Housing in College Towns

[Jeffrey Maitles]

Hi everyone.  Relatively new to the BiggerPockets family.  Investing in properties in college towns is something that I have thought about often.  Being a parent and sending 3 kids through school and seeing some of the disasters that they have lived in, I can see the value in owning multi-family properties that are in decent shape for the students.  In every instance (at least the schools where my kids went to in NY), the leases were for 12 months although they are really only there for 9.  Furthermore, unless the house is in total disrepair, they are usually rented and you have to sign a lease for the following year by September.  

In many of the rural towns of upstate  NY, the taxes are dramatically lower than downstate and on Long Island.  With consistent  cash flow coming in, these are fantastic rental properties.  Take it one step further:  if you have a child going off to college and they are coming from out of state, after living in the home for a year many states give them "residence", thus lowering your tuition cost  (at least for state schools - privates it doesn't matter).   I would like to hear if anyone has any thoughts on this and if you have used this strategy.  Regardless of the state, I would think this would be a viable option and wonder why it doesn't get talked about more often.

Thanks!