Leasing to College Students

[Justin MacKenzie]

Do any Landlords have experience leasing to college students? If so any best practices to follow or tips would be greatly appreciated. A few questions:

Do you have the parents co-sign?

Do you rent out by the room, if so how does that work? 

Thank you

[Jonathan Greene]

You have to get a parent to co-sign since most students don't have extra income coming in if they are a full-time student and you want double protection. Depending on the state regulations, what you do in terms of rent by the room or having a main renter as the lessor, is adjustable. I prefer leasing to a group of students all on the lease and not by the room so then all parties are responsible for the missed rent if a tenant leaves. If you rent by the room, it's more work in my opinion because the people may not know each other. When you rent to three students, you can still charge more by the room rates since they are all separate.