We have a few college rentals in Duluth that do pretty well. We looked a lot into STR as we love the area and there really is potential for rental all year round. The city is likely to increase the number of STR licenses soon (check the news up there), however, they will probably go quickly as well. A lot of people want to be close to "canal park" area (enough to bike, walk, etc.) so I would be a little concerned about getting too far out from the city unless you get close to another attraction (Jay Cook State Park, Two Harbors, Gooseberry State Park, etc.). Superior, WI has some really well-priced homes and is much less strict on STR but unfortunately the "appeal" of Superior seems to be way less even though it is about 5 minutes from Duluth. Let me know if I can provide any further information as we have done a lot of research into this and like I said, we own a few properties up there. If you can find a nice place within 0.5 miles from UMD, that is another option as we have always had a TON of interest in our college rentals there. I heard they are really short on long-term rentals as well, so that's another option. Good luck.
