Student Housing and UTSA
I was just up to Abilene recently and was blown away by how many single family homes Abilene Christian University owns around the university and the amounts that they charge students for these. While there are no SFH's as close to campus at UTSA as they are at ACU, is there a market in San Antonio for student housing in SFH's or is the market too saturated with apartments and the distance from campus too great?
I'll be up at UTSA to drop off my daughter over Memorial Day weekend. I am curious now.
@Kim Koster Many of the smaller homes in the Hills and Dales neighborhood (Outside 1604, just off Babcock) as well as the Oxbow & Babcock Place neighiborhoods (Babcock & Prue Rd) are single family rentals for UTSA students. That being said, UTSA is still a heavy commuter campus with many students living elsewhere in the city or in multi-unit apartments complexes. If you want to capture students as tenants, I'd suggest looking around the medical center: older students, more career-minded and graduate focused. Typically higher income or stipend and less wear and tear on the property.
The Med Center area is actually where I have been focusing, but it seems like prices are high enough there to make it difficult to make the numbers work well unless I do a rehab.
I am a graduate of UTSA, and my friends and I all lived in single family homes after our freshman year. We lived in areas as close as College Park and the homes all on Hausman to the Oxbow and as far as houses off of 1604 and Bandera. When we were looking for a house (in 2010) not many property management or owners were willing to accept students as tenants.
I recently moved back to San Antonio and have been thinking of looking to invest in the area but just have not taken the time to go drive the neighborhoods for any potential deals. I think there is potential there but in the last few years the amount of apartments going up has been impressive.
I still think you could market your property a certain way that would attract student tenants, just not sure you are willing to deal with that type of tenant.
@Kim Koster, the multi-family growth around UTSA or "La Cantera" area has exploded over the last 4 year. Some are high end and luxury and other are specifically student centered. The corporate multi-family folks saw the need and opportunity a long time ago.