Well, I have to say that renting to college students is quite a different experience than renting to families.  These are wonderful young people, to say the least.  They have stars in their eyes about going to University of California at Merced, and certainly their parents are so proud of them.  I am too.   HOWEVER. . . there are some things that are really important to consider when renting to college students, like . . .

 

Are they housebroken?   Seriously. One conversation I have with these young people is that by leasing a home, they are becoming responsible for someone else's $500,000 asset (well, $200K since the foreclosure market hit).  It's really important that they respect the property, and that they respect the neighbors. 

 

The major problem is that there isn't much entertainment in Merced for the college group (Hey, are there any entertainment investors out there?), so they have a lot of weekend parties.  With weekend parties comes noise, many cars, and trash on the neighbors lawns.  One of our neighborhoods dealt with it by picking up all the garbage from their respective lawns the next morning, and dumped it on the offending house's yard. 

 

Yes, they need to be housebroken.

 

The young men do not know their own strength - like when they've had a few beers and they go to open the door and forget to turn the knob - oops, there goes the door frame!  Help us if they have more than a few beers! 

 

Renting to a group of gals is not as scary.  For the most part, they don’t know how to use a screwdriver, but that’s not a sin. What’s bad is when they don’t know how to make a bank deposit properly. This is University, kids.

 

Remedies?  Well, in an effort to keep the lawns alive, I've decided to include a gardener with the rent.  I'd also like to include housekeeping services on a bi monthly basis, but the students seem to object to that.  "I can keep my room clean".   But that's not the problem.  The problem is "who will keep the rest of the house clean?"  

 

I'd love to hear of some solutions others may have found.  Right now, I have an individual lease for each student with their parents as guarantors - unless they can show their own financial viability. 

 

What are your thoughts about renting to college students?