We've been in the student rental industry for a while now, and although it had much luster and appeal in the beginning, it does come with its major work and responsibilities. I urge anyone that is considering it "NOT to think its just a hands off approach and see you in a year". It is worth the effort and management on our end and we have had some great experiences and tenants, as well as some major headaches in the past 8 years.
Nonetheless I am not discouraged from owning the dorms we do and I would snatch up deals when presented if they make sense. Here are some tips that I hope will help in your fact finding about student rental housing.
1. LOCATION is key. dont think because you are close, its close enough. Really walk around the school, see the flow of students walking and where they hang out. Most of those spot are already sold out or priced high by previous investors. But there may be deals there if you look around
2. Get in the way of progress - In a student rental area, especially if the school is expanding its enrollment - which that information is normally boasted upon at the schools site. Then you can purchase units in the direction the area is developing. These deals which are not all considered prime real estate become prime real estate in some locations because the HOT area is already saturated and priced out.
3. Safe Passage - In urban university settings, make sure your student renters have a safe passage route to and from school when leaving your unit. So again you must walk around and ask around.
4. Perks and Amenities - Washer dryers are big hits, so is Internet and with today's competing prices you can get a deal like on Clear or something cheap for your kids. If you have the opportunity to add an additional bathroom when possible also do that they look at the room ration to bathroom ratio when renting. And safety such as barred windows and so forth. You could factor in your cost for internet and security and simply add it to the lease, dont al la cart it just say, "ALL INCLUDED" since you'll cover it.
5. Management, hire a good manager in the area, look at the signs around you when canvassing the area, also go on websites like craigslist and see how they post, most importantly call them and feel them out when your asking about the available unit. This may be your manager so you want to know how they respond to potential tenants.
6. Evictions - Students are normally watched over by their parents and believe me the parents will be the first ones to threaten you with non payment or legal action if something is wrong with the situation. So make sure your lease is solid and you have a great addendum that can be modified.
7. Showings - Find out when the students start looking for a place to rent the next year. In our case full house students who take the entire property as a group look in Feb and March, then it dies down till June and picks back up in August.
8. Every showing counts, Do not make the mistake that you can afford to miss showings, remember you only need to find the right person to occupy that unit, so each showing counts.
9. Make your weekends available, parents and students like to look at units during weekends when the parents are not working or made to drive around the area with little JR.
10. Investigate directly with the school and try to get on their student housing sites or links. Go through the guidelines they ask for and give it a good effort, it will distinguish you from other landlords flying under the radar.
There are many more tips this was just a start, I had this info in my head from years of working with these kids and I needed to get the info out.
Best of luck to you all with your student rental units.
Robert
