Properties Near Chapel Hill,NC - Renting To Students - Good/bad?
Hi everyone,
After all the help from this great forum, we rented out
our primary residence in VA and moved to NC.
The market here is quite different from Northern VA.
The older homes are appreciating at 3% or so.
The builders are building new ones like crazy and
jacking up a few grand with each block that they
release.
We are in the process of purchasing a SFH to live
in. I am also looking at investment properties.
The goal is "Cash Flow", since the chances of
appreciation are slim.
The Mortgage broker asked me to stay away from
Townhomes in all areas of Raleigh/Durham except
for Chapel Hill.
Chapel Hill abounds with Students and are a
constant source for rentals.
We have never rented out to students.
1)Any tips on venturing into this arena.
2)What properties are better - Condos? Town houses?
3)There are some landlords that are renting out to
students room-by-room and want to get out. I have
even seen ads for "possible Owner financing".
There must be a problem, or else these guys will
not want to get out off the properties that have
positive cash flow.
Please advice.
Thanks
Krish
My cousin Robert Schmidt has made a small fortune doing exactly just that. He has over 190 units.
http://www.bobschmitzproperties.com/
I believe that he chops up many of the homes into multiple units and gets the wealthy parents to guarantee the lease. He looks for good credit.
Thanks folks for the reply.
Pat,
Yes, i plan to attend the convention. I guess it is
time well spent.
Btw, i have a question for you.
How do you get to match up the students?
If they come in as a group, thats the best case.
If you just have say 2 folks signup and you own a
3BR property, how do you find a student for the
vacant BR whose chemistry will match up with the
other 2. This could be a potential problem right?
Also do you roll in the utilities in the rent or let the
students pay up? Probably is too much responsibility
for them.
Thanks
Krish[ Edited by krish on Date 07/12/2005 ]
You do not want to get in the business of matching kids up. They will have to find their own roommates. Can you think of the liability and hassle? You match up two people who hate each other, then it is your fault. You match up two people and one of them steals or harms the other and you are sued. People can find their own roommates. And they must pay their own utilities.