Who should i rent one family home to?

[Robert Stack]

Hello everyone.  I just bought my first real estate investment.  A one family, 2-story house  and I can not decide who to rent it to.   By that I mean should I rent to college students by room, a family, couple, etc.?  I am not really familiar with the terminology but it is in a lower income area. Its kind of a working class lower income area.  But the area is getting better and there are apartments, 1 family houses, and students who live in neighboring houses.  So the area is kind of a mix.

Initially my plan was to rent to students, since there is a large university in the area, that seems to be ever expanding, and a friend nearby does really well renting to students.  He does tell me though that at times it is like "babysitting."

So I know there is no right or wrong answer, but I wanted to get others opinion on this. The way i feel is that if I rented to students I could make a little more renting by room but turnover is going to be fairly high and I anticipate frequent visits and issues that fall into the "babysitting" category.  On the other hand I could rent to a couple or small family and I would anticipate turnover being lower, but I also would have to rent for less monthly.  From doing research of the area, if I rent to students, I could rent for about $350-$400 per room, and since its a 3-bedroom, gross anywhere from $1050-$1200 per month.  If I rented to a family, or couple or single person I could likely rent the entire house for around $700-$800.  

Any advice or opinion is greatly appreciated.

Rob