Frostburg Student Rentals
Good Morning!
I have been looking into buying a possible rental in Frostburg, MD which is home to Frostburg State University. I graduated from there in 2017 and many students, including myself, lived in off campus housing. I wanted to get some opinions on a few things;
- Renting to students in a college town (as first rental experience)
- Buying first rental 2.5 hours away from where you live
- Any experience renting in Frostburg or a similar small college town
- Buying a rental with a partner who is also a good friend
Feel free to share any experiences, good or bad, that you may think would be helpful.
Thanks! And Happy Holidays!
@Austin Whitcomb my initial reaction to your post:
Big Pro: It'll be easier for you to manage students because you're closer to their age and will know what to expect.
Big Con: It'll be harder because you're young and they might not respect you because of your age (this was my experience as I started when I was 25).
This thread may be helpful: Nearing 1,000 College Students: Here's What I've Learned
I live relatively close to Frostburg (just inside WV below Cumberland MD), and I have been considering that market as well. I'm about ready to get my foot in the door of rentals as well, have some cash reserves saved up now.
Here's what I keep coming back to, does the goal I have set for myself realistically include student housing? Do I want to deal with it?
You said you're 2.5 hours away, so you'll either need a good set of boots on the ground, or be here kind of often. Would you plan on hiring a management company? You said you'll be buying with a good friend, would that person be local? Does that person have any experience or knowledge of rentals already?
Rentals, in general, are obviously a learning curve, but the angle of that curve steepens when it's for student housing. There's just more of everything. More turn overs, more renters, more repairs, and more money (if done correctly). Of course, the best advice you'll be given is going to be local advice from people who are doing it already. I hope they chime in. I think Bill Kenny owns (or used to own) some rentals up there. I'll tag him here and see if he's willing to chime in. @Bill Kenny
Read as many books as you can get your hands on. I personally use audible, cause why not. I recently went through "Landlording on Autopilot" and it was great.
Best of luck, Dakoda.
@Will Thanks so much for the link! I got a lot of great info from that thread.
I have some experience in managing people who are my age and older so I totally understand the respect factor. I've learned that you have to show respect to earn it.
Luckily I do know how they act and what to expect. But I also have seen somethings as a college student that makes me weary of renting to college students.
Thanks again!
@Dakoda
Luckily I have quite a few connections in Frostburg that would be more than willing to keep an eye on my properties or swing by if necessary. Unfortunately, none of them have real estate experience, and since I am very new to this I am hesitant to have a property 2.5 hours away as my first investment.
The friend lives in the same area as I do, is a new real estate agent and was the one that got me into learning more about Real Estate Investment.
My plan as of now is to try to get more experience, hopefully more local for now and see how this whole pandemic wrap up affects the market and colleges. What are your takes on how/if student rentals will be affected by online learning?
Thanks!
@Austin Whitcomb the question about student rentals being impacted by online learning is a good one. I think it will see a change for sure, but how much of a change I have no good way of adding input to that. I do, however, believe that rentals in general will be a great investment going forward, especially because of the pandemic. With all the individuals moving back in with their parents, there will be things like storage space and rentals coming in higher demand. Frostburg is a nice place, but a lot of those places exist because of the constant flow of students. If things the students dried up, a lot of the money would as well. For that reason, I'm trying to focus my research efforts more on areas that have skilled laborers and hospitals. Those I don't see going away anytime soon, and for this area, those are the parents to the students. So these areas I believe are likely to see an incline for demand.
I'd suggest watching Ken McElroy on YouTube. He puts out really good videos that I believe are worth the time. His book is good, too.
-Dakoda
In 2018, I purchased a quadplex in Frostburg. Overall, it’s been a good experience but I have some reservations about investing more in that area. Regardless of the pandemic conditions, my biggest challenge has been with finding contractors. I own a duplex in Hagerstown which is somewhat similar to Montgomery County where you can throw a rock a hit a carpenter, a plumber, a landscaper, an HVAC guy and a slew real estate agents with the same rock. Forget about Yelp, Angie’s List or Task Rabbit, I’ve only been able to find competent contractors by word of mouth. I got to know all of my neighbors and their referrals have worked out well. The problem is, the good ones are often busy.
