. When that financing fell through, me and my partner made the decision. It was such a really good deal that we wanted to go ahead and uh keep it for ourselves. For anybody that I've ever worked with, I would never create or sell a property to another investor that I would not keep for myself. This was one of, it was going to be 10 properties that they ended up purchasing. They bought the first one from me, they got stuck on the second one, and then we're said, hey, this project works. Let's get moving. Let's jump right in. I want to go ahead and talk through why we ended up choosing this property. This property is in Atlanta. Um, we actually bought this property in May of 2025. That's when we actually closed on it. Background and understanding. My partner and I, he's my capital partner, he's actually my father-in-law. We buy properties all cash, and then we do the renovation and all cash, and then we do a delayed refinancing. The reason we did that was that we weren't comfortable giving 11 and 3, 12 and 3, 13 and 2, whatever the terms for hard money lending, it wasn't necessary. We had a pool of capital, but because we had a pool of capital, our strategy for acquisition and renovation, it was very much centered around the Burr strategy. This bucket of money had to keep getting used, recouped through the DSCR loan, and then redeployed into our next project. So many new investors fall into this trap. They want to get into their first property without thinking it through is how are they going to buy their second property? That's why I wanted to go through this project. I want to give you a real understanding of what's possible. So in our world, let's just jump right into the details. This is the Hardwood Project. We're on day 66. We originally purchased this property as a five-bedroom, two-bath, roughly 2,800 square feet. The conversion plan for this property when we first got into it was that we're going to turn it into a 7-4, adding two additional bathrooms. As we continue to walk through this property with other investors, the general contractors, I continue to receive and ask for open feedback, ultimately decided to convert the garage, adding two additional bedrooms. While we were walking that space, we understood, hey, we can better utilize the existing space in this house. And under the same budget, we can redirect some of those conversion dollars into adding two additional bathrooms to the original plan, thus ending at a nine-bedroom, six-bath. We ultimately created four master suites, and then we had five bedrooms that shared. Biggest thing that we were worried about is what's the neighborhood? Can the neighbors hold it? Are they going to have problems if we have issues in terms of parking? We had to include in the budget expanding the driveway at the back of the house, adding more additional all-street parking. We had to change some of the exterior to create a new exterior entrance on the first level. We added more privacy fencing so that it gave us a little bit more privacy from the one neighbor that we had. We created a new stairway handrail and then we added landscape lighting because the house sits back. As you can see in the original picture, it sits way back in a really long driveway. And behind us is a nature preserve. So we don't have a whole lot of customer or neighbors to consider. But the problem is we're actually in the middle of a cul-de-sac, very far back into a neighborhood where it's super quiet. So let's jump into the math. Now we understood we started with a 5'2 and we ended up rough with a nine-bedroom, six bath, four master suites, five shared. It's really important because I want to get into what that means. So here's the total project cost. The total project cost was $347,425. Total acquisition for this property, including closing costs, was $222,425. So $222,425. That was a purchase price of $217. It included a $15,000 seller credit at closing, $5,425 at closing costs, roughly 2.5%. Renovation costs, that budget was originally roughly about $100,000. And then it expanded. Oh, it's actually like $110,000, sorry, and it expanded to about $125,000 the reason being was that we had to add in additional costs for the additional bathrooms. We added in the more construction costs for expanding the driveway with a backhoe and a skid steer, laying down some new crushed rock for the parking addition, adding the fence and the stairway. We did not include all of these expansions into the scope of work originally, but we added those as they went on because we felt like they gave more value. Ultimately, when we were done the project, we took out a DSCR and then we got a mortgage at 330,500 with roughly 6% interest rates. Equity remaining in the deal from our total project costs is roughly $17,000, $16,925 to be exact. This is what I mean. When we talk about our projects, we have to be really concerned around can we recycle our money? So we went in with 347,425 and we got 330 back out. This number here, the 16,925, our rule when we look at projects altogether, the guiding principle is a couple of things that I want to talk about. If the amount of dollars that we leave in the deal, if we can recoup that number comfortably within the first 18 months of the net profit, that allows that deal to be a go-no-go decision for us because we know we're not sitting