All Forum Posts by: Dave Poeppelmeier

It all depends on what the Student Housing environment is around your school. Off campus housing is sought after because you have more space and it's not a dorm. To essentially re-create a dorm space would be a big turnoff, and it will not sell in the future to anyone that isn't trying to do Student Housing. I would find out what rents for a 5/2 would be vs the 2 2/1 units. If there's not a HUGE advantage to having the 2 separate units, then stick with the 5/2, renovate it so it's solid, rent it out and call it a day. With that being said, there's a lot more that goes into Student Housing if you haven't done it before. Look up past topics that I and @Will Gaston have commented on in the past for some good tidbits. Best of luck!

Hi Megan, @Chris Wharton with First Ohio works with Investors all over Ohio. He's been my go-to for a while now. Best of luck!

Thanks for the sales pitch, do you have an actual address?

Quote from @Jason Bullock:

I am interested in MTR for students near colleges and universities. I am wondering if during the time students are in school one is able to rent rooms for higher than normal market value.

Any articles, insights and or comments on these are is appreciated.

Man, there is a lot to go into on this simple question. It all depends on the college rental culture. At some schools the students stay year round, others are 9 month leases. Some provide furnished houses, others don't. 

I would not put Student Rentals in the same category as MTR. There is a lot more hand holding and hands on management with Students, the leasing season is much different, as @Melanie P. mentioned you have to get repairs done between groups, etc. The only way I would see this working is if you find a school that:

1. Has a culture where Students move in in August and move out in May

2. There is a market for providing furnished houses (International students and wealthier students)

3. Has a STR demand outside of the University in the summer (major metro area with tourist demand)

If you can find something like that, and someone competent to manage all of that, then I would say go for it. In my experience, we don't have that, and it's much simpler (if Student Housing can be considered simple) to just do Student Housing and not try to squeeze every possible cent out of a property. 

I don't think it moves the needle regarding owner occupied buyers until rates hit around 5% again. Obviously, millions of people are sitting on 3-4% mortgages, and the people that aren't remember those rates in the not too distant past. In the single family investment space, the first time homeowners still aren't moving up to their 2nd home because of the affordability issue that people have mentioned. Regarding Investors, especially in Multifamily, it never stopped being competitive here in Toledo, especially with investors holding onto their MF properties in anticipation of the upcoming recession. The only ones that are hitting the market here are run down, have low rents, or both. Same with what single families are available, in that if they're nice and priced correctly, they're gone regardless of what the interest rate is. It feels like we need to get this next recession over with to see what the new normal is going to be on the other side. 

Quote from @Nikash Rajeshbabu:

Quote from @Jordan Myer:

Quote from @Nikash Rajeshbabu:

Hey all, 

   Just discovered this platform as I was watching the biggerpockets YouTube channel yesterday! Just to give some background I'm currently a 3rd year student studying electrical and computer engineering but have a deep interest in real estate as well. I just finished the 75 hour NJ pre-licensing course and have signed up for the state exam at the end of the month. Just wanted to seek any advice that you guys may have on starting out as a younger real estate agent and what is realistic while being a full-time student as well. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

 One of the most valuable things you can do is to find a mentor! They don't necessarily have to be an active agent, just someone with experience and want to help

 I actually do have a couple of agents I planning on talking to after I obtain my license. Hoping one of them would be opening to mentoring me, thank you for the advice!

Nikash, that's awesome that you have committed this much effort into RE so far as a college student! I'm not trying to be a jerk, but here's my thought: do you like or love Engineering? If you're studying to be an Engineer, that's not a small commitment. If you truly love Engineering, your career options are, as you know, pretty solid. If you just like Engineering, or love RE more, and this is your true calling, why continue with Engineering? Can you be a part time RE agent as well as having your daytime job as an Engineer? Yes. Are you going to get good at being a RE agent if you're not in the world full time? You can, but slowly. It's also not the best time to jump into being a Realtor, especially brand new and full time, and I personally don't see things changing much in the next couple of years when you graduate. If you have a backstop of some kind, then that changes things of course. 

