Affordable Rooms + Support for Seniors: Dr. Keya Malhotra’s ResidAlly

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Keya Malhotra discusses the shift from co-living to nuclear family structures over the past century and the resulting epidemic of loneliness among seniors. She emphasizes the need to return to communal living arrangements to combat this issue, highlighting the benefits of intergenerational living for enhancing happiness and well-being.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Keya Malhotra’s Website
    • Keya Malhotra on Facebook
    • Keya Malhotra’s BBB
    • Keya Malhotra on LinkedIn
    • Keya Malhotra on Tiktok
    • Keya Malhotra’s Email Address: [email protected]
    • Keya Malhotra’s Contact: (210) 255-2222

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Keya Malhotra (00:00)
  we follow the basic rental prices in the market and then we reduce it by 20 to 30 percent based on the housing that is shared. So that calls for a reduction and that makes it affordable to begin with. And then, of course, all the utilities are covered, know, Wi-Fi and electricity. The tenant doesn’t have to pay anything additionally. It’s all encompassing rent.

  ⁓ They also don’t have to bring in furniture. you know, that really does save a lot of money for those tenants. When you see rental apartments, you know, all of that adds up and it makes it even more ⁓ unaffordable for the tenants a lot of times.

  Michelle Kesil (02:09)
  Hey everybody, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil and today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chatting with, Keya Malhotra, who’s been making serious moves developing a platform for seniors to have additional support with their extra rooms and their house, creating housing for people.

  and supporting the seniors. So excited to have you here on the show, Keya

  Keya Malhotra (02:40)
  Hi Michelle, I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

  Michelle Kesil (02:44)
  Awesome, I think our listeners are really going to take something away from your expertise in supporting seniors and creating more solutions for housing. let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your world, can you give us the short version of what your main focus is?

  Keya Malhotra (03:03)
  So I started a company called ResidAli. So I’m a doctor by origin and especially a geriatrician. I’ve been working with seniors for a long time and I felt ⁓ the need to develop an alternate option for seniors once they start aging and struggling at home rather than moving to assisted livings by selling their homes. I wanted to give them some kind of an alternative where they could continue to be in their own homes safely.

  And so we started this web platform called ResidAli and the platform allows them to rent out those extra bedrooms in their huge homes. Sometimes they have two or three or four bedrooms and those extra bedrooms aren’t being used by a lot of these single seniors or even a couple. And so they could rent those out for some extra income and at the same time get company and have some home sharing arrangements within the house itself where these tenants can also help them with house tasks.

  So we’ve created a platform that makes this whole thing happen and we as a company will facilitate the process for them, making it super easy and comfortable for them.

  Michelle Kesil (04:08)
  Awesome, I love it. Is this meant to be across all of the US or is it in only certain markets?

  Keya Malhotra (05:02)
  So we I live in Lubbock, Texas, which is a city in West Texas. which is where we first started it, but we are licensed to work all over Texas. So our ⁓ initial platform is only for Texas right now. And eventually we do plan to grow over the nation. But for now we are starting small.

  Michelle Kesil (05:22)
  Amazing what have been some of the keys to getting this business up and running

  Keya Malhotra (05:29)
  So I do still work as a doctor and I’ve taken this over as a side venture. And so, you know, it has taken a little while for me to get the web platform ready and we’ve used a company for the same and we have developed all our processes. And now in the last six months when we first launched on 1st March 2025, since then we have been in our beta testing phase.

  and we’ve had several homeowners sign up and we’re trying to make sure the platform works smoothly for them. We’ve taken care of any errors and now recently we have a few tenants on board too and we’re trying to match those two together and we just can’t wait till we get our first contract going.

  Michelle Kesil (06:13)
  Awesome, that’s exciting. So you just started with this. Are you currently experiencing any, ⁓ like what are you noticing with your first tenants through this beta round? How is it going with them?

  Keya Malhotra (06:27)
  So there are a lot of people looking for affordable rental. This is the main thing that I have realized. People are struggling because of high rental prices and shortage of housing as such, you know, especially definitely in this area, but all over the country, there’s a shortage of housing and, ⁓ you know, young people, especially students, young professionals, they end up spending more than 70 % of their income on rentals.

  And that leaves them with very little to save for their education or for growing in life. And so with reside ally we have created home sharing as a living option and that provides them with much more affordable rentals and they can save that money. In fact, they can save more by opting for house does to help these seniors and so they rent automatically gets reduced based on our computer algorithm. And you know that way they can save a lot more.

  and save it for college or for their education and grow in life for their eventual own home, you know, when they’re ready.

