Renting to college students

[Wayde C Hall]

Good morning BiggerPockets! 

So today my question for you in how everyone feels about renting to the average college student. Being a college student myself I hope to use a mix between the househack and BRRR strategy for my first investment. Living in the Orlando area I see that multi-family homes aren't the easiest to get into for a beginner college investor like myself. I plan to rent out individual rooms in a single family home close to campus to pay for the mortgage while in school. Besides privacy can you see any huge drawbacks to this? What are some extra precautions I should take? I don't plan to pull the trigger till I've networked more in the area and have built a little more in funds for the investment.

All tips and pointers are greatly appreciated! 

[Nathan Gesner]

Renting to friends and family can be a recipe for disaster for someone that doesn't know what they're doing. It's a great way to ruin relationships and lose money.

You really need to know the law and have a good set of policies and procedures in place. Being able to tackle issues early on is key when sharing common space. Allowing anything to go too long will ruin the atmosphere. Make sure you know how to screen properly and have a solid lease that covers the normal Tenant issues (rent, deposit, noise, etc.) but also stuff that is unique to a roommate situation (shared common space, parking, noise, etc.).

It has potential to be a great opportunity if you are prepared.