Renting to college students in Orlando FL while house hacking

[Franklin Marte]

Hey BP community. I have an idea I want to present to you for advice and guidance. I'm a recent college graduate in HVAC. I want to pursue REI in Orlando because I got a job offer there for HVAC and I want to target College students. I was thinking of living in one room and renting out the others since I myself am young and I really prefer to house hack to save money. I'm relocating to Orlando from NJ I don't have an exact date yet but soon. The plan is to find a property near one of the Universities in Orlando that's also close to Disney, Universal and or Sea world. Reason being I wanted to do Airbnb to families during the summer for more income, I want to find a property 4BR 1-2BR with a pool so it's not so difficult to be rented out on Airbnb and so college students can see it as nice and laid back. That's the Idea roughly planned out. I understand what I want to do. I need advice how to break it down and go about tackling each step moving forward to be able to execute this properly.

Thank you in advance!

[Account Closed]

I think everyone hit it in the head.  Airbnb and roommates are two different business models.  

You said you need a place to live, where you going to live when you rent your entire home out?

A college student versus a family have very different needs for furniture and cookware and location.  

Short term rentals in the Orlando area are focused on the south western side of town (Disney and universal) and UCF is the on the Eastern side.  No one will want to commute an hour to school and no family will rent a short term rental over an hour away from Disney.  

Figure out what you want to focus on. This isn’t a mixed use commercial thing you are looking for.   If you need a home then house hack (duplex, roommates).  Once you have money and a system in place then start doing Airbnb.  But two are very different places on the real estate spectrum.