By Patricia Mikkelson, a resident of the Living Springs Log House since 2017

I’m not writing this as a detached observer. I’m genuinely excited about co-living, and I have been for a while.

I’ve spent a lot of time researching it — the different models, what makes one succeed where another fizzles, how the good ones balance privacy with real community, how the numbers actually work for an operator. At one point I wanted to start a co-living space myself. What I didn’t have was the capital to make it happen. What I did have was years living on this exact property watching it, living in nearly every corner of it, and slowly realizing that it already had much of what I kept researching and dreaming about.

 If you’re an investor looking at co-living and looking for a property that won’t demand a full gut renovation to get there, I think you should look here. And if it’s helpful to know — I would be willing to help you get started and find someone to permanently run it.

There’s one more piece of my vision. I’m vegan, and I hope this can be a healthy co-living space — one where only plant-based, whole foods are served in the shared kitchen, and where the whole culture of the place supports healing and health rather than working against it. I’m not picturing a strict, joyless rulebook. I’m picturing a shared kitchen full of real, nourishing food, residents who feel genuinely better for living here, and a community where health isn’t an afterthought but part of why people choose to stay. That’s a vision I’d bring to running this place. The spring water, natural beauty, organic garden, wild edibles and more on the property would contribute to this vision. 

A House That Doesn’t Need to Be Convinced

Most co-living investors go in expecting to gut and rebuild — knocking out walls, running new plumbing, adding bathrooms, engineering private entrances from scratch. That’s the real cost of most conversions, and it’s often what makes the numbers not work. This property may be different. The layout already does much of that work. With some changes, this house alone could support up to seven rentable rooms — before the garage or the metal building even enter the picture.

A primary bedroom suite with its own potential private entrance. The primary bedroom is positioned so it could open to its own private entrance — meaning one resident could come and go without walking through anyone else’s living space. With some work, one of the two windows connecting to the deck could be converted into a door. That’s usually one of the harder things to retrofit into a house; here the layout already suggests it.

A garage that could become two more rooms for the house. With insulation, plumbing runs and some finish work, the garage could become two small bedrooms, with a bathroom added on the ground floor so neither resident has to go far. The garage is attached to the house, and people pass through it to reach the grow room and the stairs up to the main floor, so these rooms would stay part of the house. That’s two more possible rentals from a space most properties leave as a garage.

A basement guest quarters that could comfortably house two residents rather than one. I lived in this space myself for years, so I know it well. Right now it’s one spacious, sunny room that works as a combined living/dining area with kitchenette hookups in place — but that open room could be divided into two good-sized private rooms, with a shared hallway running between them and access to the one full bathroom already in place. (Why do I call this space the basement suite and not an apartment? A home without a full kitchen is called a suite. This one has hookups that could be wired for a kitchen with some work, so it could become an apartment.)

Because sleeping space legally needs a window, residents would sleep in that main sunny room rather than in the two smaller connected rooms — but those windowless rooms don’t go to waste. One has the potential for a window to be added down the road, and either could serve as a walk-in closet, storage, or bonus space for a couple sharing the basement. In fact, with its extra room attached, this guest quarters basement could suit a couple particularly well — more space than a typical single unit, without the cost of building an entirely separate one.

That’s a basement that could reasonably hold two rentable rooms on its own, sharing one bathroom — likely without a plumbing expansion.

The main house: shared space and roomy bedrooms. The log house sits above the basement suite and has two stories. The main floor, with the living room, kitchen, laundry room and pantry, is made to be common space for everyone, and even the smaller downstairs bedroom could become shared space. Upstairs, the two extra-large bedrooms each have space for two beds and two big walk-in closets, with their own bathroom, so more than one person can live in each room. This space was once used by a family of six, while a relative lived in the bedroom below.

Between the primary bedroom and the two upstairs bedrooms, there are three genuinely spacious rooms on this property — each large enough that a couple or two roommates could comfortably share one and still have real breathing room. That flexibility alone changes the math on how many people this property could house well.

A Second Bedroom That Wants to Be Common Space

Just off the mudroom and laundry room sits the smaller downstairs bedroom. It has a tiny closet and, therefore, not much storage. The funny thing about the ground floor is that the only bathrooms are in the two downstairs bedrooms — so it makes sense that this bathroom becomes the one residents use when they’re gathered on the main floor, so no one has to run upstairs.

Reimagined, this room could become a shared co-working space — room enough for around eight small desks, a place where residents can work from home side by side, which is the kind of amenity that adds real value to a co-living property rather than just a house split into rooms.

