GMAC Real Estate Buying a Second Home in a College Town
GMAC Real Estate

Articles & Resources

Specialty Real Estate

Real Estate Calculators

Room Planner

Buying a Second Home in a College Town

Takeaways

  • Turn the sunk cost of housing your child in college into a real estate investment.
  • After your kid graduates, the college town second home will remain an attractive rental investment property.
  • If you want to get into a different second investment home, trade the college second home via a 1031 exchange.

Did you know?

  • Around 8% of investment second home owners intend for their child to live in the house while at college.
Save money on housing while investing in a second home dorm. You’re looking for an investment second home and the most important criteria to your search is a steady pool of available renters. How about buying that second home in a college town? Neighborhoods around universities and colleges are some of the most consistent rental markets for investment second homes.

There's a steady supply of students each school year in need of housing, Better still from the perspective of being a landlord in a college town, the school employs a large staff and will always have visiting faculty in need of temporary housing. If you do have a second home in a college town some distance from your primary residence, it’s a good idea to have someone within a reasonably short drive to help keep an eye on your second home from time to time. This is especially important if you rent to undergraduate males.



Hit the Books

Like any real estate purchase the college town investment second home process is improved with a little research on your end. To get an idea what sort of rental pool you are drawing from with the students, find out from the housing office the percentage of students living off campus. Also learn if any large group, such as all freshmen, are required to live on campus. You can get an idea of the rent you can charge by finding out what the student’s cost is for the school’s off campus units.

If the school allows private homes as rentals to the faculty, target this group as your first choice renters and advertise accordingly. Graduate students also make great renters. They are often married with a spouse who is working to support the grad student. Faculty and graduate students are more apt to treat your second home with care compared to undergraduate students.

Another time to seriously consider a second home in a college town is when your kid is attending school. Instead of paying dorm fees or helping pay down the mortgage on someone else’s second home, put that money back into your own pocket with a second home. After your kid graduates the second home is still there generating steady rental income, or can be traded with a 1031 exchange for more desirable real estate.

Search for Second Homes for Sale

To search for a selection of second homes for sale, please visit lifestylehomesearch.com, or visit the website of a GMAC Real Estate Office that serves the area where you'd like to buy a second home. To learn more about buying Second Homes or Vacation Homes, explore the rest of this section, or contact a GMAC Real Estate Agent.