College town live in landlord market

[Carson Sweezy]

I am looking to purchase my first house, and will be renting out the extra rooms. Is there anyone that has owned and rented college homes to students, that could pass along some advice for this market? Or perhaps any homeowner that has lived with tenants in general.

How did you find renters willing to live with their landlord?

How did you determine your radius within the city, that college students were willing to rent in? (the farther away from campus you get the lower the home prices are)

How did you choose the college town that was best for you (excluding those who bought the house for their kids while they were attending school)

[Dawn Brenengen]

@Carson Sweezy Since you are only 22 yourself, I think you could easily rent to students OR young professionals in a college town.  I know that in Raleigh, there are a ton of young professionals sharing single family housing near NC State.  They went to school there, and it's just the part of town they are comfortable living in.  It's also just a few minutes away from the bar scene downtown.

My first house was near NC State.  I was never a student there, and I ended up having roommates.  None of them were students either.  They were either young professionals or worked in restaurants/bars.  One of those roommates ended up being a good client of mine later, and another led me into a social circle that ended up providing a lot of business to me later, so you never know about the relationships you'll make!

In Raleigh, you could reasonably expect to buy a move in ready, three bedroom, single family home for $160-180k.  You could live in one room and rent the other two for $500-550 each, including utilities.

I would not do the meal plan.  That would REQUIRE you to make dinner five night/week, and as a consumer, I would not want to be told what I'm having for dinner every night.