Student Housing near U of A

[DianneDachyshyn]

We are considering a property near the U of A. We are going to see it today--a large house with 9 bedrooms. Can someone tell us what it is like renting a place like this? What about utilities? Should we do the PM ourselves? Is it a major headache? Does someone know of a good PM company to handle a property like that? Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks,
Dianne Dachyshyn

 

[housingrental]

I`m not familiar with UoA but from having a number of 9 bedroom houses in Waterloo:

1) Student housing can be very management intensive. The larger the group size the worse it is.

2) Large group numbers in a unit (ie 9 especially) can present a TON of problems:
A) Interpersonal conflict - You can waste lots of time playing Dr. Phil by taking calls over who stole a tenants cheerios.
B) Retnals - MUCH harder to find indivudal renters willing to live in with that many other people. MUCH harder to find larger groups that big. MUCH harder to assess blame for common area damage and cleanliness. MUCH harder to get parental guarantors on leases.
C) Resale - Many purchasers won`t buy a house like this - expect a discount per bedroom
D) Insurance - Higher cost
E) Legality - Check with fire department and city, etc.. on this
F) Utilities - Lots of potential issues will develop if you don`t offer it inclusive. Harder to rent. Tenants defaulting on each other then looking to you for payment. Tenants shutting off utilities at times.

3) Property Management - Unless you live close by it likely won`t be worth your time. DO hire a company that specializes in student housing management.

 

[DianneDachyshyn]

QUOTE (housingrental @ Jul 10 2008, 09:33 AM) I`m not familiar with UoA but from having a number of 9 bedroom houses in Waterloo:

1) Student housing can be very management intensive. The larger the group size the worse it is.

2) Large group numbers in a unit (ie 9 especially) can present a TON of problems:
A) Interpersonal conflict - You can waste lots of time playing Dr. Phil by taking calls over who stole a tenants cheerios.
B) Retnals - MUCH harder to find indivudal renters willing to live in with that many other people. MUCH harder to find larger groups that big. MUCH harder to assess blame for common area damage and cleanliness. MUCH harder to get parental guarantors on leases.
C) Resale - Many purchasers won`t buy a house like this - expect a discount per bedroom
D) Insurance - Higher cost
E) Legality - Check with fire department and city, etc.. on this
F) Utilities - Lots of potential issues will develop if you don`t offer it inclusive. Harder to rent. Tenants defaulting on each other then looking to you for payment. Tenants shutting off utilities at times.

3) Property Management - Unless you live close by it likely won`t be worth your time. DO hire a company that specializes in student housing management.

Thanks for the quick reply, Adam. With all the difficulties, would you recomend a property like this or not?

 

[housingrental]

Sort of.
I recommend student housing.
I`m not a big fan of larger unit sizes (ie a 9 bedroom house).
If it can be split legally into multi units (ie 3 x 3 bed units or even one 4 and one 5 bed unit, etc..) I`d like it.
I`ve found with a good product and proactive management you can get 99% occupancy and collection rate BUT it`s work AND you need to know what your doing or hope you get lucky - IE know the product, and know how to manage it. View everything as a niche business - there`s differences in every location and every product type and know them before entering the market.


QUOTE (DianneDachyshyn @ Jul 10 2008, 12:05 PM) Thanks for the quick reply, Adam. With all the difficulties, would you recomend a property like this or not?