Renting Your Property to College Students

by | Apr 24, 2020 | Property Management Services

 

You are in the main market for college student tenants if your rental property is situated in a city near campus or in a college town. For those who don’t know, more than 40% of college students live off-campus. This is according to the college board. This means that there are millions of students out there looking to rent a property.  

Obviously, a lot of landlords have their doubts when renting to this less mature and younger market. However, landlords cannot ignore this chance with the possibility to charge competitive rent, low vacancies, and high demand. Also, you can be well on your way to a successful rental business with a couple of strategies and help from a property management San Mateo professional to lower the risks.  

If you’re planning to rent your property for college students, here are things to consider: 

Safety 

The parents and the students want to know that they are living in a safe environment. A property with excellent deadbolts and exterior lighting is vital. Also, you should include a secure spot for mail and packages.  

Wi-Fi 

To get their projects completed, students require high-speed internet. Aside from that, they also need it to play games, browse the web, and stream music, TV, and movies. Your property will be more enticing if it is tailored to provide high-speed internet service with options for packages and providers. Also, you can think about including Wi-Fi as a bonus feature and either providing it for free or adding it to the overall cost of the rent. That is a lot of extra convenience and one less bill for the students to pay.  

Laundry 

For almost every student, going to a laundromat is a very time-consuming task. Thus, they will certainly appreciate it if you can make it easy enough for them. You can make your property more appealing compared to other units with no laundry if you have an on-site dryer and washer. It can either be in a common area shared between units or an in-unit.  

Affordability 

Affordability is the key since students typically do not have a lot of money. Most students choose to split the cost of the rent with roommates. This will save money for other expenses and keep expenses down. You want to ensure that your property is on the same level as the reasonable market rent, but also affordable for them. To get an idea of what you should be charging, you should examine what the rates are for the same rentals in your area.  

Accessibility and Walkability  

Not every student has a car. Also, on a couple of campuses, students greatly count on bike-share programs or public transportation. It’s vital that the property is walkable to entertainment, dining, and shopping, aside from the campus. 

Proximity to Campus 

Most of the time, students will be on campus for extracurricular activities, work, studies, and classes. Because of this, most of them will naturally prefer a rental property that is close to the campus or school.