 It’s a natural extension of the common space, close to the kitchen, laundry room, pantry, and dining room. Two doors — one from the garage downstairs, and one from the back of the house — make it very accessible. The closet could have shelves where residents keep personal possessions they want to leave in the co-working space.

Because this room already has a bathroom with a toilet and shower attached, it solves the one real puzzle of shared living here: everyone using the main floor has a bathroom reachable without climbing stairs, right off the space where they’re already working and gathering, and the upstairs bedrooms keep their own bathroom. If someone is a guest, or camping on the land, they have a bathroom close by as well.

It’s a nice surprise when the “problem room” turns out to be one of the most useful rooms in the house.

Added to the kitchen, pantry, laundry room, and living room, this floor could become the shared core of the property — the space every resident passes through, cooks in, works in, and gathers in, while still retreating to a private suite at the end of the day.

A Natural Fit for Multigenerational Co-Living

One of the quieter strengths of this layout is how naturally it splits by mobility and stage of life. The ground floor and basement suite stay entirely on one level, or close to it — a real advantage for an older resident who doesn’t want to manage stairs every day. The stairs up from the garage are fairly short. A ramp could be built there, although it would be difficult, and the back of the house, where a car can drive right up, is an easier place to build one. If a small kitchenette were added downstairs, an elder could live essentially independently without ever needing to climb to the second story.

Meanwhile, the two big bedrooms upstairs, each with space for two beds and generous closets, are a natural fit for a family with kids — enough room to spread out, with their own bathroom and their own floor, while staying part of the same shared home. It’s a layout that lets a grandparent, a young family, and unrelated housemates all live under one roof without anyone feeling squeezed.

The Deck That’s Already Waiting

Step into the living room and there’s a door that opens onto nothing but its own quiet potential — clearly placed with a deck in mind, in the cool, shady back of the house. A steep hill filled with forest acts like natural air conditioning, and the back of the house stays relatively cool even in the hottest summers. The concrete slab also contributes to that coolness, since it’s never exposed to sun.

Envision this potential:

Build a deck, screen it in, and you have a three-season common room made for morning coffee and evening conversation — the kind of low-key shared space that makes co-living feel like a lifestyle upgrade rather than a compromise.

A shade garden full of medicinal plants and other shade-loving species could grow here too, but it would need a retaining wall first. The hillside needs one anyway, since there’s some erosion back there, and the wall could hold a beautiful shade garden.

And if a deck isn’t the direction, that same stretch of level, open land behind the house — with electricity close by — is enough to comfortably fit a motorhome, useful for a resident testing the waters before committing to a longer stay.

Tucked into the lower part of the house next to the garage is a room built to keep people safe in a storm — thick walls, solid and secure. For most of the year, though, it becomes something else entirely: a winter growing space. I’ve hung grow lights myself and filled it with kale, longevity spinach, mint, and young moringa trees reaching for the light. 

On a gray January day, there’s nothing quite like stepping into that room and finding yourself surrounded by green, growing things. It’s shelter in more ways than one. A faucet nearby keeps water close at hand, and 5-gallon jugs of stored water help ensure extra supply in case of emergency. Food kept in the nearby storage room, which doesn’t get too hot or too cold, along with emergency equipment in the garage, makes this a good place to hunker down.

(Worth noting: tornadoes are the main natural disaster risk in Arkansas. Hilly areas like this one may see them less often, but no place is immune, so a storm room is good to have.)

The Metal Building: Room to Grow

The 40’x60′ metal building is where a co-living vision really opens up.

There’s enough height and framework that a second story could eventually be added — creating room for studio apartments or additional private units, if the property owner wanted to grow the number of residents over time. That’s a future possibility, not something built out yet, but with a 40’x60′ footprint to work with, there could be room for more units over time, depending on budget and after checking with the county — the seven rooms in the house could be just the beginning.

The log house already has a big kitchen and common rooms made for sharing, so the metal building doesn’t need to replace them. It gives options. If one multigenerational family takes over the whole house, the metal building could be the place to add rooms for more residents. It already has running water, a bathroom ready for a shower, 240-volt power and its own septic system. (The water runs through a gravity-fed hose from the cistern. The pump doesn’t work, so a new owner would want to repair or replace it.) And if the community grows beyond what the house can hold, the ground floor could become extra shared space:

• A gathering hall for resident events, movie nights, big shared meals and even paid events
• A makerspace for tools and projects
• Space for small home-based businesses or side income: mushroom growing, a fermentation kitchen (kraut, kimchi, kombucha, vinegar), a workshop or a studio
• A second kitchen for big gatherings, alongside the main kitchen in the house

Either way, the log house stays the heart of the home, and the metal building gives the property room to grow as more people join.