  Michelle Kesil (07:30)
  Yeah, that’s amazing. Such a good solution to help people on both sides. Are there any requirements for the people that are applying to rent the rooms? Is there anything that they need to have experience with to support these seniors?

  Keya Malhotra (07:45)
  Yeah.

  Right, so we definitely want them to have background checks, so we are we are teamed up with Trans Union for a triple background check for our tenants. So we do a federal criminal history check. We do a rental eviction history check and we do a financial credit check. So we make sure we have a complete background check on the tenants. So yes, they do have to do that. We also take their IDs and other documentation. They have to have a renter’s insurance.

  once they select the home. On the homeowners end, do through checker, we do a criminal background check. And again, we collect documentation. They do have to own their home. So they have to be living there and own their own home. And so we collect documentation for that. They have to have a homeowner’s insurance. Their home has to have the basic safety features like security alarm and you know. ⁓

  carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms. So they have to have those basic safety measures within the house. And on the bedroom that they lease out, we required them to have some basic furniture and that would require a bed and a nightstand. Now, if they have more, they can provide more. If they have less, that’s fine. But just those two pieces of furniture. And suppose they do not have that, then they can do an addendum to our lease agreement. And if the tenant is willing to bring that in, they can bring that in too.

  Michelle Kesil (09:08)
  Amazing. That is simple enough. Are the tenants meant to support the seniors in any way, like supervision, or it’s just in case an emergency happens?

  Keya Malhotra (09:56)
  So we know that these tenants aren’t trained clinically, so we don’t want them to be doing any personal care. So no bathing, dressing, none of that, because for that, of course, they would require somebody like a CNA or a nurse to come in if they ever required that kind of help. But ⁓ the tasks that we have listed, we’ve listed about nine tasks on our platform. So things like yard work or pet care.

  Michelle Kesil (10:01)
  Right.

  Keya Malhotra (10:22)
  or dishes or laundry or grocery shopping for the seniors. Or we also have an option of medication management where they can put those medicines out on a pill box for them based on the medication list that the doctor provides. So these are the kind of tasks the tenants can opt for. And these are simple tasks that anybody living with them at home, a family member would be able to do too. So it doesn’t require any extra skill or expertise. We make sure that those house tasks are listed in the lease agreement itself.

  so that they are carried forward and any violation of that and not being able to complete those house tasks does give them a warning and it can end their lease agreement if they don’t carry forward those tasks. So to answer your initial question, no, they are not liable for the homeowners. We do make sure that the homeowners are provided an emergency phone number that the tenants can call in cases of emergency, but.

  They could always call 911 if something serious happens in the home, just like anybody living in the family would.

  Michelle Kesil (11:26)
  Yeah, cool, that makes sense. I love that. And I’m assuming the tenant gets like a discounted rent versus, you know, what they would find just on the market.

  Keya Malhotra (11:37)
  Yes, exactly. So we follow the basic rental prices in the market and then we reduce it by 20 to 30 percent based on the housing that is shared. So that calls for a reduction and that makes it affordable to begin with. And then, of course, all the utilities are covered, know, Wi-Fi and electricity. The tenant doesn’t have to pay anything additionally. It’s all encompassing rent.

  ⁓ They also don’t have to bring in furniture. you know, that really does save a lot of money for those tenants. When you see rental apartments, you know, all of that adds up and it makes it even more ⁓ unaffordable for the tenants a lot of times.

  Michelle Kesil (12:16)
  Yeah, absolutely, the prices can get pretty high. So what are some of the goals that you have for this business, maybe when it comes to scaling?

  Keya Malhotra (12:22)
  Yeah.

  So we definitely want to first establish ourselves here in the Lubbock market this year. And after we have done that by next year, we hope to grow out in the rest of Texas. And once we have a good base in Texas, we plan to take it to other states. After that, we’ll see where it goes. We’re just starting out right now, but we are hoping to grow for sure.

  Michelle Kesil (12:53)
  Yeah, absolutely. Are there any challenges that you’re finding so far on your process of this business creation?

  Keya Malhotra (13:00)
  Definitely, that’s a good question. Yes, so, you know, co-living used to be a norm in the olden times and people have in the last 80 to 100 years ⁓ have gone into this nuclear family living situation and ⁓ they’re very worried about privacy and the culture has become such that people are worried about privacy. But at the same time, there’s an epidemic of loneliness and depression amongst these seniors.

