College Rental Housing

[Anthony Madia]

Next year I will be attending University of Texas at Austin and I am looking for guidance on owning a property in Austin with a tenant that pays the rent while I live rent-free so I can pay in-state tuition. I am young and extremely new to this game so any responses related to becoming a landlord will be helpful!!

[Bryan Petrinec]

Anthony, Carrie is spot on.  My daughter is going to UT and I looked in getting a duplex or small house for her to live in, have roommates and minimize expenses while she was at UT. As a long-term investment it might make sense, but if you plan to minimize costs, that is not the right path.  If you want to stay close to campus, you will be lucky to find anything under $500k and rents are ~ $600-$1200 per bed.  My daughter is in a 2 bed 2 bath with a roommate 2 blocks off of the engineering buildings and her half is $900/month + electric and water.  There are better deals the further you go out from campus, but then you miss out on the college life.  

Good luck at school and don't enjoy the college life too much!