Pros and Cons of Renting to College Students

Want to rent your property to college students? You might feel like a headache and have difficulty renting to students. If you want to rent out your property to college students, there are various things to consider like whether it’s good for you to rent to students, and the benefits and drawbacks.
So, in this article, we will talk about the pros and cons of renting to college students, and some steps to mitigate the potential risk.

Understanding College Students as Tenants

Before diving further into the topic, let’s try to understand college students’ demographics and how it has evolved.

Some of the characteristics of traditional college students are the age range between (18 – 24), emphasis on academics, financial restraints, and emphasis on social factors.

However, over the years, college student’s demographics changed a lot. A study by Miami University shows that nearly 74% of college students do not fall under the traditional category. They are financially independent, are over 3o, and are working part-time on college breaks.

Renting to College Students: Pros and Cons

Pros of Renting to College Students

Some of the following benefits of renting to students:

• Easy screening: Easy screening of college students with their GPA and SAT scores information than renting to someone without employment verification or rental history.
• High Demand: If rental units are near college or university areas, are very high in demand. With each new academic year, there is a consistent flow of students who will look for housing. It will give a landlord more negotiating power.
• Higher Rents: As rental units near colleges or universities are high in demand this allows landlords to charge more because college students often share accommodation.
• Low Expectations: Usually college students do not have many expectations, they do not look for fancy units with modern appliances or lavish furnishing. They are just concerned about the place to sleep and study.
• Predictable Tenancy: College students as tenants are more predictable. The landlord can generally predict when tenants will move out and in because of college cyclical semesters.
• Parental Guarantee: As the landlord needs a co-signer or guarantor for student rent, most parents act as a co-signer or guarantor for them. Which will relieve landlords of peace of mind.

Cons of renting to college students

Some of the following drawbacks of renting to students:

• No Rental or Credit History: Most college students do not have a credit score or rental history because it’s not uncommon to say they are likely renting for the first time. Which might give landlords a headache as to whether they are worthy of renting.
• High Turnover Rate: As for renting to college students, the landlord would face high tenant turnover because they do not sign a lease for longer than a year. But the good thing is this issue can be balanced by high demand.
• Property Damages: As college students are young and inexperienced, they are very likely to make mistakes in the form of property damage like an increase in normal wear and tear, and lack of maintenance.
• Poor Money Management: As college students are young and inexperienced, they do not know how to manage money properly as they often tend to socialize like nights out and parties which quickly empty their wallet or bank account. Thus, they often fall behind on their rent.
• Local Regulations: Some states have a law, that landlords need to submit prior notice to the local authority to get permission to rent to college students as it is a safety regulation kept in place to protect students living in high occupancy areas.

Steps to Mitigate Risk for Renting to Students

While renting to college students might have risks or headaches for a landlord. However, it’s a great way to minimize the vacancies of rental units though some potential drawbacks need careful consideration.
Here are a few things to mitigate the risks and find responsible tenants for the rental unit:

• Screen Tenants Carefully: Students are first-timers and need roommates to share fair rent per person. Thus, landlords need to check each of their backgrounds from professors and employers and let each of them sign the lease.
• Requirement of Co-signers: While college students do not have a credit and rental history, the landlord must ask for a co-signer or guarantor which gives them relief from future trouble like falling behind on rent and normal wear and tear.
• Specific Clauses: Landlords should be very specific on their lease clauses like noise levels, guest visits policy, pets policy, and maintenance. And you can also include the strict late payment policy.
• Periodic or Regular Inspections: Periodic or regular inspections are very essential for landlords as they help them keep tabs on their property. It helps them to identify property damages and other problems, which help them to solve these issues early.
• Security Deposit: Some college students might be notorious which will lead to property damages like normal wear and tear and other problems. So, always ask for a security deposit while signing a lease agreement which will help to cover unpaid rent or maintenance fees.

What Amenities College Students Look For?

Understanding college students is very simple, they do not have many expectations while renting, they just look for a few amenities on their rental.
Here are a few key amenities, they look for:

• Proximity to College: This is the top priority for the students while looking for a rental. Because they often spend their time on their studies, part-time jobs, and social gatherings or extracurricular activities.
• Wifi Speed: College students heavily rely on the internet for their studies like research, online classes, submitting assignments, and social media for entertainment.
• Affordability: As college students do not have much money, they often look for affordable units and roommates to share the rent. So, a landlord needs to set the price for their rental unit at a fair market price, which should be affordable to student renters.
• Laundry Facilities: Most college students are often busy with their studies, academic research, and social gatherings, they always look for laundry facilities on their rental.
• Safety: While College students do not have much experience in life, they always look for safe neighborhoods and safe rentals with security features like security cameras, and deadbolt locks to feel safe.

Can Landlords Refuse to Rent to College Students?

As a landlord, you need to understand college student’s demographics and you can not refuse to rent your rental units to college students based on their age and identity as students.
The Fair Housing Law clearly states you can not discriminate the tenants based on their race, age, color, nationality, gender, and so on. Thus Fair Housing Law prevents landlords from denying renting rooms to college students.

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