student housing fair rent

[Radhika Akella]

HI,

I'm brand new in the real estate investing! I am planning to purchase a single family home , 4 bedrooms near a University and it is great location and turn key. How do I go about making sure I am allowed to :

1.rent to atleast 8 kids --2 per room

2. charge atleast $850 (without utilities )-950 (with utilities) per "door/bed".

3. I would need to charge for 12 months to avoid vacancy

I am concerned that though I want to furnish and provide a 2 car garage and cleaning once a month---if I increase the rent --then I may not get enough tenants. 

The current dorm rent at university is around $995/ month for 12 months (calculated).

any and all advice is welcome!

[Theresa Harris]

I would not put 2 people per room-do 1 per room.  I doubt you have the kitchen or bathroom space to support 8 people.  Also call your insurance company and many will only all up to 3 unrelated people living there.

As for rent, it depends on your area, see what others are renting for, but $850 for a shared room seems extremely high and do you think your utilities will run $800 a month?  For the dorm rooms, what do they include and are they for a shared room or not?  Do they include a meal plan?  Also remember those are for 8 months, so they may have higher rent and also are in a prime location relative to their classes and furnished.

I looked up rents in dorms where I went to school (Vancouver, so a very highest cost of living) and a shared room (without the meal plan is $5.2K for 8 months-so ~$650/month), single rooms with private baths are about $1K a month....on a floor with 30 people.  Go to a shared apartment (6 people per unit who share a very small kitchen, living space and bathroom-with double sinks, separate shower and toilet-ie multiple people can use it at the same time) and a room is $1K.  Again these are furnished and include cleaning of the common space once a week.