Renting to college students in Orlando FL while house hacking
Member since 2018 · 37 posts · 2 votes
Hey BP community. I have an idea I want to present to you for advice and guidance. I'm a recent college graduate in HVAC. I want to pursue REI in Orlando because I got a job offer there for HVAC and I want to target College students. I was thinking of living in one room and renting out the others since I myself am young and I really prefer to house hack to save money. I'm relocating to Orlando from NJ I don't have an exact date yet but soon. The plan is to find a property near one of the Universities in Orlando that's also close to Disney, Universal and or Sea world. Reason being I wanted to do Airbnb to families during the summer for more income, I want to find a property 4BR 1-2BR with a pool so it's not so difficult to be rented out on Airbnb and so college students can see it as nice and laid back. That's the Idea roughly planned out. I understand what I want to do. I need advice how to break it down and go about tackling each step moving forward to be able to execute this properly.
Thank you in advance!
I think everyone hit it in the head. Airbnb and roommates are two different business models.
You said you need a place to live, where you going to live when you rent your entire home out?
A college student versus a family have very different needs for furniture and cookware and location.
Short term rentals in the Orlando area are focused on the south western side of town (Disney and universal) and UCF is the on the Eastern side. No one will want to commute an hour to school and no family will rent a short term rental over an hour away from Disney.
Figure out what you want to focus on. This isn’t a mixed use commercial thing you are looking for. If you need a home then house hack (duplex, roommates). Once you have money and a system in place then start doing Airbnb. But two are very different places on the real estate spectrum.
You are making something simple complicated. College students often make poor tenants.
Skip the plan, skip the word hacking, if you are going to Airbnb than Airbnb. For Heaven's Sake, why would you try to fill the house with college students during peak season for short-term rentals?
I think you might be stretching yourself regarding Airbnb and college students. Some college students sign yearly leases because they still go to school during the summer or participate in local internships, at least at UCF, which is the largest college in the state. I see a lot, and I mean, A LOT of students trying to sublease their rooms out as well so you need to be prepared for that. I also feel like a lot of college students are whiny and entitled. I started school at 26 and graduated from UCF at 30 and can tell you most students could care less about anything that is not theirs and think landlords are evil capitalists for wanting money to repair problems they caused.
I'm not trying to disparage you because you'll probably get your rent paid for by the 3 students renting from you. I see them paying anywhere from $450+utilities to $700+utilities to rent rooms without a pool compared to paying $800-$1200/mo for 4/4 apartments.
Some students who rent rooms come from families with money so their parents can co-sign as well.
I have heard both good and bad stories from landlords who have college student tenants. You have to be very diligent with your screening, look into co-signing with the student's parents and possibly have a larger security deposit in case they damage the property in any way. As Robert said in an earlier post, there is no shortage of students in the area being that UCF is such a large school, but always do your due diligence.
This idea sounds like a trainwreck in the making. SMH.
This idea sounds like a trainwreck in the making. SMH.
Any useful advice...
I have heard both good and bad stories from landlords who have college student tenants. You have to be very diligent with your screening, look into co-signing with the student's parents and possibly have a larger security deposit in case they damage the property in any way. As Robert said in an earlier post, there is no shortage of students in the area being that UCF is such a large school, but always do your due diligence.
Yes I definitely will need to Thank you for the reply
I think you might be stretching yourself regarding Airbnb and college students. Some college students sign yearly leases because they still go to school during the summer or participate in local internships, at least at UCF, which is the largest college in the state. I see a lot, and I mean, A LOT of students trying to sublease their rooms out as well so you need to be prepared for that. I also feel like a lot of college students are whiny and entitled. I started school at 26 and graduated from UCF at 30 and can tell you most students could care less about anything that is not theirs and think landlords are evil capitalists for wanting money to repair problems they caused.
I'm not trying to disparage you because you'll probably get your rent paid for by the 3 students renting from you. I see them paying anywhere from $450+utilities to $700+utilities to rent rooms without a pool compared to paying $800-$1200/mo for 4/4 apartments.
Some students who rent rooms come from families with money so their parents can co-sign as well.
Yeah I suppose the whole swapping in between is the issue. I would like to do Airbnb I just want consistency with income that’s why I was thinking of doing both and switching off. I can probably do Airbnb to start off
You are making something simple complicated. College students often make poor tenants.
