Pub. 4 2019 Issue 5

6 www.ctaahq.org By Susan Morgan, The newsLINK Group Renting to Students S hould you rent to students? Although students can be risky choices as tenants, and you will be competing for student tenants against many other landlords, doing so might still be a good choice as long as you cover the basics such as screening potential tenants and making sure you collect deposits. As part of a property management company, you may be particularly well-equipped to handle the challenges of successfully renting to students. What are the advantages of renting to students? • You may be able to advertise on the university website or oth- er college-centered resources, and you will only need minimal advertising, because the students will often advertise for you. However, be sure that any online advertising you do includes high-quality photos and text that does a good job of emphasizing the advantages of the unit. • It gives you a large, stable pool of easy-to-find potential tenants who are probably going to be renting for at least the duration of the school year. Since this means your rentals are likely to be in demand, you have to luxury of beginning your leasing season early. • Turnover may be high. especially at the end of the year, but there are plenty of replacements. • Most students are not expecting luxury. Money is probably tight, and they know they are still at the stage of establishing them- selves. They are usually all about functionality. That means your apartments don’t have to be high-end. • Many students are willing to pay a lot of money for the right place. Renting to them can be very lucrative. If the rental is in a university town, it can often be higher than it would be for other tenants because of the demand and because you can ask for something that is comparable to the room-and-board fees being charged on campus. Students may not have a lot of money, but their parents might. Some parents are willing to co-sign. Those same parents may be willing to pay in advance for, say, a semester. In addition, many students have money from financial aid or student loans.