The solution to America’s housing affordability crisis might not require building a single new structure, according to Craig Curelop, co-founder of The FI Team at eXp Realty. Instead, he argues that reimagining how we use existing single-family homes could dramatically expand housing availability almost overnight.
“With our current infrastructure, we could basically 6-7-8 times the amount of actual housing available for people if we turned all these houses into bedrooms,” Curelop says, pointing to recent policy changes in Colorado that removed restrictions on unrelated people living together.
According to Curelop, who has spent six years pioneering co-living strategies in the Denver market, the economics of room-by-room rentals create compelling benefits for all stakeholders. “You can still get 800 to even 2000 to $3,000 a month in cash flow in an appreciating market,” he notes, describing returns that many thought had vanished from today’s real estate landscape.
This approach involves purchasing larger single-family homes, typically with 6-10 bedrooms – and renting individual rooms to create affordable housing options while generating stronger returns than traditional rental strategies.
Curelop points to recent legislative changes in Colorado as a catalyst for expanding this model. “In Colorado, they passed a law about a year ago that says the local jurisdictions cannot restrict the amount of unrelated people living in a house,” he explains. “They’re very smart, and they’re recognizing that affordability is getting out of hand.”
This policy shift acknowledges that while building new housing takes significant time and resources, reimagining existing housing stock could provide immediate relief to housing shortages.
“We feel like we’re really as investors providing a win-win-win strategy,” Curelop argues. He breaks down the benefits:
While Curelop’s company currently focuses on the Denver market, he sees potential for this model in virtually any metropolitan area. “If the city has more than 50,000 people in it, I think there is room for a co-living house there,” he says.
His firm is now creating turnkey solutions for investors, handling everything from property acquisition to renovation and ongoing management. They’re also planning to scale up significantly, with plans to acquire 20-40 home portfolios in select cities through an investment fund structure.
“We’re thinking like a 10 to 12% preferred return on investment,” Curelop says of the fund concept, which would allow more investors to participate in the co-living trend while leveraging their established management systems.
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