Questions on rental home for college-aged son and his friends

[Allen Magtibay]

I purchased a rental home in Towson, MD that I plan to rent to my college-aged son and three of his friends. He's a freshman now so I'll have dedicated tenants for the next few years for sure. I plan to manage it myself rather than hire a property manager. Couple of questions. 

1. Should I have the parents co-sign for college-aged tenant? I trust the tenants since they are friends of my son but obviously these are young adults who may not always make the best decisions.

2. Is it necessary to require the tenant to have rental insurance? Like most college students they don't really have anything valuable that they are bringing with them. My vote would be "yes" to having the insurance since I doubt it would cost much but wanted to see should I make it mandatory for them to carry? As for me, I have landlord insurance with a $1 million liability policy.

Any additional information that you can recommend to me would be awesome as this will be my first stab at being a landlord aside from my short-term summer vacation home that I do have a property manager handling for me.

Thanks in advance for your input. Really appreciate it.

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

@Allen Magtibay its just possible you know your son better than I do, but why not let him manage it? Collect the rents, report to you etc? 

In any case set very clear expectations about the rent: one check, how you communicate with people they with you etc. Are you planning to use your son as the main contact? Make sure he and they know that. 

Also, make sure everyone is "jointly and severally" on the lease

People on this forum really experienced in college rentals split on co-signers, but in any case make sure you have the contact information/permission to contact the parents. Most college parents are not going to want their kids credit trashed with a problem, co-signer or no.