I was quoted 12% and higher by 3 local property management companies. I ended up finding a good fit with one out of Winchester, Virginia. My advice is shop around and find a PM that you like and can work with you rather than for you.
The pace of things is little bit different. In my experience, maybe because it’s a rural area, but I do not expect people to call me back the same day. I get better results with texting and worse with email. This is probably universal but you have to figure out how best to communicate with people before settings any expectations.
All of my tenants have been really good. I inherited all of them who were also long-term residents (5 years+). I feel this actually helped when I first bought the place because I didn’t really need to update anything. In fact, I’m refurbishing the first vacant unit now with the carpenter who travels from Frederick, MD.
I hope this helps. I don’t frequent BP as often as I’d like but the information here has been invaluable.
Regards,
Bob
Thanks for this @Bob Chang. I’d be interested in exploring opportunities in frostburg. In my experience rural sub markets can offer more tenant stability and more cash flow than than places like Frederick and Hagerstown. Waynesboro, PA is one I’m finding continued success in. Would you mind sharing your property manager and contractors info? I’ve used “home duty” out of Frederick for a few things in chambersburg PA. They were honest, fast, and good.
I own 2 properties in Frostburg and it is a great place to own rental properties. I have never had difficulty renting the properties. I actually have them for sale. More because I have fixed them up and I am focused on another area of new home builds. I will second that finding contractors was difficult though. Feel free to pm me of any questions on my experience there.
Student housing is a really good investment if you know what you're doing and a really bad investment if you don't know what you're doing. I've been investing in student housing in Frostburg for 29 years. My apts are the new red buildngs across from campus...I think we might have been building them when you were there. You have an advantage, because you understand the Frostburg student housing market and the differences between the different streets and houses. You're negative is that you are 2 1/2 hours away and you're brand new. The one thing that makes people fail, is they think that if they read some student housing books and podcasts, they're now an expert in student housing. I'm not saying not to read them, just realize, it will make you only 50% knowledgeable. Each university is completely different and you have to understand the housing dynamics for that university, so books and podcasts can't dive deep into each universities strategies. If you are planning on investing in Frostburg, you really need someone local in Frostburg that understands student housing to manage your properties, plus that can steer you in the right direction, based on your investment strategy, to buy the correct student housing.
@Steve Potash
My husband and I were looking into investing in Frostburg last year but opted not to. We were told that students were supposed to live on campus longer and they were building more student housing. This that correct?
Frostburg requires freshman and sophmores to live on campus, while the majority of juniors, seniors and grad students live off campus. They just built a new dorm, but one of their older dorms had a lot of issues and needs a huge expensive renovation, so its been shut down.
I’m super glad that I found this. I’m in Baltimore and I’ve been looking at an 18 unit apartment building in Cumberland that’s 96% occupied and cash flowing well in Cumberland. Since 15 of the 18 units are occupied i began struggling with the contractor aspect as well and finding an appraiser out there because we would love to pick this property up.
I definitely love the town-like feel of Hagerstown and Cumberland
I think the big thing to understand is considering its student rentals the amount of leasing and the contractor issue of a small town.
For 18 units the idea of friends doing even partial duties of a pm sounds great but if you are asking someone to do some form of work bc your friends will have its limits. The leasing will be the big thing. Do not trust the tenants to get there replacements. That could be the root of a lot of prpblems. Pay someone local to Frostburg to do that a full leasing fee not just for showings so you dont gave to pay them as much or they wont care. The rest of it may be possible to run remotely. Also like others have said really work on your contractor relationships bc finding replacements isn't so easy like in or near a big city.
You might or might not know this, but even though cumberland is within 15 minutes of Frostburg, students in frostburg normally don't live in cumberland, so you can't value a cumberland property the same way you value a Frostburg property.
Is it still good to invest in Frostburg what do you think/? For rental purposes tring to start a new bussinessguys Thanks!!
Quote from @Marylynn B.:
I own 2 properties in Frostburg and it is a great place to own rental properties. I have never had difficulty renting the properties. I actually have them for sale. More because I have fixed them up and I am focused on another area of new home builds. I will second that finding contractors was difficult though. Feel free to pm me of any questions on my experience there.
Hi., My Husband and I were thinking about buying property in Frostburg to rent to students. Do you know if there is a lack of housing for the students? Or will it be hard to find students to rent the house out?