with all of our capital stuck in a project for multiple years. We want to get to an infinite return as quickly as possible. That's why this was such a rock star deal, because we went in for a project roughly 350 and we got out a mortgage for 330, essentially leaving us around $17,000. We like to have about $10,000 in a working capital account that accounts for roughly the first 90 days for cash flow for any operating business. I want you to be very comfortable with this idea. If you were to start a new laundromat or if you were to start a new working business, you have to have enough working capital because we're doing all the spending. All those fixed costs are going to come out of your account in the first 30, 60, 90 days. But somebody has to make deposits into your working capital account. And that comes in the form of rent. If you're using a platform like PadSplit, understand they have booking fees. So you're not going to get every single dollar collected. You need to make sure you have enough working capital so that you're not freaking out at night wondering if you're going to be able to make your mortgage payment. Here's the strategy that I want to get into. Our strategy is very simple. We deliver an elevated co-living property and customer experience that provides exceptional value to our customers. We try to promote community living and tenure to drive profitability under this model. And that is what results in portfolio expansion. If I had to sum it up and explain it to somebody for a new investor, when I talk about start with the operating business in mind and then reverse engineer the entire acquisition process. If you don't know how the end customer is going to use your product, then how can you inform your conversation and decisions with your general contractor as you're going through the conversion process? How big are the rooms? What's going to go in there? What kind of amending needs do you want to put in there? Do you save space for common areas? Do you save space for a dining room area? You have no idea how to answer these questions if you have not thought through what your customer experience is going to be. Because if you just go down the path and work off of a spreadsheet, you're going to have a really hard time because you're going to want to keep putting additional bedrooms in a house. Well, that tiny bedroom that meets all the minimum requirements, will somebody actually stay in that room and then pay you rent? Will they pay you money to stay in the product that you're creating? Think it through. That's why I think it's so important that I stress to new investors start with your operating business in mind and then reverse engineer how you want to do the acquisition, where you want to do the acquisition, how you want to inform the conversion. And then when you go live, how are you going to market that product? You have to understand what you're putting out into the world, what product and business that you are selling. We drive by the idea of allowing facts to drive our tactics. What we do know, here's a fact bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, they feel faster. And that person and customer tends to stay longer. People like their privacy. Why do I stress putting bathrooms in in so many houses? Because that customer, if you had a choice between having your own private bathroom and living with other people or having to share a bathroom, which one do you think they would choose? You can just start out. If you currently have co-living properties, ask the question to your existing customers. That's what I did. I didn't make this stuff up. I constantly collect feedback from our customers. For every customer coming inbound to us, we have a questionnaire that they fill out. And then when they move in, we have another questionnaire that they fill out. What made you select this room? What about our listing? Did you like about it? Those pieces of information constantly inform our business so that we improve on the acquisition side, we improve on the conversion side, we create a consistent brand. And that is what allows us to shrink that time to revenue, filling rooms or having vacancies. Which one do you want to run? In an operating business that runs on cash flow, you have to minimize vacancy. Customers come for the price, but they stay for the experience. All customers see when they choose a room. If you're using a platform like Pad Split, they just see a little picture of the room and a little description. So that's how they're originally shopping for that room. So if you do a really good job of marketing your listing and they choose that prop product, at that point you're still a commodity. Have you done enough to inform that customer about what that experience is going to be? People want to be able to visualize where they're staying for the next three, six, nine months. If they walk in and the room looks like a trap house, they can't envision themselves staying there for much longer. But if they feel like they're moving into some place that's warm and it feels like a home, now all of a sudden visually they can start seeing themselves staying here three, six, nine, 12 months. I end up doing so many interviews with new members that move into my house on day one. If I have the ability to get there, I want to introduce myself. I