My husband and I are discussing buying a Bryan or College Station rent house for our kids to live in and manage while at Texas A&M. It is likely that 3-4 of our 6 kids will attend Texas A&M or Blinn, and our kids are all 2-3 years apart in age. Oldest is still in high school.
We do have a few other rentals, but not college rentals. I'm a little wary of managing student rentals, and have sacrificed cash flow for more stable tenants in nicer properties.
For folks with experience in this:
1. Did your kids feel they missed out on the dorm experience?
2. Were your sons/daughters generally able to screen, lease to, and manage other responsible students?
3. Not counting on much appreciation, but was it generally a good financial decision?
4. What downsides did you experience?
We currently live in Houston and could be there if needed Im case of emergency.
Primary goal would be to lower our children's housing expenses while in school, then sell when our kids no longer need it.
Thank you!

My folks did this for my brother and myself starting my Jr year.

1st, dorm life is a part of college, my opinion is let them experience it. My brother was 2 years behind me.

As "house dad" I was responsible for rent and bills. Of course I was 20 when this started but I could have handled it at 18. Send them to the dorms to grow up a bit and meet people and get adjusted.

I did convince my parents to sell the house after my brother moved out. That, in hindsight, was a mistake. A 4/2 at Wellborn and Villa Maria. That house in 1997 was $80k. We did a lot of improvements, I learned a ton outside of college on DIY, electrical, plumbing, sweating copper, hanging drywall, roofing, laying tile and all done on Sundays after gameday since dad was 80miles away. Skills I wouldn't truly appreciate for years to come.

My brothers gripe was he moved into a house of my friends, but the turnover began as people graduated.

Thank you for sharing your experience; sounds like your parents gave you an opportunity to learn some great lessons!

1. Agree with Alaskan Ag. Freshman need to spend a year in the dorm.

2. Hit or miss on collections and screening. Maybe tie junior's spending-money to ensuring all rooms are occupied and rent arrives on time? "You owe mom and dad $2000 for rent this month + you have to pay the bills. Collect all the rent money or you're eating PB&J this month"

3. Seems like appreciation is kind of steady in a college town. Seems like higher risk/reward in the southgate area where some houses are changing from student housing to rich people game day housing. If you can buy the right house in the right area at the right time, this could be big. But plan on a more reasonable return.

4. Students (even your own) can still trash a house. Also can be some sibling disagreements depending on whose friends are renting the other rooms and how well the siblings get along. An engineering kid rooming with a education major could lead to some problems.

For 1 kid going to school, I'd suggest having junior find an apartment or house to rent in college. 2 kids seems about break even, and 3 is definitely buy and rent. Reduce that number by one kid if you want a future gameday house.

On that point. When we bought it my folks wanted to repaint and recarpet the interior. My reply was "NOOOOOO". The last thing I wanted to be responsible for was new carpet.

Mom: But this is so old.

Me: This will be the nicest it'll ever be.

After my brother graduated they did all the things to market it, Including replacing interior doors from flat 70s slabs, to 6 panel doors.

It looked so amazing.

We also had a cop 2 doors over, so that was my excuse to limit parties to "Parents Weekend" in the fall for a crappy home game, and a crawfish boil in the spring.

The only time the police called me directly is when one of my deviant roommates was wearing all cammo and hiding in the bushes and was shooting golfers with a pellet gun across the street.

Lots of good thoughts!
I especially like the idea of tying the child's funding to rents collected.
My aunt and uncle had a system where they reimbursed their kids' tuition payments once grades came out, something like 100% for As and Bs, nothing for Fs, with a sliding scale in between.
We will have to do more research into parts of town, it's nice that Southgate is turning over, plus conveniently close to campus.
Thank you for all of your thoughts on this topic!

I'm also thinking about this as well. I have an incoming spring transfer student and I'll have to start looking for a place for her to stay at. This is a good thread OP!

AlaskanAg99 said:

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On that point. When we bought it my folks wanted to repaint and recarpet the interior. My reply was "NOOOOOO". The last thing I wanted to be responsible for was new carpet.

Mom: But this is so old.

Me: This will be the nicest it'll ever be.

After my brother graduated they did all the things to market it, Including replacing interior doors from flat 70s slabs, to 6 panel doors.

It looked so amazing.

We also had a cop 2 doors over, so that was my excuse to limit parties to "Parents Weekend" in the fall for a crappy home game, and a crawfish boil in the spring.

The only time the police called me directly is when one of my deviant roommates was wearing all cammo and hiding in the bushes and was shooting golfers with a pellet gun across the street.

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I think I know that guy!

Red Pear Felipe said:

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I'm also thinking about this as well. I have an incoming spring transfer student and I'll have to start looking for a place for her to stay at. This is a good thread OP!

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I know a great Realtor if you need one.

Thanks!
College is so expensive that I think this could be a good way to lower expenses plus have my kids learn more responsibility by managing it.
I'm sure it will be a learning process as we research and figure all of this out.

Only thing I can add is avoid four or five bedrooms if you can. More students, more potential for drama of all kinds. My 3br student stuff can even be annoying to deal with. My 2br stuff is a cake walk.

I've been looking at 2/2 condos in College Station. I told my daughter to make a new friend and have them room with you. What's the going rate on room rentals? $500?

Good point!
I am likely to have 2 of my own living there at once due to their ages (6 kids total); they bicker as siblings do, but will need to work it out.
Someone else where mentioned duplexes; perhaps this would be another option.
Less drama is definitely a good thing!

Red Pear Felipe said:

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I've been looking at 2/2 condos in College Station. I told my daughter to make a new friend and have them room with you. What's the going rate on room rentals? $500?

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I have older 2/1 duplexes close to campus. They rent fast at $995. Lots of grad students take the whole place for themselves.

$995 total or per room?

Total. I dont do any room rentals. Older duplexes in good areas. If they were newer and 2/2, Id expect a good bit more.

Class of '87 here. Daughters are Class of '14 & '17. I don't have much to add but the dorm experience for my daughters is not what it was in the 80s.... Just sayin'

The best benefit of dorm life for them was living on campus and getting acclimated to school without navigating the to/from campus everyday.

Wes '87