All Forum Posts by: Will Gaston

Hello All, 

My husband and I have two small kids and are looking to purchase our first house hack within a couple blocks of a private post-secondary institution. Two questions:

1) When does the typical lease cycle start for student rentals? Classes start in August. And is it typically a 12-month lease? 

2) Is one single lease for a group of students (four in this case) the best, or a rent-by-the-room setup? 

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. First timer here! :)

@Steve Williams, Student Rentals definitely command higher rents, but you really have to know what the geographical Student Housing areas are and the rental culture of the school. @Will Gaston and myself have commented lots on this topic, but I would recommend finding out who owns Student Rentals in your town and talk to them about what a 2/3/4/5 bedroom rents for, when the leasing season is (Fall vs Spring) for the next school year, and what do students expect (nice house like their parent's or bombed out party houses). Once you get that information, you can start to plan for making your rental Student Housing. One thing that I would recommend, is whoever you put in your rental, make the lease revolve around the Academic Calendar, starting in August or September. That way, if a non-student moves out, you don't have an empty house in January sitting empty until the next school year starts. Finally, put everyone on one lease. You don't want to rent by the room for a little extra profit and have 3/4/5 leases in a house, when you can have everyone on one lease that is responsible for everything as a group. As a group, if one person isn't paying their rent, they'll get on them so they all don't get kicked out! Best of luck to you.

Hey guys! Currently I manage 5 short- and medium- term rentals and am considering entering the student housing space, specifically rent-by-the-room. Just curious if anyone has any good book recommendations on the topic? Thanks so much!