Where to Start? Interested in Student Housing

Question

Hi Everyone,

I would like to gain some advice. I am looking to start my REI business with student housing. What advice would you give? I live in Morgantown, WV and once I have one up and running, I am looking at Huntington, WV. I want to expand west once I have a an effective system in place.

I am crafting a business plan for an LLC I will create to gain funding.

Where do you think is the best place to start?

Thanks,

Willie

Dave Poeppelmeier · Answer

Well, first and foremost, if you think the Students are "little bastards" then don't invest in Student Housing. I have found that Students treat my houses better than regular residents, especially since I give them a nice house to live in. Do you plan on self-managing or hiring Property Management? If you live in Morgantown then great, but there's no way you're going to be able to manage in Huntington, just looking at a map. The biggest thing is you need to know the culture of the college/university and it's housing market. When is the rental season? What do the students/owner pay for? Is one street a party street and one street over it's not student housing anymore? That will go a long way to being successful in Student Housing.

Patricia Steiner · Answer

I don't know if you've seen the predictions on market segments that may not recover from the pandemic but student housing is on the top of the list.  My recommendation would be to start there and then adapt your plan so it allows flexibility should that segment not fully recover.

Dave Poeppelmeier · Answer

@Willie Bradley sure pm me

Willie Bradley · Answer

@Dave Poeppelmeier can we have an offline chat about this? I want to pick your brain.

Andrew Hamilton · Answer

I’m in Morgantown as well, what do you think about some of the current properties on the market?

I always study rents in town to determine what a house that I’m purchasing might be able to turn around and rent for. A good study and analysis of the finished product - a rentable room or house - will probably give you a good idea of whether the home is priced where you can achieve positive cash flow. Understanding how much a house can rent for is really the first step if you are doing a buy-and-hold.

Then it comes to inspection, financing etc but doing that first will help you sort through a lot of overpriced properties.

Where to Start? Interested in Student Housing

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