Lease end dates in a college town

General Landlording & Rental Properties
13yFollow

Lease end dates in a college town

Kelly N.
Investor · SE, MI · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 461 votes

Hello BP Nation-

So here's my situation. We now own two triplexes in a college town. Most lease terms in the area end around August 25 (I have one ending on the 23rd, two on the 25th), classes start September 4. I am wondering when the next round of leases should end.

I want a couple of days to change locks, clean, and paint, perform some minor maintenance so my new leases would be starting by August 28 this year, giving the students time to move in prior to classes starting. If they are one year terms, ending August 28 next year, that is starting to make time between tenants pretty tight to get them in their prior to classes starting Sept 2.

So, what do you think of having the leases ending a week prior to classes starting every year? If students are graduating or if they go home for the summer, I would think shaving a few days wouldn't be an issue to them. If they are staying in the apartment for the next year, it shouldn't be a big deal either. In the following years, class won't start until Sept 8 and then Sept 6 (day after Labor Day) so it wouldn't be as big a deal those years.

Next question- I have two units with one year leases just ending or about to end, so they are or will be on a month to month term as per their lease with the previous landlord. One says he wants to sign up for another year, but hasn't scheduled a time to sign the lease, the other is graduating and if he finds a job local enough wants to sign another year lease. If they are month to month, should I be ending these leases at the popular time (late August) or is it better to just keep them in place and find a tenant when necessary? Out of my 6 leases (all inherited with the properties we purchased) only two started in August. I don't think the previous landlords had too much trouble finding tenants in the off season. From watching ads on craigslist and stalking the listings on the website of the largest property owner/PM in the area for the past 8 months, I am wondering if there is an advantage to having one of few listings in the "off season" instead of having a listing when there are a bunch at the same time. While this is a college town, there are plenty of non student tenants (2 of mine) and both of these units are further from campus thus more appealing to the non students.

So, thanks for reading all that, and what do you think?

Kelly

0Reply
51 views

8 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • William R.
    Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2013 · 139 posts · 43 votes
    13y

    I understand your concern, I also own MF close to campus. I had a vacancy in January that was difficult to fill, but two weeks ago I had an open house for an effeciency apartment and had over 40 people show up to look at it. To answer your question, if you have quality paying tenents, keep them in place. I hope in the previous owners lease there is a 30 day notice to be given before they intend to move out. My thing is 0% vancancy and no lost potential rent. I have someone moving out on the 11th of this month and another person moving in that afternoon. I scheduled an apointment with the current resident to inspect the property at noon, followed by an apointment with the new resident.
    I think you have to deal with each situation as it comes up, but would not force someone to move out if the are paying rent and not disturbing other residents. I try to have my leases end during the summer, I do not try to hard to schedule it around the school schedule. I feel like if I tried to make it to specific I would alway be changing it and worried if I picked the right end date. Wouldn't want it to accidentally end the week after school has already started!

    0Reply
  • Kelly N.
    OP
    Investor · SE, MI · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 461 votes
    13y

    Nick K.- Right next door, Ypsilanti. We started off looking in Ann Arbor but prices are higher compared to rental rates :)

    William Rasinen- Thanks William! Yes, the old landlord did have the 30 day clause in the lease, I think that is fairly standard in MI.

    0% vacancy would be great! I'm aiming for as little time as possible, but I currently have a little over a week between my first tenant to leave and the next tenant. Between the current tenant being a slob and my family already having a weekend away planned, I wanted to make sure I had time to get the apartment clean, painted, and ready. Sounds like you don't have to paint between tenants?

    I was leaning towards leaving the paying tenants be. Luckily, I only need 2 out of 3 filled on that house to pay the bills :) Currently, the one tenant makes me nervous- he pays late every month (only owned this place since January) but is paying late fees. I don't really know how the other one pays- he got a discount for paying in full when he moved in so I haven't received a payment from him directly yet.

    0Reply
  • Bill Gulley
    Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    13y

    Sounds like a marketing issue, my college students sign a one year lease with the right to sub-let with my approval. They bring other roomers in, they are responsible for them ,if they want out, they can assign the existing lease to someone else I already approved and put the new tenant's parent's on as guarantors. Never a problem and vacancy is .something%, hardly could get in to even make any repairs or maintenance. :)

    0Reply
  • William R.
    Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2013 · 139 posts · 43 votes
    13y

    Kelly, The paint is in decent shape, so I do not plan to pain that unit this year. I'll talk about it with the new resident and see if they are interested in having it painted. In the past I have bought supplies and allowed residents to paint their own units with my approved color. I no longer do this for several reasons.

    Bill, That is an interesting strategy. Have you had any issues with problematic tenants, who pays the rent, evections etc. I like to vet each tenant and have a clear lease with everyone authorized to occupy the unit. I have some new larger units that this strategy may work well for.

    0Reply
  • Sam Tang
    Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2013 · 27 posts · 0 votes
    13y

    Where I live, the lease cycle is dominated by the college school year on Sept 1st. June 1st is also a popular date but Sept 1st trumps it by a mile. I've found tenants off cycle and there is definitely less demand and I found I could not get top rent for my room.

    I would think Sept 1st would be your best bet but it wouldn't hurt to check at a local real estate office to ask when it is best to rent.

    It sounds like you want to clean the place up before renting but with people signing leases from Sept 1st to Aug 31st, I've seen cleaners come in after the move in date. Never even heard of painting a room after each tenant.. :)

    0Reply
  • Bill Gulley
    Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    13y

    Yes, I do vet each occupant, it's with my approval. But have only one tenant on the lease and all students must have parents guarantee the lease, so parents are vetted as well. Those parents are on the hook and the reason is always that the younder students have insufficient credit histories in leasing. Then as one tenant rotates out, there is already another in there to take on the lease, I usually take the best qualified of the bunch including the parents.

    I only had damages once, a burned carpet, the parent was a doctor and he simply said let me know how much and I'll send you a check, which he did, no questions asked. Because of the very low vacancy, the ease of getting security deposits and good collections, I kept that property longer than any other, 18 or so years I think, cash flow was great as we had a base rent then additional amounts for each additional occupant. :)

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free