From $200 a Month to $5,000: How the Co-Living Model Transforms Rental Cash Flow with Katrina Robinson

Co-living is one of the most overlooked strategies in real estate investing. While most investors chase single-family rentals generating $200 a month per door, a small group of operators is filling houses with multiple residents, charging per bed, and clearing $5,000 or more on a single property. In this episode, co-living investor and coach Katrina Robinson breaks down exactly how this model works, who it serves, and how she runs three properties in San Antonio, Texas from Los Angeles.

About Katrina Robinson

Katrina Robinson is the founder of the Group Home on Autopilot coaching program and operator of Roundtable Living, a San Antonio-based co-living company with three properties housing low-income residents including people with disabilities, working-class adults, elderly tenants, and reentry individuals. A former Air Force officer deployed to Iraq, she manages her portfolio remotely and coaches investors nationwide on how to build and run co-living businesses profitably.

What We Cover in This Episode

• What co-living is and how it differs from assisted living and adult foster care
• Why Katrina targets low-income, disability, elderly, and reentry residents
• How she went from $200 a month per door to $5,000+ per property
• The economics of co-living: beds, pricing by market, and the $2,000 monthly target
• How to choose the right property: bedrooms, bathrooms, layout, and amenities
• Why she avoids HOAs and how the Fair Housing Act protects her business
• How to segment residents by house to reduce conflict
• The systems she uses to manage properties remotely: Rent Ready, Jotform, Calendly, and Google Sheets
• The operations manager model and how she structured it as an independent contractor
• Real horror stories from the field and what they taught her about screening and systems

Key Insight

Katrina's first co-living house has 15 beds at $560 a month each. Gross income: $8,400. Her take-home after expenses: over $5,000 a month on one property. That single result convinced her to open a second house, then a third, and eventually build a coaching business around the model. The math works because the per-bed rate, even at an affordable price point, stacks in a way that single-family cash flow never does.

Why This Episode Matters

Affordable housing is one of the most pressing problems in the country and also one of the least understood opportunities in real estate. This episode gives investors a clear look at a model that addresses both, with real numbers, real systems, and real stories from someone who built it from the ground up and teaches others how to do the same.

Find Out More

Website: grouphomeonautopilot.com
LinkedIn: Katrina E. Robinson
YouTube: youtube.com/@grouphomeonautopilot

Sponsors

Today's episode is brought to you by Green Property Management, managing everything from single family homes to apartment complexes in the West Michigan area.

livegreenlocal.com

And RCB & Associates, helping Michigan-based real estate investors and small business owners navigate the complex world of health insurance and Medicare benefits.

rcbassociatesllc.com