"On campus" Investing

[Benjamin Eccles]

Hello all, I am wondering if anyone has had experience and/or success doing rentals on/near college campuses. It seems like a great idea to me to get into a 4 unit apartment fill it with college students who are willing to pay a premium to live near campus with all of their friends. My university, for example, only offers a few apartment complexes that students can move into after their time in the dorms. As long as the university has enrollment, there will be a need for more housing around campus other than the university owned apartments. Am I off base with this proposal? Is there some glaring problem with this that I'm missing or are college kids just really that bad of tenants? I don't see much on the forums about university rentals! Let me know your thoughts! Thanks, - Ben

[Brian Sherman]

I have rental property in college towns. The pricing is competitive and 3-5 large operators tend to control the flow of available properties for sale and overall inventory but smaller units can be found with hard work. My suggestion for finding these one off properties is contacting long term owners directly that self manage their properties.

In terms of leasing it is wise to rent room individually and have each parent co sign a surety agreement to secure rent. For example an apartment with 2 bedrooms should have 2 leases, 1 for each bedroom.