Considering purchasing a rental near a university

Considering purchasing a rental near a university

Mission Viejo, CA · Member since 2015 · 3 posts · 0 votes

I am considering purchasing a very nicely upgraded property within walking distance of a university in Utah. It is in a neighborhood that has a mix of apartment buildings that cater to students and single family properties. The property I am considering has 5 bedrooms in the main house in addition to a studio apartment in the back yard - for a total of six rooms. 

The city does not allow more than one lease on the property, which means that I would likely be targeting parents who would be willing to lease the property for their son or daughter student and then be the coordinator of the other students living in the property. This would make my job as landlord simpler than leasing to 6 students separately - but I am concerned that I may have a difficult time finding that parent who would be willing to lease the property and deal with keeping the rooms filled while collecting the rent from each student. At $350 a month per room - which is a low compared with rooms in apartments in the area - that would be $2100 a month. There are other smaller single family properties in the area that would be less expensive to rent and I fear that parents who would be willing to sign a lease on a property for their child and friends to live in for college would likely want the smaller and less expensive rental.

If the city did allow the owner to lease each room separately, the monthly rental revenue would probably be between $2400 and $2500 at full occupancy. 

Does anyone have experience with this type of rental property? Is there a chance of working with the city to get approval to lease each room separately? Any thoughts or advice from experienced landlords would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Paul

0Reply
20 views

7 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Specialist · Marco Island, FL · Member since 2016 · 225 posts · 56 votes
    9y

    Well what are you trying to do? I agree, i Highly doubt youll find a parent who will want to do that. But then again its all in the presentation. If you talk to them and basically convince them to start investing in RE. then you can explain that they get the cashflow. But if you wanted to keep the money then why would they want to help? 

    Id say lease it yourself.. then rent it month to month (to evict easier) longer leases available with cosigners maybe. The property sounds cool. Just gotta make it work 

    Good luck!

  • Mission Viejo, CA · Member since 2015 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    Michael,

    Thanks, maybe I was not clear enough in my post. If I were to purchase the property, and the city will not allow me to have 6 leases on the property (6 bedrooms) - that potentially limits the monthly rent income as the going rent for similar size properties in the area is substantially less than if I could rent each room separately. The city is saying that I can only have one lease on the property. 

    Let's assume I were to find a parent who would sign the lease for their college aged kid and some of the kids friends to live there. Then the parent would be responsible for getting payment form each of the students who are in the property - and it may be difficult to find a parent willing to do that.

    The ideal situation would be for the city to allow me to lease each room separately, but I assume the chances of the city changing their rules on this is slim. I plan to call the city and ask some questions.

    Best,

    Paul

  • Rental Property Investor · La Plata, MD · Member since 2011 · 216 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    Can you have one lease and name the students as the lessors? They would pool their money each month to pay the rent, same as the utilities. At the end of the term, write a new lease with the new tenants. 

    Couple of points:

    Hire a cleaning service and build it in to the rent, this will keep the parents happy

    Hire a lawn care service and build it into the rent, this will keep the neighbors happy

    Install new smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, post emergency numbers

    Decide 9 months or 12 months term you are going to offer. There is high turn over and most kids will go home for the summer.

  • Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 46 posts · 10 votes
    9y

    At first it would be difficult but you could offer your first renter a cash incentive on the back end to find a qualified renter when their lease is up. Also you could try to find members of a university organization like Greek life or some members of a soccer team etc.  In my experience they often pass down their rentals to younger students in the group but they also tend to have more parties

  • Specialist · Marco Island, FL · Member since 2016 · 225 posts · 56 votes
    9y

    ahh, ok. just to make sure we are on the same page.. "Month to Month cash payment" The city considers that a lease? In my mind a lease has always been paperwork with a duration. But the room I rent on craigslist is cash. done and done. Are those the same thing? @Paul Smolinski Its a good question Im hoping someone has more insight on it then I. 

  • Mission Viejo, CA · Member since 2015 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    Thanks to all of you for the feedback and good ideas. For those of you who have dealt with college kids in rentals near campuses - do you find the extra trouble to be worth the effort?

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.