Brad Hargreaves on Common's Bankruptcy

Brad Hargreaves, the founder of Common, discusses the history and challenges of the coliving company and the reasons for its recent bankruptcy. Common started in 2015 to address housing affordability issues by building apartments designed for roommates. They focused on three, four, and five-bedroom units and worked with developers as property managers and designers. However, the company faced difficulties in generating profits from property management and design services. The COVID-19 pandemic and rising interest rates further impacted Common's business model. Brad believes that small, local operators and short-term rental models may have more success in the US coliving market. Listen to the interview to understand why Common went bankrupt, and what could have been done differently. - - - To listen to the whole song in good quality, click here: https://suno.com/song/38f3b3e1-1760-4913-8f68-d54098200401 - - - ⚡️ For more ways to grow your coliving business, consider joining the Coliving Incubator Program: https://www.artof.co/coliving-incubator The Artof.Co Incubator is a 12-month milestone-based program helping coliving entrepreneurs successfully conceptualize, build and operate sustainable coliving businesses. We will help you make the right decisions and learn best practices along the way of setting up and scaling your business, giving you access to masterminds, a community of peers, mentors, and a mile-stone based program with resources. 📙 And make sure to start with the Art of Coliving Book: https://www.artof.co/art-of-coliving-book Get insights, frameworks, and learnings from 200+ coliving entrepreneurs on how to create, launch, run, and scale a coliving space. This book has been written by interviewing coliving founders. It summarizes best practices in community building, real estate sourcing, financial models, marketing, architecture, and all other subjects related to building out your coliving business. - - - 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:56 Defining Common and Its Evolution 05:46 Diversification of Property Types 09:04 Challenges in Scaling Co-Living 12:03 Profitability and the Impact of Interest Rates 13:31 Differences Between European and US Co-Living Companies 17:45 Factors Affecting Profitability and Business Model 22:28 The Future of Coliving in the US 24:23 Brad Hargreaves' Current Endeavors 26:16 Closing Remarks and Surprise Song #coliving #colivingspace #colivingbusiness #colivingentrepreneur #sharedliving #communityliving