Good time to buy, bad time to rent

[Derek Luttrell]

How do you manage to fight seasonality? I am interested in a SFR within a mile of a major university. However, the best returns in the area come when you list a rental in early Spring for a June 1st move-in, because the school year ends in mid-May and that is when students assess their housing for the following year.

With it only being October now, what's a creative way to lock this in knowing it won't be occupied until June? Even if the seller agrees to a 60-day close, I would still have several months of holding costs that would be great to avoid if possible.

[JD Martin]

There's no good answer to this in my opinion. We rent to a lot of students and sometimes that's just the way it goes. I'm getting ready to close on a place next week and will have the same situation. I look at it as a way to address repair/remodeling needs to get "ahead of the curve" so the unit won't have to be down for any kind of time for the foreseeable future after rehab is done. That said, I have rented every single month of the year so it's not impossible. I will shorten up leases that are done October-December, however and have them end in June.