Rent to college students as my first rental property

[Shonari Wynter]

Hello BP,

I am still looking for my first rental property. My wife and I have been discussing what market we want to rent to. We live close to South Carolina State in Orangeburg so she thinks renting to students would be great. I have heard a few horrible stories and a few good ones so I am split down the middle. I am hoping this thread can help me decide. Who does student rental and what are your opinions and who stays away and why?

[Carl C.]

Our first two rentals were college rentals and we loved them for the first 5 years of ownership. They took a bit of management since college kids generally have never lived on their own and don't know what they don't know. We never had any serious problems. Pros were higher rents than if we rented to non students, rent guarantees from parents, pretty stable business. Cons were the extra management and kids tend to be a little tougher on the properties. All in all, we would have kept investing in student rentals until a large national developer came in and build enormous student housing apartments between our houses and the school. As I have said here before, they took 200 houses off the market in our neighborhood. It's been a bloodbath that we have not yet figured out how to deal with yet. We have struggled with finding tenants, MANY landlords are selling right now trying to get out. We will likely do the same but we are trying to avoid joining the panic. regular folks don't think of living in our neighborhood as it has been a well known student neighborhood for years. My advice, it's great if it works, but beware potential new developments. Be sure that you have options besides students.