Keene State College Rental Properties

[Neil Gulden]

Hi Everyone, A few other investors and I are considering buying a property near Keene State College in New Hampshire and renting to college kids. I realize the head aches that may come with renting to college students, but property is cheap relative to what I'm used to in Boston and returns seems very good. I'm looking to see if anyone has experience with college rentals, but someone with experience renting to students at Keene State would be even more ideal. Also looking for property management referrals out there as well. Thank you, -Neil

[James S.]

Hi Neil,

I have both rented to college students my properties, as well as managed a small property management company that focused heavily on the same practice. This is at UNH in Durham, but at least we're in the same state. 

I'll give a quick pro-con list from my own experiences and can elaborate as you'd like.

Pro

-Rents are typically way higher than renting to families or couples, the margins are especially large on SFR where you can rent to 5-7 kids, and frame it as a per person amount (since that's how they are paying).

-They almost always pay on time, as most of them are simply forwarding their parent's checks. They, and their parents, are more concerned with ruining their credit than a lifetime renter.

-They never squat. When the lease is up at the end of the school year, they leave. 

-They are easier to, intimidate isn't the right word, but it's easier to check their expectations since they have no previous experience with renting. This sounds bad, but I'm not sure how to frame this correctly at the moment.

Cons

-They beat the place up. 

-if you don't screen properly (and sometimes even if you do) you are going to have a lot of headaches on the noise front, especially in apartments

-Since they haven't rented before, sometimes they don't know really simple things, like it's their job to change a light bulb, or to stop half-turning off steam radiators. 

-Parents...the helicoptering is getting worse, so dealing with their warped views on their precious snowflakes can be a REAL hassle, far worse than the kids themselves.

Here's some more general tips I've gained over the years:

- If renting SFR, you need to rent them a year in advance...if they aren't rented by Christmas for the following year, you're going to have trouble filing them (especially now with the crazy rate of construction really close to campus).

-Don't rent to Sophomores. Just don't. People who are old enough to drink at a bar and older only. Grad students in rigorous programs are the best (they are never home). 

-Men beat up the place/have parties more, but on the whole I think are a bit easier. A lot fewer maintenance requests, parent problems etc. then with women. Of course, don't discriminate on sex, but just keep it in mind. College couples are the worst of all; probably 50% break up during the course of the lease.

-You'll get a lot of no-shows, and a lot of people who don't ask the right questions as a potential renter. Just tell them everything they could possibly want to know up front. Because they won't ask and then complain later. Go over it twice. 

-Check out their cars; not just the cleanliness (that goes for all tenants), but how old the cars are. If they are newer, their parents are paying and you should have no problem with rent. If the cars are too nice, those parents are helicopters, and will give you problems. 

-Get a co-signer. I've never needed it, but it's helped put pressure on kids in the past. It  works better with a dad because kids are more afraid of him (I don't want to have to call your dad...).

-Don't let them talk you into a 10 month lease, and in general, I don't let them sublet (if it's like one or two kids in a house of 6 I just tell them to figure it out, I don't care). Try to grab them on the front end (June-June) instead of (August-August). They will want to bolt when their year is done, so facilitate that. 

Anyway, that's a few quick things off the top of my head, feel free to hit me up with questions.