The other thing regarding a mentor, is what are you going to do for your mentor to make it worth them taking you under their wing? Most good RE agents are too busy to simply donate their time to a new agent (unless the brokerage you go with has that kind of mentorship program), but if you provide a service to them of some kind (running reports, doing other non-licensed stuff) then you have a better chance of getting that guidance that all of us needed when we first started. 

Again, I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer, just want to make sure you're looking at thing from all angles. Best of luck to you!

@Anthony DelVecchio it depends on the housing culture of the College/University. At Toledo, our leases run the entire 12 months. Most kids who live in houses stay during the summer and work jobs and generally hand out and do nothing (ah, the good ol' days...). If the market where you're looking does 9 month leases, yes you can so STR, but you now need to furnish the entire house. Can you supply a furnished house all year? You could, and that would attract international students and potentially kids with higher earning parents that don't want to deal with having their kids find an old couch to use, but that brings its own set of challenges. Bottom line is you have to find out what the housing culture is in the market you're looking at, and if you try to be an innovator, then like anything else be prepared to fail a little bit until you find out if that idea will stick or not.

Quote from @Christyn Budzyna:

Hi everyone,

I'm a long-time reader and first-time poster here on the Bigger Pockets forums. I've been managing mid-term and short-term rentals for a little over a year through co-hosting and arbitrage, but looking to make my first purchase in 2024. 

I live in New York, but have been curious about the State College, PA market. I've spent some time there working on projects through Penn State, so I have a basic working knowledge of the area. 

I'm aware that new regulations are in place for short-term rentals in State College, including a limit to 120 days per year, a parking spot for each bedroom, and a tenant designating it as their primary residence for 8 months out of the year. 

With these rules in place, I'm considering purchasing a property to rent as student housing (mid-term rental) for 8 months out of the year, and using it as a short term rental for the other 4 months a year (ideally, football season). 

I'm curious if anyone else has invested and/or used this strategy in the area? Any other helpful knowledge when it comes to the State College, PA market? 

Thanks in advance!

- Christyn 

Hi Christyn, unfortunately I'm going to join in the Debbie Downer parade. I do Student Rentals at The University of Toledo, and although it's different at every college, you either have to do Student Rentals or STR, not both. No student is going to go for a lease for only the Winter/Spring/Summer so you can do STR for the football games. Now, at a big school like Penn State, you might have enough demand for STR for the football season as well as for visiting professors/contractors/etc the rest of the year, but obviously you'll have to do your homework on the rest of those options.

I will also vouch for Greater Metro. Karey and Jessica Donley are fantastic. Don is still around as well. 

Quote from @Amy Mills:

Hi everyone, I'm looking into buying my first investment property. I own my primary home in Brooklyn, but nothing cash flows here, so as I was looking outside of NYC I stumbled upon Philly. 

I found a student rental a few blocks west of Temple U in the Cecil B Moore area. After running numbers it looks great, cash flows positive and already rented till July 2024. Some questions:

-I see a lot of rental vacancies on Zillow. Is vacancy a problem? is there too much supply?

-If I can't find a new tenant for the next school year, am I screwed? It's my understanding that in this area, there are only students and no other type of renters.

-Anything else I should keep in mind?

Amy, if you're going to do Student Rentals, you have to DO Student Rentals. They are their own beast, with fixed leasing periods (typically revolving around the academic calendar), students look in the fall or spring for their house for the following academic year, a tight window in the summer for repairs, etc. The returns are generally a little higher than a normal LTR, but you have to WANT to do Student Rentals. It's also best to do Student Rentals if you are local as finding a Property Manager that knows what they're doing is difficult in most areas. If you're simply looking for something outside of NYC, there are much simpler ways of doing it, typically with a Single Family or Duplex as a standard LTR.