All Forum Posts by: Alexander M Stanton

Rich over at Rawson insurance in Worcester provided some great rates and service. He was well below his competitors and always came through when needed. Here is his info. Let him know I referred you.

https://rawsoninsurance.com/

In addition, since you are in the Western MA area, I know of a great real estate meet up occurring soon. Check it out, it seems like a great place to network with other investors in the Worcester area and get a lot of your questions answered. Below is a link:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/964628-in-person-pints-and-properties-meetup-worcester-ma

Here is a link to the New Hampshire statutes regarding rooming houses:  

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.u... you need a referral to a good landlord/tenant attorney in NH who can answer more specific questions, let me know and I can pass along a few names.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/... Listen to that podcast if you haven't already! Todd speaks to this and explains how he is able to really capture the true value without sacrificing quality of life. 

@Alexander M Stanton

Some great points you bring up, I think you are in the right path of questioning here to make a smart decision. I don't know your area so I can't comment on that specifically, but I've been managing student housing room rentals since 2012 so I'll be happy to share my experiences that may pertain to your concerns.

Occupancy concerns are definitely valid, however I have not come across any issues nor do I know anyone else running the same setup who has had issues with the city. My suggestion there regardless of being within county guidelines or not is to keep your neighbors happy and don't give the city ANY excuse to look at your property. Keep the parking under control, keep the yard clean and well manicured, keep noise levels down at night and get all of your construction/permit work and inspections done before tenants move in. I also think the class of the neighborhood makes a big difference - C class areas generally mind their own business. B and A class areas will be all up in your cool aid so if it's a nicer area, you have to be extra careful not to draw attention or the ire of your neighbors. Even if your rental is legit, they can still complain and have your business license revoked if your rental become a nuisance. I give my personal cell number to all neighbors and have them text me immediately if there are concerns. It's annoying, but better to deal with annoyances than a house you can't rent out anymore.

Also just a comment on the utilities - I prefer to include everything in the rental price. I manage about 30 tenants, so collecting rent plus all the utilities would be such a pain, it's not even worth the time. I've always included furniture, house supplies, house cleaning, etc. and can charge a premium to cover all of it. Just a basic example, rental comps for one of my rentals would be $2k - $2.2k. I currently collect $4,900 on that house and pay an extra $800 in expenses, so I collect more than double but pay about 33% of the increase in expenses which means I still net out much more.

I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck with your student housing adventure!