Atlanta, Georgia Student Housing Rental - FIRST INVESTMENT, Tips?

Question

First off, thanks for clicking on this post and expressing your interest! Before I word vomit with details, numbers, etc. I just wanted to give you some background information on what's happening.

My family is moving down to Atlanta, Georgia soon (perhaps 2-3 months) and my father decided to buy a 4plex to earn some cash flow. This 4plex is 0.7 mi from Mercer University so I had the genius idea of trying to try my hand at student rentals. Please bear in my mind that my family nor I have any experience in housing rentals. I've been listening to BiggerPocket Podcast for over a year now, off and on and also been reading some real estate books from time to time. So we are no way experience at all.

Here is the info:

- 3 UNITS - 2BD/1BA - 1 UNIT - 1BD/1BA

- GYM ON PROPERTY UNDER UNIT 1

- SECURITY SYSTEM IN EACH UNIT WITH 3 OUTDOOR CAMERAS

- POOL WITH LARGE PARTY DECK

- STONE FIRE PIT

- SOLID SURFACE COUNTERTOPS

- ENGINEERED WOOD FLOORS

- STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCE PACKAGE

-Potential Rent Calculated to be: $1,800, $2,700, and $2,800.

As a noobie investor looking to get experience, I thought I would help my father move down and help run the property, find tenants, market, manage, etc. until I can systemize it and move back to Boston, MA (where we are currently located). I was wondering if anyone has any good books they recommend on the basics of student housing or any tips and tricks on how to handle the important or not important things. Anything will help!

I'm currently 23 years old and would love to do real estate full time and this seems to be the best opportunity to get my hands dirty. If anyone is in the area currently, Boston, MA I would love to take you out to lunch/dinner (on me of course) and learn more. Let me know if you need any other info and I can provide it.

Best,

Alex

Timmi Ryerson · Answer

I have worked with people who own properties that are designated for student housing and I have a few thoughts for you to consider.  The property sounds wonderful with all of the amenities.  It is more of a challenge to manage the pool and exercise room than you may think but students would certainly like to have them, as well as a fire pit to gather around.  However, most of our subscribers who rent to students have more than two bedrooms available in each unit.  That is because they rent each bedroom separately and sometimes even use separate leases.  The reason for this is that most students or student families cannot afford prices in the rent range you mentioned.  Usually the students paid from $550 to $800 depending on the size of the bedroom and whether it had an en suite bath.  The other thing that they did was to keep them as renters year over year over the summer by giving discounted rates for their agreement to return.

You will find that there are students who do not make it in school for what ever reason and have to leave mid year. So you need to make your leases flexible enough to allow for an occasional flunk out or unplanned medical issue.  Sometimes students just run out of money and cannot return.  It would be a good idea for you to talk with the college housing people at the university from which you wish to draw to see what the capabilities of their students are with regard to rent.  You will also want to list your properties with them for students who come to them looking for off campus housing.  Hope this helps.  Good luck.  And be sure to check our software for your management process.  If you want suggestions, contact me via private message.

Alexander T Nguyen · Answer

Hey thanks, Marc, I'll definitely message you sometimes in the future when we start the move to Atlanta!

Marc Brenner · Answer

Hey @Alexander T Nguyen!

I don't have much advice for you with regards to property management but I am a local investor-friendly realtor, so if you have any questions about Atlanta or need any preferred vendor recommendations, feel free to reach out!

Alexander T Nguyen · Answer

Congrats on your duplex! Is it your first rental property or are you a pro already? ;) Anyways let's keep in touch, thanks for the tip!

Franky Davis · Answer

@Alexander T Nguyen Congrats! I just purchased my first duplex (3 bed/3.5 bath) about the same distance from a university and have very much enjoyed it. Agreed with all the posts above. Definitely create a relationship with the school and their liaisons. Also, if you have incoming students, do your best to create incentives for them to sign multiple year leases. This can minimize your vacancy over the course of the 4 years they may be enrolled. I don’t know much about the air bnb thing but it sounds appealing if executed well. I’d love to connect when you get down this way! We are in Chattanooga, TN but have invested in South Georgia so are often coming through the Atlanta area.

Timmi Ryerson · Answer

Yes and you can also market it to Professors and Ta's at the university.  You would also register with the housing department of the University for that.  The AirBNB idea is a good one for parents who want to visit and future students visiting the university in their college search.

Alexander T Nguyen · Answer

Wow thanks, Timmi for the eye-opening insight. This is something I will need to check out. It's true, I was watching some more videos on student housing and realized that they should have more bedrooms in each unit. I think I'll first try to market it as a 'luxury' student housing unit and will check with the school and their housing program. If it doesn't work out, I may try to either do (1) Airbnb full time in 3 units (we're occupying one unit) or rent it out to non-students as a regular housing rental. Thanks again!

Bill Goodland · Answer

Check out the lease agreement packages in the bookstore tab on BP. There's plenty more information and forms if you look in the BP fileplace under the tools tab. As far as a more in-depth information on PM, check out @Brandon Turner's book on Managing Rental Properties and the book Landlording on Autopilot by Mike Bulter.

Alexander T Nguyen · Answer

I appreciate the response Bill! I actually want to try and manage this property myself, to not only save money but to learn through the process. Thanks, I'll look through the resources though! Do you have a specific article you have in mind?

Bill Goodland · Answer

Theres plenty of resources on BP regarding property management. There are sample leases on here as well if you want one specific for your state. But if I were you, I would research some reputable PM companies in the area if you feel overwhelmed by the process and go from there. You may be able to find a realtor to at least lease up the units for a flat fee.

Atlanta, Georgia Student Housing Rental - FIRST INVESTMENT, Tips?

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