Renting a house or an apartment to tenants tends to divide opinion among landlords. Some consider them troublesome, and others love the fact that they’re seemingly always available to fill an empty property. If you’re considering renting out to them, then there are some things that you might want to think about as you plan your business activities.
Location
There are two things students will look for in a property when they are thinking about location. The first is the proximity to their university, and the second is the proximity to the local nightlife. The closer your rental property is to these the better. Landlords that have property in this sweet-spot will find that they never have any trouble finding tenants. If you haven’t yet purchased the property, try to meet the expectations of your target market.
Furnishings
As majority of students will be moving out of their family home when they come to university, it’s unlikely that they’ll have lot of furniture. If you want your properties to be snapped up quickly furnish them well. Always bear in mind price point – there’s no need for anything fancy, it just needs to be functional and hardwearing – you can see some examples of student furniture here. There’s a good chance something will get damaged, so you might want to get an insurance.
Term Dates
Makes sure that you know what term times are. This will allow you to work out when the rush of applications will be, and it will also mean that you can plan for when the property will be uninhabited. Some insurance companies will not cover buildings that have nobody living in them for a certain period of time. It’s also worth noting that students may go home for up to a month during the holidays – so you’ll have nobody looking after the property during that time.
Payment
The majority of students will not be earning the money for their rent month to month, they’ll be paying it through their maintenance loan. It’s good to remember that this usually comes in every three or four months, so expecting monthly rent isn’t always the best plan. If you can accommodate the fact that they’ll want to pay quarterly, you’ll have less of a problem. Not all students are good at budgeting, but if they pay you as soon as they’ve received their loan or grant, things are unlikely to go wrong.
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