Building a dedicated college rooming house

[Patrick Sears]

Hello,

Fellow SFH landlord here. Had an idea that I wanted to run by y'all. What would you think of building new (using a "build on your lot" stick builder) a single-family home that had say 6 large bedrooms, each with their own bath, plus a large kitchen (possibly with multiple ovens and microwaves) and smaller communal living room area. Then, I would rent out rooms individually for higher cash floor vs the standard one-family for one house routine? I would probably locate this next to a couple of smaller rural colleges about an hour from my residence. Designing this from scratch, I could also custom design individual storage units, maybe garage spaces for extra $$$, extra kitchen cabinets, etc... Basically, a dedicated "rooming house" or 6-plex that would let me get around apartment zoning regs, commercial loans, etc... for a SFH price and financing.

I realize managing 6 separate tenants would be more work than a standard family, but as recent BP podcasts and blogs have highlighted, the cash flow can be significantly better.

I would eventually like to get into larger apartment investing, but trying to build a bankroll for that at first and apt cap rates are garbage right now anyways.

Thoughts?

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