All Forum Posts by: Tyler Ansell

We have a ton of international students that live here. Though there is higher flight risk, they also have a great incentive to stay. Most of mine have the government from their country paying their education. 

We verify legal status in the US by I-20 and passport. As for the financials we verify via F-1.

If you're going to have a contractor of some sort go to your property I would make sure they have the tenants info to contact/schedule with. If the company seems reputable and isn't some guy in a van then you probably don't need to worry too much. Just think, these guys are in people's houses all the time. 

As far as the plumbing. Is there another bathroom in the residence? If so, then no action necessary-they can use the other toilet/shower etc. However, if this place only has 1 bathroom you absolutely have an obligation to provide them with plumbing. In this case, I would do absolutely everything you can to reconnect in 1 day.

We just had a leak way behind a bathroom vanity and had to rip out all vanity, sink, cabinets, drywall and concrete block etc. Real pain in the butt. Being a 1 bathroom apartment we "mocked up" the bathroom when we were finished for the day so they could still use it. Then the next day we went back in, re-removed everything and finished the job.

Make sure there aren't any restrictions on unrelated occupants. Then you should be ready to start developing a plan. Let me know if you have any student specific questions.

@Gerald Kirk

What my students always talk about as being important things to them are:

Location-can I walk to class, is there a school (not public) bus system that has a pickup near me, if I have to drive how far is it, is it an easy enough drive at odd hours of the day (8am, 2:30pm, 7:50pm etc).

How easy is it to live here-do I have to set up electric, water, internet and subsequently pay 7 different bills instead of just worrying about 1? How does maintenance work? Can I do things online or through text? 

Floorplan-If you are going to rent by the bedroom, you have to consider the bathroom situation too. My units all match up 3/3, 2/2 etc. If not, then you're going to sign someone to a lease for a bedroom space in your home and they have to share the bathroom as well as the rest of the house...it is less desirable. 

Students that are renting SFR here are renting as a conventional tenant with parental co-sign OR big deposits. Students that rent apartments 99% of my market are renting with bathrooms.

No idea, just know from homes around Tampa that I've seen. @Jonathan Safa

Most SFR in my area rent with basic kitchen appliances, fridge/stove but that's it. Hardly any dishwashers and very few W/D around.

House hacking is probably the easiest way to get started. If you can qualify for a home, maybe with some help from relatives and rent out the other rooms to your friends you can really get a taste for how it works! Good luck!

One of the first things to determine is if you'll rent by the bedroom or not. If not then you should really treat your rental as a conventional "rent the whole house" deal. They'll need to qualify with income etc, if they have trouble qualifying that's when you can bring in parents to co-sign or act as guarantors.

@Andrea Nielson 

@Anthony Angotti is on the right track. You want to make it a "rule" of your company. Not at all to be advertised or otherwise marketed because I'm sure you know that gender is one of the Fair Housing Protected classes. Thus you couldn't discriminate against a male who wanted to lease except in the case where you don't have availability in a male unit. At another property we did allow co-ed but all tenants AND all parents/guarantors had to sign off acceptance AND they had to completely fill the unit ie all 4 rooms had to be signed for.

......One thing I just reread in your original post was if you're going to rent the whole house out on 1 lease then you probably don't have much ground to stand on...

One word of caution on tenting, it is not guaranteed that termites will not come back. They will willingly guarantee that they will come back out and re-service if necessary but they will never guarantee that no more termites will be present for the next year(s) or whatever. Think about it, if you tent your house and kill all the termites then 3 months later the termites that were next door swarm to yours...guess what, you've got termites again. 

Actual Experience: Dealt with this previous Spring where new swarms kept coming from neighboring apartment complex to mine.