# Building a Real Estate Empire from Cubicles to Co-Living with CPA Brothers Harrison and Ben Sharp > Published: 2025-05-20 | Category: podcast-episode | Tags: podcast-episode, house-hacking, co-living, tax-strategy, real-estate-investing **Guest:** Harrison and Ben Sharp CPA brothers Harrison and Ben Sharp reveal their blueprint for escaping corporate burnout and scaling a co-living investment empire through house hacking, tax strategy, and smart systems. ## Content Two brothers, both certified public accountants, traded the predictable safety of corporate cubicles for the bold uncertainty of building a real estate empire, and they did it by mastering the exact strategies most agents and investors overlook. On this episode of The REI Agent Podcast, host Mattias Clymer welcomed Harrison and Ben Sharp to break down how they went from corporate burnout to scaling a co-living investment business in the Dallas–Fort Worth metro. What makes the Sharp brothers' story so valuable is the rare combination they bring to the table. As CPAs turned real estate agents and investors, they understand both the tax code and the deal flow, the spreadsheets and the streets. The result is a conversation packed with practical, dollars-and-cents strategy for anyone who wants to build wealth through real estate without burning out in the process. ## From Corporate Cubicles to Real Estate Freedom Harrison and Ben began their careers in the corporate world, where their accounting backgrounds gave them a front-row seat to how wealth is actually built, and how often it is not. Like so many high performers, they eventually hit a wall. The corporate path offered stability but capped their upside and drained their energy. Real estate represented something different: control, scalability, and the chance to build something that was truly theirs. Their transition was not reckless. As accountants, they approached the leap the way they approached everything else, methodically and with the numbers in front of them. That discipline became a defining feature of how they invest. They did not abandon their financial training when they entered real estate; they weaponized it. ## House Hacking: The Foundation of Their Strategy At the heart of the Sharp brothers' approach is house hacking, the strategy of living in a property while renting out portions of it to dramatically reduce or eliminate your own housing costs. For new investors, this is one of the most accessible on-ramps into real estate ownership, and the brothers broke it down from their own perspective. House hacking can take several forms. You can rent out individual rooms, add and rent an accessory dwelling unit, or convert space to maximize the number of income streams under one roof. The brothers discussed the realities of ADUs and room rentals, including the zoning challenges specific to the DFW market. Local regulations matter enormously, and what works in one municipality may be prohibited in another. Doing your homework on zoning before you buy is non-negotiable. On the financing side, they explained how house hack financing works and how investors can use HELOCs, home equity lines of credit, to scale from one property to the next. This is where their accounting backgrounds shine. They understand how to structure financing so that each property becomes a stepping stone to the next, rather than a dead end that ties up capital. ## The Co-Living Cashflow Strategy Where the conversation gets especially interesting is in the co-living model. Co-living, renting a property out by the room rather than as a single unit, can generate substantially more cash flow than a traditional single-family rental. By renting individual rooms to multiple tenants, an investor can often double or even quadruple the income a property would produce under a conventional lease. The brothers walked through how this strategy works in practice, including platforms like PadSplit that help connect operators with tenants and streamline management. Co-living is not without its complexities; managing multiple tenants under one roof requires good systems, clear expectations, and reliable management. But for investors willing to do the operational work, the cash flow advantages can be significant. This model also reflects a broader theme of the episode: the highest returns often come from being willing to operate a property more actively than the average landlord. Co-living demands more management, but it rewards that effort with cash flow that passive strategies simply cannot match. ## Why Every Agent Should Speak the Language of Investment One of the most important messages the Sharp brothers delivered is aimed squarely at real estate agents: every agent should learn the language of investment. Most agents are trained to serve retail buyers and sellers, people purchasing a primary residence. But there is enormous untapped value in understanding the investor's perspective. When an agent understands cash flow, cap rates, cost segregation, and tax strategy, they become far more valuable to a powerful and underserved client base. They can diversify their own business between retail transactions and investment properties, smoothing out the inevitable ups and downs of the market. And critically, they can begin investing for themselves, building a portfolio alongside the commissions they earn. The brothers also discussed how Mattias uses his own HELOC strategy to participate in syndications, illustrating how agents can put their equity to work in larger deals. The throughline is clear: financial literacy is not optional for the modern agent. It is a competitive advantage. ## Tax Strategy: The CPA Edge Given their accounting backgrounds, no conversation with the Sharp brothers would