  And they don’t realize that the only solution for that is to go back to the olden ways of living together. People are required for curing that loneliness epidemic. That is the only way. Now, you can do that with your peers, like in an assisted living where everybody’s the same age. But there are many studies to show that intergenerational living

  provides much more benefits to happiness and the happiness scores are much higher when people live with people of different age groups because that, ⁓ you know, mimics the normal society structure so much more.

  Michelle Kesil (14:09)
  Yeah, absolutely, there is definitely is a need for tribes and communities and it’s really something that’s missing in the US.

  Keya Malhotra (14:58)
  Yeah, and yeah, so that is the challenge. The cultural change that has taken place over the last several years and people realizing not realizing that there are other options and we want to create a safe platform where they can co live not necessarily with their own family members, but with others who are in need. In a safe way, so we want to give them that opportunity and that’s why we’ve created reside ally.

  Michelle Kesil (15:24)
  Yeah, amazing. What are some of the things that you have learned from this business creation?

  Keya Malhotra (15:31)
  ⁓ I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot. has been. It’s been a great journey so far. You know, coming from a medical background, I was not very familiar with technology and all the things business and you know whatever it takes to start a business and create a business, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it and you know I think ⁓ I’m still learning and there’s a long way to go and I am just enjoying that process of you know learning this aspect of things.

  Michelle Kesil (15:33)
  Yeah, I’m sorry.

  Keya Malhotra (16:00)
  ⁓ You know the shared economy is here to stay. Airbnb and Uber started it off and kicked it off and I think that is the way to utilize our existing resources ⁓ and you know share it with each other. But through the use of technology and platforms like this where people can leave reviews and you know provide some kind of a safeguard because based on the reviews you know exactly what’s going on. So transparency is created through.

  technology and you know I love that idea that you can do so much more with technology nowadays and definitely you know learning that has been amazing experience.

  Michelle Kesil (16:40)
  Yeah, definitely such a learning curve to go into a whole new industry.

  So where do you kind of see this business heading? I know you mentioned expanding beyond Texas and nationwide, but are there any other like new features or new facets that you have maybe ideas about?

  Keya Malhotra (17:02)
  Right, so you know there’s a lot of scope. Of course, you know once we start entering the homes for the seniors, you know we can help them in many other ways. There are changes that you can make in these homes to help them as in like creating the ramp when they cannot take the stairs or providing grab bars in the bathroom. And I know there’s a lot of home health companies that will go out there and help them with those kind of things. But yes, teaming up with those companies and you know providing

  more options for the seniors to continue living safely in their own homes. I think there’s a big area of opportunity there.

  Michelle Kesil (17:40)
  Yeah, absolutely, there’s so much that you can do.

  So what are some ways that you are growing your business or like creating a network around this?

  Keya Malhotra (17:52)
  So we are trying to market in person in the community along with digital marketing. So digital marketing, of course, we have to do, but we do realize a lot of these seniors are technologically challenged and ⁓ they may not be on Facebook or Instagram, but they might be reading the newspapers still or the traditional television, of course, but they go in person to a lot of places like senior centers or libraries or.

  community places or doctors offices. So we’re trying to network with organizations in the community to spread the word to these seniors and reach out to them and be able to find them. And ⁓ you know, definitely to the tenants and the children of these seniors who a lot of times are involved in that decision making process. So you know, we’re trying to do a two pronged approach where we reach out in person, but also digitally to them so they know more about it.

  Michelle Kesil (18:47)
  Yeah, that makes a lot of sense because, yeah, you don’t see many seniors on Instagram and TikTok and all those things.

  Keya Malhotra (18:54)
  Yes,

  yes, definitely.

  Michelle Kesil (18:57)
  Yeah, that’s so cool that you’re creating a new model for helping people and for housing.

  Awesome. So, before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more about everything that you’re doing, where can people find you and connect with you?

  Keya Malhotra (19:14)
  So you can look up on our website. It’s called residally.com. So R-E-S-I-D-A-L-L-Y residally.com. And you can call us. Our phone number is 210-255-2222. So it is a Manphone number. You can also email us at support at residally.com. So there’s several ways you can reach out.

  We are also on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn and TikTok and ⁓ Twitter. And so, yeah, we’re all over the social media. So, yeah, if you want to reach out to us in any of these ways, you’re welcome.

  Michelle Kesil (19:51)
  Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. Thank you for being here.

  Keya Malhotra (19:57)
  It was great chatting with you, Michelle. Thank you.

  Michelle Kesil (20:00)
  Of course. And for the listeners tuning in, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators just like Keya who are building real businesses. We’ll see you all on our next episode.