The overriding guideline is students want to rent whatever is closest to campus.That said, Clay is correct that turnover in student properties will be greater.  

About the closest you could possibly get to a win is for him to rent it out, if that covers everything and provides  cash flow.  

It is very true that those closest to you will hurt you the most.

The closest I have to staged rentals is showing the property while the current tenant is still in it and has his property in it.

Obviously there are outliers though and we should all assume tenant behavior to be a bell curve.I think finding a landlords average tenant is similar to the old saying "you are the average of your 5 closest friends".

I like the idea for my rental b/c its remote (closest town is a 20 min drive) so if folks run out of booze they can just grab a bottle.

Thanks for sharing your perspective and property (not quite there but probably the closest to cash flowing I've seen yet).

There are opportunities (and pros and cons) in all parts of the state.If you were in RI I'd say, start with areas closer to you as it's helpful to be able to keep an eye on the property more easily.A lot of people like Pawtucket because it's closest to Boston and more of a rental property area than Cumberland.

They both got fired immediately.How to you trust somebody who is unfaithful to their closest person in the whole world?

Their ability to analyze something deal by deal has its limits, due to their large scope.I like to think of them as the dinner guest that eats a ribeye steak, but leaves a ton of meat on the bone.