be complete without a deep dive into tax strategy, and this is where they deliver outsized value. They discussed cost segregation, a powerful tool that accelerates depreciation on a property by breaking it into components with shorter depreciable lives. Done correctly, cost segregation can produce substantial paper losses that offset income and dramatically reduce an investor's tax bill. They also touched on the coveted real estate professional status, a tax designation that, when properly qualified for, allows investors to use real estate losses to offset other forms of income. This is one of the most valuable tools in the tax code for serious investors, and it underscores why having team members with genuine tax expertise matters so much. The lesson for investors is that what you keep matters as much as what you earn. A deal that looks average on a pre-tax basis can become exceptional once smart tax strategy is applied. Most investors leave money on the table simply because they do not understand the tools available to them. ## Building a Business Without Burning Out A recurring concern throughout the episode was burnout, fitting, given that escaping corporate burnout is what launched the brothers into real estate in the first place. They were candid about the importance of building a sales team and delegating in order to scale sustainably. They discussed using a CRM like Follow Up Boss to manage relationships and stay organized, the power of social media reach as a sales tool, and the way specialization elevates your value proposition. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, the brothers advocate for dividing roles clearly, deploying agents, virtual assistants, and a defined operational structure so the business can grow without grinding its founders into the ground. Mattias added his own perspective on using CliftonStrengths assessments and AI to optimize team dynamics, a reminder that scaling a real estate business is as much about people and systems as it is about deals. Future hiring, the brothers emphasized, should be driven by ROI: bring on help when the math says the additional capacity will produce a return, not simply because you feel busy. ## The Golden Nugget: Wholesalers and Agents Working Together Near the end of the episode, the brothers shared a golden nugget that many agents overlook: wholesalers can be powerful partners for agents. Wholesaling partnerships can bring in solid leads and deal flow that an agent might never access through traditional channels. Rather than viewing wholesalers as competition, savvy agents can build relationships that benefit everyone, the wholesaler, the agent, and the end investor. It is a perfect encapsulation of the brothers' collaborative, systems-driven mindset. Wealth in real estate is rarely built alone. It is built through partnerships, networks, and a willingness to find the win-win. ## The Reality of Building Wealth In one of the most honest moments of the conversation, the brothers acknowledged a truth that gets glossed over in much of the real estate hype: building wealth often means being cash poor while you build. When you are aggressively reinvesting, funding down payments, covering rehabs, and scaling your portfolio, your bank account may not reflect the value you are creating. Equity and long-term wealth are being built, but the short-term picture can feel tight. This is an important expectation to set for anyone beginning the journey. The path to financial freedom through real estate is rarely a smooth, immediately lucrative ride. It requires discipline, patience, and a willingness to delay gratification, qualities the Sharp brothers clearly possess in abundance. Their recommended reading, Set for Life by Scott Trench, reinforces exactly this philosophy of disciplined wealth-building from the ground up. ## Key Takeaways The Sharp brothers' episode is a blueprint for the agent-investor who wants to build real wealth, not just close transactions. Start with house hacking to reduce your living costs and acquire your first properties with minimal capital. Consider co-living to multiply your cash flow on the properties you own. Learn the language of investment so you can serve a more sophisticated client base and invest for yourself. Apply CPA-level tax strategy, including cost segregation and real estate professional status, to keep more of what you earn. Build systems and a team so you can scale without burning out. And finally, embrace the reality that building wealth often means being cash poor in the short term while you create lasting equity for the future. ## Final Thoughts Harrison and Ben Sharp prove that you do not have to choose between financial expertise and bold action; the most powerful investors combine both. By pairing their CPA backgrounds with hands-on strategies like house hacking and co-living, they have built a real estate business designed to create freedom rather than another form of burnout. For agents and investors looking to follow a similar path, the message is encouraging: the tools are available, the strategies are proven, and the only thing standing between you and a real estate empire is the willingness to learn the numbers and take intentional action. To hear the full conversation, listen to this episode of The REI Agent Podcast and discover more inspiring stories and strategies at [reiagent.com](https://reiagent.com). ## Related Episode This post is based on Episode 92 of the WELLthy Investor Podcast. - [Listen to Episode 92](https://reiagent.com/episodes/) ## Links - [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@REIAgent/search?query=Harrison+Ben+Sharp) - [Full HTML version](https://reiagent.com/blog/harrison-ben-sharp-cubicles-to-coliving-empire/)