Skip the plan, skip the word hacking, if you are going to Airbnb than Airbnb. For Heaven's Sake, why would you try to fill the house with college students during peak season for short-term rentals?
I’ve heard both good and bad stories on college tenants. The idea is to switch to Airbnb if they decide they’re not staying the summer. Thanks for the reply mate!
Yeah I suppose the whole swapping in between is the issue. I would like to do Airbnb I just want consistency with income that’s why I was thinking of doing both and switching off. I can probably do Airbnb to start off
I think you might be stretching yourself regarding Airbnb and college students. Some college students sign yearly leases because they still go to school during the summer or participate in local internships, at least at UCF, which is the largest college in the state. I see a lot, and I mean, A LOT of students trying to sublease their rooms out as well so you need to be prepared for that. I also feel like a lot of college students are whiny and entitled. I started school at 26 and graduated from UCF at 30 and can tell you most students could care less about anything that is not theirs and think landlords are evil capitalists for wanting money to repair problems they caused.
I'm not trying to disparage you because you'll probably get your rent paid for by the 3 students renting from you. I see them paying anywhere from $450+utilities to $700+utilities to rent rooms without a pool compared to paying $800-$1200/mo for 4/4 apartments.
Some students who rent rooms come from families with money so their parents can co-sign as well.
Yeah I suppose the whole swapping in between is the issue. I would like to do Airbnb I just want consistency with income that’s why I was thinking of doing both and switching off. I can probably do Airbnb to start off
Here's the issue with AirBNB: you want to live there. A family renting a house to stay in while at Disney is a) going to want something really close to Disney (and there's plenty of options, do some research on AirBNB and check them out), and b) isn't going to want to share.
You can always get traditional roommates, or if you want to pull in a bit extra, look into renting to traveling nurses/other professionals. You'll have to provide furnished rooms in that case, but you'll almost certainly get better tenants than college students, and if you get a bad egg, they'll be gone in a few months anyway.
I think everyone hit it in the head. Airbnb and roommates are two different business models.
You said you need a place to live, where you going to live when you rent your entire home out?
A college student versus a family have very different needs for furniture and cookware and location.
Short term rentals in the Orlando area are focused on the south western side of town (Disney and universal) and UCF is the on the Eastern side. No one will want to commute an hour to school and no family will rent a short term rental over an hour away from Disney.
Figure out what you want to focus on. This isn’t a mixed use commercial thing you are looking for. If you need a home then house hack (duplex, roommates). Once you have money and a system in place then start doing Airbnb. But two are very different places on the real estate spectrum.
This idea sounds like a trainwreck in the making. SMH.
Any useful advice...
Efficient Market Theory says that you are not going to make excess returns on a continual basis by renting out rooms to college students. You'll break even. If it's a 4 bedroom house and you rent out 3 rooms, keeping one to yourself, you'll get about 75% of your total monthly rent from your renters. If you try to raise your rates, they will stay empty because potential renters are going to somewhere else that costs them less.
@Eric C. This is a great response. I live right near UCF and also have a rental near Disney so am very familiar with both areas. Everything Eric said is right on the money as far as distance and focus of your business goes.
Hi @Franklin Marte-
While I see difficulty with short term rentals (AirBNB) and having roommates combined for reasons other have stated. I thought I would give you some additional information to consider. First- there is a 'home sharing' ordinance in Orlando to be aware of and abide by. Please see this article here for a brief on that: http://www.cityoforlando.net/news/2018/08/city-of-orlandos-home-sharing-ordinance-allows-residents-to-rent-a-portion-of-their-home-to-guests/
After graduating college I followed a similar plan to you. I bought a house (3BR/2BA)for $170K in a suburb of Kansas City. My mortgage was $1100/month. I lived in the master and rented out the two other bedrooms successfully at $550 a piece (rent was inclusive of utilities). So essentially I covered my mortgage and my only costs were the utilities for the house. Eventually I finished the basement adding another bedroom and bath which allowed. As it was a private area with it's own living room I rented it for $800 a month and that completely covered my utilities. I feel I was successful because I never rented to college kids but rather targeted young professionals like myself to ensure they had a job to cover the cost of rent themselves. I agree with others that college tenants are risky and unlikely to have money to pay themselves without a parent co-signing.
Since I've moved to Orlando I stopped renting the house by room (too hard to manage the potential drama without being there in person) and instead rent the house as a whole to families.
Good luck to you!