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Get a recommended senior debt / mezz / equity / sponsor co-invest structure for your coliving project, complete with cost-of-capital math, comparable deals, an investors-to-approach list, and a term sheet template.
Total capitalization needed: $5.0M
Enter your project inputs and click "Optimize My Capital Stack" to see a recommended structure with cost-of-capital math and comparable deals.
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Project size, market, type (new build / conversion / acquisition), operator stage, target IRR, and risk tolerance.
Visual stacked bar showing senior debt, mezz, LP equity, and sponsor co-invest with cost rates and dollar amounts.
Term sheet template, 5 comparable deals, 5 investor categories with example firms, and 7 common structuring mistakes.
First-time coliving operators routinely walk into LP meetings with one of two problems. Either they have no opinion on the capital stack, they want 'whatever the market will do', and lose credibility in the first 10 minutes. Or they pitch a stack that's structurally wrong for their stage: too much senior leverage as a first-time sponsor, no mezz layer when their cap rate spread justifies it, or zero sponsor co-invest because nobody told them LPs require skin in the game.
The result is the same: term sheets that don't close, or close on terrible terms. We've watched founders sign mezz at 15% when they could have raised it at 11%, or give up 60% of project IRR on equity when 40% would have been market. These mistakes are rarely a math problem; they're a vocabulary problem. Founders don't know what good looks like, so they negotiate from a weak position.
The Capital Stack Optimizer fixes the vocabulary problem. It tells you what a market-rate stack looks like for your project type (new build / conversion / acquisition), your operator stage (first-time / scaling / established), and your market. It calculates your weighted average cost of capital, shows you comparable deals that recently closed, and gives you the investor categories most likely to fund each layer. You walk into your next LP meeting with the same vocabulary the LP is using.
You've never raised institutional capital. Use the optimiser to learn the vocabulary, see what a market-rate stack looks like, and avoid the structural mistakes that kill first-time sponsor deals.
Your old fundraise structure (friends-and-family equity) doesn't scale. The optimiser shows you when to introduce senior debt, when to add a mezz layer, and how much sponsor co-invest LPs will expect at your stage.
You know BTR / multifamily structures cold. The optimiser translates your existing capital playbook to the coliving-specific risk profile (lease-up risk, opex, regulation).
An operator pitched you a stack and you want to sanity-check it. Run the deal through the optimiser to see whether their proposed structure is market-rate or aggressive.
Conversions sit in the middle on lease-up risk. The optimiser balances higher senior debt for stabilised acquisitions vs lower for new-builds, calibrated to conversion-specific deal patterns.
Different markets accept different structures (UK senior debt is cheaper than India; US LPs expect higher sponsor co-invest than European LPs). The optimiser surfaces these structural differences before you pitch.
A recommended stack, the math behind it, and a path to investors who fund deals like yours.
Take the PDF directly into your next LP / debt fund meeting.
typical senior LTV for coliving acquisitions in mature markets
Comparable deals, 2024
sponsor co-invest most institutional LPs require
EC LP survey
blended WACC range for well-structured coliving deals
EC deal book
spread between best-in-class and weakest sponsors on equivalent debt
EC operator interviews
First-time sponsors think LPs will fund 100% of the equity. Almost no institutional LP will. Plan 5-10% co-invest from day one or watch term sheets evaporate.
Banks lend less to operators with no track record. Start at 50-60% LTV with debt funds and family offices, build a 2-3 deal track record, then graduate to commercial banks at 65-70%.
A 5% senior loan with 3 points and a 1% exit fee is more expensive than a 6% loan with no fees. Always negotiate on all-in cost, not headline rate.
If your stabilised cap rate is 7% and senior debt costs 6%, there's room for a mezz layer at 11-13% that boosts levered returns. Operators who ignore mezz leave LP IRR on the table.
LPs ask 'is the senior committed?' as the first question. Get a debt term sheet (or LOI) before raising equity, it changes the entire dynamic of the equity conversation.
An over-promised IRR you miss in year 2 destroys the relationship and your ability to raise the next fund. Promise the IRR you'd be happy delivering at -10% occupancy.
If your IRR depends on exit at year 5, you need a defensible exit cap rate and buyer thesis. 'Sell to an institutional buyer at year 5' is not a thesis without comparable transactions to back it.
Use these to build the rest of your investor package.
Prove the yield case to LPs who default to BTR comparisons.
Try it free →Generate a coliving-specific pitch deck outline with financial projections.
Try it free →Build a 12-month cash flow that LPs can stress-test in their model.
Try it free →Defensible break-even occupancy your LPs will pressure-test.
Try it free →Last reviewed: May 2026.
Our team helps coliving developers structure capital, refine the pitch, and access our network of debt funds, family offices, and institutional LPs.