Room to Grow

Beyond the buildings, the land itself has room for individual garden plots alongside an already-established community garden — a shared amenity that costs little to maintain and adds real quality of life for residents who want it. There’s also a clearable, fairly flat area near the log house where more small homes might go, after checking with the county.

And Then, the Pond

Here’s a longer-range possibility: there’s an old pond site that could be dug out again. Over the years, the site has filled in with cattails and other wetland growth, so this isn’t a quick cleanup — it would need to be fully dug out and reclaimed. There are several possible ways water might be brought to it, but that would need to be figured out.

Once excavated, reshaped, and given a dependable water source, it could become a natural swimming pool — a shared amenity few co-living properties have.

What the Numbers Could Look Like

I’m not a financial advisor or a lender, and the numbers below are illustrative estimates, not a guarantee or a formal pro forma. Room rental rates vary a lot by local market, condition, and what’s included, and mortgage rates change. Anyone seriously considering this should run their own numbers with a lender and local rental comps before deciding. With that said, here’s a rough sense of the shape of it, at a $500,000 loan amount.

The mortgage side. On a $500,000 loan, 30-year fixed, at a rate in the roughly 6.5%–7% range (a reasonable ballpark as of early 2026 — check current rates, since they move), monthly principal and interest lands around $3,200–$3,350. Add rural Arkansas property taxes and homeowners insurance, both modest here compared to many markets, and total monthly housing cost is likely somewhere in the $3,600–$3,900 range — again, an estimate to verify, not a quote.

Scenario 1: The house as-is, minimal remodel. As I described above, the existing house alone could support up to seven rentable rooms with some changes — likely without major structural work or a plumbing expansion. Room rates for shared co-living housing in rural Northwest Arkansas will vary depending on furnishing and amenities, but using a conservative estimate of roughly $500–$650 per room per month:

• 7 rooms × $500–$650/month = $3,500–$4,550/month gross
• That’s roughly $42,000–$54,600/year in gross rental income
• Against an estimated $3,600–$3,900/month in mortgage, taxes, and insurance, this scenario is close to break-even to modestly cash-flow positive before utilities, maintenance, and any operating costs — a reasonable starting point for a first-phase, low-capital investment.

Scenario 2: The house remodeled and the metal building built out. If the metal building’s second story were developed into additional studio units, and the second bedroom-turned-common-space model were extended into the metal building’s ground floor as originally described, a fuller build-out could plausibly support somewhere in the range of 12–14 total rentable rooms across the house and metal building combined:

• 12–14 rooms × $500–$650/month = $6,000–$9,100/month gross
• That’s roughly $72,000–$109,200/year in gross rental income
• Against the same estimated $3,600–$3,900/month in mortgage, taxes, and insurance, this scenario has meaningfully more room for positive cash flow — though it also comes with real upfront construction cost for the metal building build-out that isn’t reflected in these numbers and would need its own estimate.

The takeaway: even the lower-investment scenario could be financially reasonable, and the metal building represents possible upside for an investor willing to put more capital in over time rather than all at once.

The Land Itself

None of this works without the land carrying it. A cave spring that has filled the cisterns consistently since 2017, through dry summers. Established organic gardens and hugelkultur beds already producing. Quiet, privacy, and a lake view that makes the whole property feel like a retreat rather than a subdivision.

Attention Investors!

The Living Springs Log House sits on 14.75 acres near Huntsville, Arkansas — a property that already offers much of what many co-living conversions have to work hard to create: real private suites, real shared amenity space, and land generous enough to keep growing into whatever shape residents need. If you’re an investor looking for a co-living property that’s much of the way there already, this could be a good fit. When I looked for studio apartments in this area, I couldn’t find any. I believe young people and older people looking for an affordable place would be glad to live here.

• Most co-living conversions live or die on renovation cost, and this property’s biggest edge may be how little of that cost it could require — up to seven rentable rooms could be possible with some changes rather than structural rebuilds, and that’s before the metal building’s 40’x60′ footprint is even factored in as future room count.
• The property naturally splits by life stage as much as by household: a low-stairs ground floor for residents who want or need single-level living, and two large upstairs bedrooms suited to a family with kids, make multigenerational co-living a realistic layout here, not just an aspiration.