Application for College Students

[Sol Obarrio]

I am interested in renting individual rooms to college students. I was wondering if in the application process I should ask specific questions that you would not normally ask to non-college students. 

As well what do people recommend I look for in the students and what should I avoid? Should I charge an application? 

[Nathan Gesner]

You should always charge an application fee. It should be enough to at least cover the cost of running a credit/criminal background.

As a Landlord, you're trying to identify risk and then mitigate it. In this case, you have an applicant with no payment history, little work history and probably no income while they are renting from you, no credit score, and no Landlord references or rent history. You don't know how well they will pay or take care of your property. You don't know if they'll give up on college and leave in three months. 

My point is you have a lot of risks to deal with. You can do that by charging a higher rent, a larger deposit, requiring a cosigner, etc. You can figure that out by reading through the forums, contacting other investors in your area that rent to college kids, or searching information on the web sites of property managers that rent to students.