Saturday, October 20, 2007
Buying property for college students can make sense
ScrippsNews: "Checklist as your teenager heads off to college: Don't forget to: a) pay the tuition; b) have the safe-sex talk; c) have the drinking-and-driving talk; and d) buy your student a house or condo."
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13 comments:
I wasn't exactly sure what this article was getting at, but I can see why buying property for college students makes sense. Especially buying it "with" them. Of course, as a freshman here, you are required to be in campus housing, so you cannot embark on such an investment until your second year. This is very practical for most of us in our program simply because of a need of space. A small dorm room just isn't enough room for the materials and furniture we require. This article would probably be very important for some of our parents to read.
I suppose sometimes it's a good decision to buy property instead of renting for 4 years or so. I think personally in Pittsburgh it's kind of a moot point.It's not that expensive to live here. Also, unless your parents live near where you're going to college, it's a little difficult to continue being a responsible landlord when your child leaves. All in all, I guess it's just a toss up of financial situation and geography.
It does make quite a bit of sense since as soon as you graduate more students will be starting. You can always rent if you dont want to sell it right away, but there will always be plenty of students looking for places to live.
i feel like in pittsburgh there isn't as much of a need to buy housing because renting can be stumbled upon so inexpensively.... however, i also feel like it may pay off to just buy the housing for the long run, it possibly creates less problems and brings the entire management of the home under a more immediate source... however, for some it is a bit of stretch, i guess it all comes down to the individual family situation and what is doable and makes sense.
My parents bought a condo in pittsburgh. The way they saw it, the Pittsburgh housing market is so cheap that the money would be well spent to allow the flexibility in finding a place close to campus. In addition, it made finding a place easier. Although it may not be the best investment, hopefully we can recoup the money or sell it to a freshman's family next year.
It worked well for my family, but I doubt my brother will be doing it in Champaign, IL. It all depends on the housing market.
I think short term (3-5 years) investment in the housing market is a dangerous game to play, especially since real estate has gone down fairly recently. I could see why renting to college students is an easy way to make some quick money, but selling it afterwards can be such a pain depending on the condition it is in. That would be why a long-term investment may be more beneficial, the issue of course is having landlord take care of the place. If someone did live in a college-dense area like Pittsburgh, I could see the long-term investments being very profitable.
Also, college students are often forced to stick near campus, so rental fees can be fixed at a very high bar. My brother went to a school where most of the housing near campus was controlled by large corporations, who constantly ripped off the college students.
I think this is an interesting idea since I am a freshman and currently considering my options for living next year. I think that a lot of the decision deals with the environment and market you are dealing with. It also depends on the level of maturity of the students that might have their parents buy them a house or condo. We all would love to think that our parents would be dying yo buy their little angels (us) houses that they would rent space to our friends and we would have a successful mature living arrangement. But I can see how some parents would not be inclined to make this investment, especially if they thought an otherwise nice house could be destroyed by 3-4 years of college kids living there.
I'll have to save this for next year. I can't see why anyone would want to spend anymore time in a dorm than what they need to. I have mine decked out with lights, LED's and paintings to try and make it somewhat nice. But painting a few walls would add an amazing touch to a house. Little things like color, light, style and space can really reduce the amount of stress a person feels. I'm stuck right now having to be very quiet as my roommate sleeps. If you have a house, you have no problem.
Yes, I agree that it can make sense, provided the location is very good, and the price is not too expensive.
One can always rent it out or sell it depending on the market.
my family considered buying a house for the three years the things to consider are price of the piece which in pittsburgh is dead cheap however what made them decide just to rent a house was the property taxes which tend to get quite expensive, especially in the area of pittsburgh. I guess there are a lot of factors to consider depending on what you and your family want and financial standing and all that good stuff
This seems reasonable, especially in towns where college housing will always be going up in price. At the same time, in a place like Pittsburgh where it's easy to rent and less easy to own, it seems impractical.
Good for you Mr. Sheehan, good for you.
Apaprently he doesn't seem to mind the skyrocketing costs of living in a dorm here, and apparently he didnt get room draw number eight-hundred and something. Sure, I would have been fine living on campus this year, but after being given the choice of 1 of 5 different (horrible) rooms by the time my lottery number came around, i found it much much simpler and affordable to just sign a lease. Provided that the ceiling in my kitchen doesn't fall in and that the landlord fixes the hot water pipes, i'll be just fine.
For people who can afford to make the purchase, it seems like a great idea. However, it can cause "trouble in collegic paradise" if the landlord-tenant middleman is the child of the landlord stuck between their parents and their friends. It seemed odd that he said it was hard to purchase property near CMU as many of CMU students live in properties purchased by their parents, and there seems to be no lack of tenants (within looking for one I had a new roommate in less than 24 hours).
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