How to determine rent price to college students

Question

I'm looking at at fixer upper tri plex near a college in my hometown. I'm looking for advice on how to determine what rental income would be for college students. Is it best to charge per student, or per unit? And what resources are available to know what that price should be? I also understand that during the summer break, I may not have tenants.

Dave Poeppelmeier · Answer

@Steve Williams, Student Rentals definitely command higher rents, but you really have to know what the geographical Student Housing areas are and the rental culture of the school. @Will Gaston and myself have commented lots on this topic, but I would recommend finding out who owns Student Rentals in your town and talk to them about what a 2/3/4/5 bedroom rents for, when the leasing season is (Fall vs Spring) for the next school year, and what do students expect (nice house like their parent's or bombed out party houses). Once you get that information, you can start to plan for making your rental Student Housing. One thing that I would recommend, is whoever you put in your rental, make the lease revolve around the Academic Calendar, starting in August or September. That way, if a non-student moves out, you don't have an empty house in January sitting empty until the next school year starts. Finally, put everyone on one lease. You don't want to rent by the room for a little extra profit and have 3/4/5 leases in a house, when you can have everyone on one lease that is responsible for everything as a group. As a group, if one person isn't paying their rent, they'll get on them so they all don't get kicked out! Best of luck to you.

Patrick Drury · Answer

@Steve WilliamsTypically you calculate rent by each bedroom. However, if beds are in the attic, they will probably pull in lower rent than those on the first or second floor. Unlike other rentals typically fine to have rooms through rooms these are college kids.

Ran Iarovich · Answer

listen to this guy is the best advice i can give

Yael Lederman · Answer

There shouldn't be a difference between renting to college students or anyone else. Do a simple rental comps analysis and make sure to have a standard lease per unit, not per student. You don't want to have to get involved in roommate disputes and possible room vacancies that might arise.

Christopher Liu · Answer

@Dave Poeppelmeier

I own student rentals and your advice is pure gold. Couldn’t agree with you more.

Will Gaston · Answer

Steve, some version of this would probably work.

1. Go to the Facebook Off-Campus housing page for your Univ (most schools have this)

2. Look for listings that are in similar locations/conditions of your subject property

3. If you can't glean enough info this way, find a Landlord that posts on there & ask if they feel like your pricing estimate is accurate

(if you ask humbly and in a nice way, most ppl in real estate are pretty helpful)

Account Closed · Answer

If you have MLS access, try and run rental comps on that property. Use a ~1 mile radius with similar properties in terms of square footage and number of beds/bathrooms. Could also use Rentometer.

Eliott Elias · Answer

You can only charge what the market bears. Run a CMA to see what & how your competition charges tenants.

Trevor Richardson · Answer

Student housing rents per bedroom. I would research other listings to determine the going $/bed.

Also you don’t have to have vacancies during summer. Sign an annual lease just like market rate tenants, but lease up during the summer so if the students transition next year you are set for the incoming round of new students. Talk to a property manager that knows student rentals. They will screen better or provide little moves like having parents co-sign leases.

How to determine rent price to college students

How to determine rent price to college students

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