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Updated over 7 years ago, 07/20/2017
NicheMarkets. Mult-Family in college town and near military bases
Hello I'm a newbie. I'm interested in multi-family investing. Has anybody done niche investing like college towns or near military bases. Any tips or things to look out for? Looking in Georgia right now.
Hello Katherine,
I have student housing in Atlanta. Emory University is a great area. Also, consider areas around GA State, GA Tech and the AU center. Kennesaw State is a great area for student housing as well.
Hello Eva. Do you have multi-family housing or SFD. Do you have any tips. Do students normally rent over the summer? Do they take care of the property? Do you typically do 6month or 1 year leases? Do you have any property in Statesboro near GA Southern?
Hi Katherine,
I'm a local Realtor here in Statesboro, GA and I can safely say that there is not a better rental market than right here.
Good Afternoon,
I am a realtor here in Athens. The market is Hot here and the city and counties around are growing rapidly!
Hello Ryan and Sean. Thanks for reaching out and providing information. Not sure how to send you guys a private message so I can get your contact info. I'm looking at something right now in Statesboro and can use your expertise Ryan. I am interested in Athens as well. Sean what is the best zip codes to look in Athens?
Hi @Katherine Lankford I can tell you a secondary/ tertiary market of dallas that’s on fire and meets your criteria from the stand point of it being in a college town and near military bases, its Waco, Tx, that’s a bit away from you but if you are already out of state investing, it wouldn’t hurt to do some due diligence on that market and see if it’s a market you want to pursue/interests you! I hope this helps and good luck!
Chibuzor
Hi @Katherine Lankford- My group buys student housing and funny you mention Georgia... We just closed on a 36 unit/144 bed deal in Fort Valley.
@Katherine Lankford, overall Georgia is a great place to invest in multifamily (good demographic trends, business friendly, etc.). and as @Ryan Beasley and @Eva Oliver alluded to, there are lots of small, good markets scattered around the state.
While I own a lot of multifamily, I am not a student housing expert. However, as long as you manage it properly student housing can be extremely stable, reliable, and recession resistant. There are tons of smaller, good schools scattered all over the state that would make for good student housing investments.
I would be a little more careful with military housing, and even towns where the economy is heavily dependent on the military base. While military cuts seem unlikely in the next 4 years, even something as simple as troop deployment (North Korea anyone?) or realignment can have a major impact. For example, last year a couple thousand troops were moved away from Fort Benning in Columbus, GA. For properties near the fort, this had a major impact as those troops and their families suddenly left (military personnel are allowed to break their lease if the move is due to the military. So, if your property is 50% military tenants, it's possible your vacancy can go up 50% almost overnight!). But here's where it gets really interesting: guess what the base did with their empty on-base housing? You got it - they started renting it to the public at way below market rents just to have them full. How do you think that affected nearby apartment owners?
Finally, lenders tend to be a bit wary of properties that have a "concentration" of any particular group such as student, section 8, military, etc. So be prepared to possibly have to work harder to find a good loan.
Personally, I don't invest in military dependent properties, or small towns that are heavily dependent on a base or single industry that could shut down and kill the town's economy. I'm not saying don't buy a property just because it's near a military base, just go into it with eyes wide open. Always consider the possible downside!!
Good luck!
Andrew
Katherine,
I have SFR and working on purchasing duplexes in Atlanta. I do leases by the semester or year and their parents are the guarantors. I rent by the room and have separate leases for each student.
I'm looking at a couple of turnkey rentals near Troy U. I'm OOS and don't normally do buy and holds, but the opportunity appeals to me. Any opinions on the location or SFR rentals in general in Columbus?
@Katherine Lankford I primarily invest in a college town and have avoided being near military bases. You can go around your colleges and see what they are doing. Are they acquiring land? Building new facilities? Expanding the equivalent of sorority row? If you look at the past 5-10 years of enrollment figures, how are they doing? It's usually pretty simple to see what's going on when it comes to those localities.
Military areas (from my limited knowledge) are trickier. It's not like military bases are all the same. It's different branches, different specialties, all of the way down to training on certain kinds of equipment. If budget cuts are made to _____ kind of equipment then those soldiers just don't come there to be trained anymore. That base might have their troop level decline while another is going up. It's just harder (in my opinion) to predict.
Conversely (and back to student housing) out here in California they can't build/expand CSUs or UCs fast enough. There are constant arguments on letting out of state students in (higher tuition) vs. skewing it more heavily towards California-first. In short, I can't imagine a scenario in the next 10-20 years where these campuses lower their student populous. If you can get people to show up to UC Merced you can get them to go anywhere...
So while that doesn't exactly provide an apples to apples comparison to Georgia you probably know how Georgia, Georgia State, etc. are doing when it comes to enrollment. How the state is doing addressing the needs/wants for higher education. And then can get a better sense of the relatively stability of the college towns.
Hope this helps.
@Andrew Johnson "if you can get people to show up to UC Merced you can get them to go anywhere" . LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still laughing..............so true!