want to interview them because I'm constantly collecting information that informs my operating business. So just remember, customers may come for the price, but they stay for the experience. Member referrals in our world are the most efficient path to profitability. Understanding that platforms, whether it's Pad Split, whether it's any other co-living property that's out there, they have to interact with each other. I've heard this before. Hey, don't worry about member interaction. They're kind of like ships in the night that pass. That's BS. These members and community members and tenants and customers, they interact with each other on a frequent basis. How much easier is it for somebody in room two to interact with somebody in room three if they referred that person? They didn't have to overcome this idea of where am I moving into? They already knew they had somebody that moved there. I think about my wife and my kids and all these other places. The number one thing they talk about is referrals. Have you tried this restaurant? Have you tried this dentist? Have you tried this allergist? All of these things are based off of referrals. If you have a good enough product where your customers want to tell somebody else about it and they're bragging about it, yes, you're going to increase the referrals that come to you. Here's some learnings. Value is universally recognized. I don't care if you go to Chick-fil-A and you realize, hey, it's a really good chicken sandwich because I'm getting good customer service. Dignity is universally appreciated. If you make customers feel like customers, they want to stay your customers. I love this book and I talk about it all the time. You need to read a book by a gentleman named Will Gadera. It's called Unreasonable Hospitality. If you're going to enter our world and you understand that this is a hospitality business layered on top of a real estate business, you're on the path to success in co-living. They don't call it co-living because it's co, they call it because it's community living. That's my belief. I have strong conviction in this is that if we can combine hospitality and an asset, which is called SRO in the universal world, single room occupancy, that's the best blend that extends hospitality, tenure, member referrals, all of these ingredients. These are the ingredients that lead to profitability. Next point truth in marketing wins. If you have a picture that was terrible of your rooms and you're like, wait a minute, I can utilize AI or I can utilize something to virtually stage the room. And when that person opens your door, your customer, your paying customer, opens the door for the first time and the room picture looks like this, but they move in and it looks like this. That's a problem. So truth and marketing will always win. Your job, my job, is always to exceed and or at least minimally meet our customers' expectations. So say what you are and who you are for and deliver what you promise. I want to talk about the who you are for. This is really important. While many new people in co-living in real estate, they think that it's just an asset. If you come into this world thinking that you're just pedaling a commodity, think about in the rest of the world where you're the buyer. If you're just out there pedaling a commodity, somebody else is going to be cheaper. Somebody else is going to be located better. Somebody else is going to have some part of that commodity which makes somebody choose a different house, a different room. For me, it's always about what is the value that our customers are receiving from the property that they're in. So just think about that. And then when you think about who you are marketing for, you're allowed to understand that, hey, this is my house, my asset, my business. I have certain customers and a certain customer prototype. I call it an ICP. A lot of other people call it the same thing. Ideal customer profile. If you know who you're attracting, then form your marketing to attract that person. Don't be afraid to know who you're for. Because if you're marketing to just anybody, then essentially you're marketing to nobody. In our world, people who shop at Nordstroms typically don't want to shop at the dollar store. More relatively speaking, in our world, if you think about this, people who shop at Target, they don't really want to shop at the dollar store. You have to understand that in our world, our customers live in the same house. And sometimes it causes friction because not everybody's there for the same reasons. Keep that in mind. So just understand who you're for and deliver what you promise. If the picture says there's a rug on the floor, there better be a rug on the floor because your customers are expecting what they see. If the picture says there's three pieces of paint and art on the wall, and this house has been on the market for three or four years or even one year, and there's no art on the wall, that's an immediate disappointment. So if that person, your customer, if they're moving into their house, they don't believe you, then that's not a good way to start that relationship with your customer. I want to get through this. This is really important because I want to talk through some real numbers here. My house has been on the on the Pat Split platform for 66 days. I have one