I dont know that market, but I rent to students. I think it depends on the type of housing- pure student housing or housing that could also be market rate?
I like renting to students as they always have parents paying, they rent out months in advance and turn over every year
I'm still reluctant. I have a 20-unit complex 1 mile from Texas A&M University. The university employs 17,000 people and there are several other large employers in the area. I may not turn away a college student, but right now I am not actively marketing to them. I may become more open to it.
@Tony Castronovo the only issue I had with students was the group i inherited when I bought the property. Most of the kids are serious kids that take excellent care of their units. I would rent more of my units to students but most everyone that rents from me stays!
@Christopher Fawls one thing I've always heard is that you want to make sure you have the parents cosign the lease. If the kids turn out to not be responsible, the parents almost certainly will be.
While I believe there's a bigger advantage with houses in student markets (because you can make lots of bedrooms) I think multifamily work too unless the market is overbuilt.
Hi @Christopher Fawls - we get this question a lot. The student segment of our rental market here in Blacksburg is certainly appealing, as there are 20-some thousand of them and demand is high. Supply, as well, is somewhat high, and my $.02 is that the supply of undergraduate rentals keeps downward pressure on rent prices. Conversely, demand for these types of properties hasn't really eased, so price increases are outpacing rents, and they're not the investments they once were.
In markets like ours, the real opportunity seems to be (okay, my $.02 again, so we're up to $.04) single-family housing for graduate-professionals. We have an undersupply of this at the moment, so I'm encouraging my investors - and I followed this advice earlier this year as well - to look for single-family properties they could turn into a duplex and rent that to the graduate-professional who isn't looking to be around undergrads. We're also looking for solid single-family properties under $300,000, as well. These renters tend to pay a little more per bedroom than the undergraduate crowd.
Happy to discuss this more, online or off. Just talked with someone else from BP about this very thing late last week - popular topic!
Student rentals are highly local and specialized, so I'd recommend finding someone in Blacksburg who has lots of experience. I've been doing student rentals for 14 years now and I shudder to think what it would be like to get in this business with little to no knowledge. One of the biggest mistakes I made was trying to figure it out all by myself in the beginning.