Renting to College Students in Tallahassee (or wherever)

[Titus Hill]

Hello,

I am a newbie and this is my first Biggerpockets post, but I am excited about the possibilities of building a portfolio of passive rental income investments. I am especially interested in investing in rental houses in Tallahassee, FL. I graduated from FSU about 9 years ago. After that I moved to Jacksonville where I have been successfully working as a Tax Accountant. I have always wanted to own rental units in Tallahassee as I see an opportunity to rent by the room to college students from FSU, FAMU, and/or TCC. I am interested in discussing this process with anyone that is currently in this market in Tallahassee or anyone that is currently investing in rentals by the room to college students in other places. 

Thanks 

[Doug Hall]

Titus, welcome. I live here in Tallahassee and am working on getting into the market here, as well. At first, I thought the student rental market was a no brainer here, but after talking to a couple close friends, I'm not so sure. They tell me there have been some massive student oriented apartment complexes build over the last couple years that have flooded the market with more beds than there are interested students to rent them. I've seen them go up, but hadn't put it together in my head before talking to them. One has a few duplexes almost across from the business school section of campus. Prime area for student rentals and she's never had more than a transitional vacancy in the 10 plus years she's rented them till this year. The other friend I talked to actually works locally in housing and had similar observations.

That said, this is a great market from what I can tell in the numbers I find. I not by any means an expert, but I would suggest having alternative outs planned for anything you might buy for a student rental in case a project doesn't pan out.

I've recently found the Tallahassee Investors Network and those guys put together a great gathering once a month that I'd highly recommend you make the trip over for. There's a ton of good experience in the room and folks looking to help. I joined after my first meeting in September and can't say enough good things about Mark and Camille, who organize it all.

Best of luck! Tallahassee is a great town.

Doug...

fyi:

https://tin.wildapricot.org/