All Forum Posts by: Ryan Thomson

Great idea @Nathan Maier! 

@Rayan Perez The house hack ROI is pretty sweet and a great way to get started.

Happy I could help @Emillio Henry! Student rentals are a great way to go though. Extra cashflow is nice. 

@Gabe Shapiro congrats on all the sacrifices you made to get where you are now. I know that must feel really good. 

@Emillio Henry I think adding bedrooms is the only thing you should prioritize. I would probably put a washer/dryer or two. Four seems excessive for 10 people. The rest of the things you mentioned, I strongly believe the tenants will take care of themselves. Don't overthink it!

@Mark Hirleman is doing a lot of student rentals in Colorado Springs. He might have some good advice for you as well. 

Hi @Larry Tuch maybe connect with the college transfers department to find students starting at the Spring Semester in January. 

I think having someone sign a lease until July is a great idea so you can work on getting a group that knows each other in there together August 1. 

With that being said, I have two properties near colleges that I planned on student renting. But I haven't needed to yet. I've had a lot of success finding young professionals to rent it month to month. I put my listings on Apartments.com and craigslist and I seem to get more quality inquiries from there. Much better than the "is it available" inquiries from Facebook. I am switching to longer term leases though as the month to month got a little annoying this year. 

@Zachary Beland have you considered asking the family if they would seller finance? Then you could buy your current home and continue to work on your DTI and savings and buy the duplex when you are ready.

Other option: Set up a rent to buy option with the person who owns it. Lock in a purchase price now. Rent it yourself or to tenants and then buy a duplex when you are ready.

The option I like best though is the house hack idea from @Eddie Brady . This would allow you to get into the duplex for 3-5% down and you can use the income from the other half to help you qualify. You would potentially live for free or make money (especially if you rented out the other bedrooms in your unit).

Then in a year you could do it again with a new duplex and easily rent out the unit you move out of in your first duplex. 

@Stephen DeFalco definitely agree with @Will Barnard. Also tell your friends and family and new people you meet, what you are trying to do. You never know who you'll run into that might also be interested or trying to do the same thing. 

@Patrick Q. I have a had a lot of luck with apartments.com. They post to several sites for you and then leads will message you when interested. I also have had a good experience with Craigslist. 

Also, good pictures and a good listing with clear instructions, go a long way.