Student Housing – Great Investment!

As a property investor, I must say investing in student housing is a win win.  Universities are not going anywhere – there will always be students – and they need somewhere to live.  I understand that student housing is more expensive to purchase than say an inner city property, but the benefits outweigh the cost.  Student housing allows you to double your rental income and if the unit is furnished your rent increases even more.  Not to mention your property will actually appreciate!  There seems to be less repairs needed because the property is either not that old or was well cared for.  Less expenses means greater profit. 

Don’t get me wrong there are some downsides.  For instance your lease term typically runs for ten months instead of the 12 year lease.  Your tenants change often, there are large upfront cost (furniture, property updates, purchase price), and if you get the wrong tenants they could destroy your rental.  But that’s with any property, so the pros outweigh the cons as far as I can see. 

 It has been recently noted that “upperclassmen favor off-campus housing.”  According to the Daily Orange News paper, at Syracuse University “Juniors account for 12% of on campus housing, seniors only 6% and grad-students 2%”. 

So a total of 20% of Juniors, Seniors and grad-students live on campus.  That’s a lot of perspective tenants looking for off campus housing.  Students are not happy with on campus accommodations,  they want quality living at a reasonable price – and price is never reasonable on campus.  According to College Prowler “Syracuse University gets a C+ rating for on campus housing”.   Run the numbers and see that instead of investing in run down properties because they are cheap; University housing is the way to go.  It’s okay to diversify your portfolio.  How else are you going to Rest In Wealth?