Rental in AU Park

[Anonymous]

We are thinking of buying a 5 br house near AU which for various reasons will be renting out for a year before we move in. We were thinking we could rent to students for the school year. Is this crazy? Any landlords of AU students out there care to share their experience?

[Anonymous]

Not an AU landlord, but the neighbor of AU student rentals a few times over the years! We also have a rental next door which is not for students. It seems that all the houses rented to students in AU are pretty run down. Don't expect them to do any gardening or maintenance. But plenty of families would like to rent in AU. We had a hard time finding a good rental when we first moved here. Saying that, the one next door has been up for rent for ages (perhaps because no AC).

Please don't rent to students for your neighbors' sake!!

[Anonymous]

Yes, be prepared for your house to be trashed -- not necessarily permanent damage, but seriously filthy. I had 3 female grad students in a rowhouse and I swear they never swept the floor, wiped the counters or cleaned a toilet. I naively assumed girls would be cleaner -- wrong. Shared responsibility = no responsiblity.

You could provide maid service if you want to at least try to keep the place from going to hell.

[Anonymous]

I went to AU (many years ago) and rented a house in close walking distance of AU. Dispite the fact that we did not hold a single large party all year and had no cars for most of the year, the neighbors hated us! Extrememly rude and complaining about non-issues..like telling us our guests were not allowed to park on the street. There was no serious filth or damage. My point here is that your neighbors will likely be very upset with you for renting to students. But if you do, chose carefully and you can really do well with a 5 bedroom house.

[Anonymous]

Or you could end up with 10 or more kids living in your home.

I'm the PP who rents a rowhouse. It's 2BR/2BA and we initially rented to two roommates. When we returned to the house 3 years later, we were receiving mail for 7 different people who apparently lived there at various times -- in addition to the initial two.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes, we did think about that...other people moving in with original renters especially since the bedrooms are rather large. But how to get around that unless you stipulate upfront?
Also, the place is in OK shape and needs some work before we move in anyway, so am not too worried about them trashing the place. Good idea about the maid service though.

Thanks for your input.

[Anonymous]

Get a really good property manager. Ours (initials Yarmouth Management) felt it wasn't their job to police the tenants. "They would just deny it and say the extra people were temporary guests." Temporary guests who took the time to file a change of address.

[Anonymous]

great way to tank the neighborhood.