3 Reasons to Own Rental Properties in College Communities – Part 2

Having personally experienced the pleasure of owning rental properties in a college (university) town, there is a wealth of reasons to locate one’s properties in a community that houses a center of higher education. Listed below are just three of the myriad reasons a rental property owner should add college-town rental properties to their portfolio.* This article is part two of a two-part series4.) Good Tenants – Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but most college-town tenants are excellent tenants. They pay their rent (and utilities if required) on time, take care of the property, and are often very courteous to the property owner. From personal experience, pharmacy, legal, and engineering students are often the best tenants because they are constantly bogged-down with complicated homework; leaving them little time or want to party (they are also the most driven to succeed which also indicates a lack of partying).5.) High Tenant Turnover – Is this author kidding? Since when is high tenant turnover a good thing? Welcome to the world of rental property management in a college town. In this atmosphere, high turnover is a key to one’s rental success. First, every year there is a plentiful supply of new tenants, making it relatively easy to re-rent a property. Having tenants leave every one to three years gives the property manager the opportune time to slightly raise the rent, thus increasing the property’s income. Often, the new tenant doesn’t even realize the rent has been raised.6.) Inflated Property Values – This benefit is a double-edged sword. Property values in college and university towns are almost always higher the surrounding areas because of the increased demand for property within the town. This is good once one owns the property and begins experiencing the power of equity, but it is before one owns the property that it can be very dangerous. DO NOT over pay for a rental property in a college town. Run some numbers (often a net income evaluation) and make sure that the property will produce income at the given purchase price. If one over pays for a property, they have already destroyed their cash flow potential, so be careful.College towns are great towns for rental properties, but a few precautions should be taken before jumping in. First, investigate the town to make sure that there are enough tenants to go around and that the school is growing; not shrinking. Secondly, colleges and universities that have excellent graduate programs are more preferable, because they get older students that almost always live OFF campus. After satisfying the above two precautions, one is ready to enter the lucrative niche that this article’s title describes.