room that has never booked. Room eight, it's a shared bathroom. It's actually one of the rooms in the garage. For 65 days, it sat there vacant. Here's what I want to go through. Room two, they've been there the longest, 50 days. It's an ensuite bathroom, filled first. Room one, ensuite bathroom, filled second. Followed with two rooms that are still vacant. Somebody moved in, somebody moved out of room six. That's why it's only 34 days. Somebody moved into room four, but they transferred to a different room. That was room, that's what happened in room four. So these are two rooms. I have three rooms that are vacant. Room five, they moved in 30 days ago. Her sister moved into room nine, same exact day. Room seven, that person moved in three days ago. And then room three, a couple, moved into an ensuite bathroom two days ago. So at the end of the month, if I were to just project this out for 30 days, my gross income is $6,559.95. This is running an occupancy of 77.78. I underwrote my property to be break-even at 55.55% occupancy, meaning that I had 44% vacancy. A lot of people will say they aggressively underwrite their properties at 15% vacancy. That to me is crazy sauce. You'll see this in our program. This is what we work through. Underwrite correctly, underwrite conservatively. Understand the cardinal rule. This is the most universal rule in co-living that as a new investor, you have to realize. At the end of the day, the last person to get paid is you, the owner. Your mortgage company is going to get paid, the insurance company is going to get paid, the utilities company is going to get paid. If you have a property manager, the property manager is going to get paid. And then the last person that gets paid is you, the owner. Underwrite your properties correctly. This is why our students sleep better at night because they underwrote their properties and acquire properties with that in mind. If you're underwriting conservatively at 50% vacancy, you're going to get your ass kicked in co-living because you're not going to make any money. Because if you have one room vacant, and this is the other part, I don't understand. What is 15%? In my houses, I know that if there's nine bedrooms, each room represents 11.11% occupancy. So at least learn that from me. Do your occupancy based on the number of rooms in the house. In this house, I knew that my ensuite bedrooms, if they filled, I only needed four of those to start making profit. So underwrite accordingly. Make sure that you understand the end operating business. Why did we add these additional bathrooms? For multiple reasons. But the operator in me knew that ensuite bathrooms will fill the fastest and they people will stay longer. Those are the ones that I need to just stay filled. If that person moves out of a master bathroom, that room will fill fastest. So it reduces my vacancy. I understand the operating model. I want you to understand it before you buy your first property or your next property. Don't be afraid to do the unscalable. I love this. I work with so many new hosts. When I tell them the things that I do around hospitality, when I tell them the things that I do about customer experience, their pushback is my God, some of those things seem really unscalable. What the hell are you worried about scaling? You don't own a property yet. That's my answer. Okay, let's be real truth and talk real truth to this. Do the things that make your business profitable. Learn from those things. And as you continue to grow to three houses, five houses, seven houses, you'll get to a point where you need to scale some things. But if you don't have a business because you have one property or you don't have a second property yet, stop worrying about not doing those things that you feel are unscalable. Do them. Make sure that your business is profitable. Keep your business alive. And then those things that, as you want to scale out, at least you understand the business enough that when you scale at three, five, seven properties, you at least know which processes that you want to automate and make that version a scalable version. Any questions about this? Feel free to ask any questions in this. Put it in the comments. I always read those. If you're interested in talking with me, schedule some time in our program. It's co-livingiq.com. Welcome to the world of co-living. Don't be afraid to jump into it. Just make sure that you're working with the right team that helps you get over these initial fears. Welcome to co-living. I believe in the motto, no margin, no mission. Learn how other operators that I work with. We start with an operational focus around revenue. We're in this business to generate revenue so that we have profitable co living properties. And then because we're profitable, because we have standard operating procedures, we go out and we buy additional co living properties. And that's how we solve for the affordable housing crisis. Because we build businesses that are profitable, learn how to run. In your operational business, learn the standard operating procedures, learn my business framework that allows you to be profitable, that minimizes your vacancies, that optimizes for your revenue, that puts out a good enough product that you're proud of. Run your operating business like a true entrepreneur and a business owner.