Zillow Advice: Home Buying - Mom & Dad: Should I live in the dorm or will you buy me a house?

Real Estate to Die For........I've ...

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:04:00 GMT

Real Estate to Die For........

I've always been bullish on real estate for long term investment, portfolios, retirement. But the real estate I love the most was where I first started buying, next to a big, growing, sprawling university.

I still believe these areas are what I call "Real Estate to Die For". Universities, colleges and schools of higher learning are all pillars in our communities. They are here in perpetuity, during our lifetimes, our children's and their children's lifetimes. They contribute greatly to the local economies, and hopefully, will grow in size as more Americans and foreign students want to be educated.

Look in areas within a short distance to the school of your choice. The closer the proximity, the less time it takes for your tenants to get to school. They can stay at school longer, too, without having to be pressured to leave campus and have a long commute home.

There are tons of opportunities to rent to students and many colleges have off-campus housing offices to help students find landlords and vice versa.

Properties do not have to be hi-end or include crazy upgrades. It's enough that they are clean, spacious, comfortable and near school.

Scott Miller, Realtor®
Estate Specialist
Commercial RE
Business Broker
Realty Associates

Did the new Zillow employee ...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:42:00 GMT

Did the new Zillow employee quit or get fired already??? A moderator with only 2 posts, and both having nothing to do with moderating?? Perhaps Witney is the one who used my user name to state I moved a thread?

Whose other user names is she posting under???

Sorry if this has been coverered ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:44:00 GMT

Sorry if this has been coverered but what college? What area are you considering buying a home/condo for your mini me(s)?

I agree with the last part ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:27:00 GMT

I agree with the last part of that statement. Good luck.

My son goes to Utah and we ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:20:00 GMT

My son goes to Utah and we just bought him a place. After weighing all the options as well as the investment opportunity it just made sense. Not to mention he has three roommates and they cover ALL the costs. He has his split of the utility bills and food but the house payment, taxes and insurance are covered by the renters and it's a savings to them as well. It was a no brainer for our situation.

Good luck!!

Reviewing the original questions: College ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:27:00 GMT

Reviewing the original questions:

College dorms are EXPENSIVE (not to mention small and crowded). What do you think about buying a condo or house for your student to live in during their collegiate years instead of paying hefty dorm fees? Is buying property for your teen crazy, or is it a smart investment?

* Buying right now is perilous in most college towns. Rent v mortgage is a losing proposition at these barely-off-peak bubble prices.

* Dorm rooms are supposed to be crowded. Cry me a river. It's part of the experience. If you want comfort then go to University of Phoenix in your parents' basement.

* Yes, buying a home for a teenager is crazy. For more reasons than I care to list. There are always exceptions, but turning your child into YAT (yet another trustafarian) is not doing them any favors. Neither is denying them the college experience.

* Buying a home is *never* a smart investment. It's just occassionally a *lucky* investment. Buying an asset that produces zero positive cash flow and appreciates historically at the rate of inflation is a bad investment idea. Pretending you're now going to suddenly be a landlord mogul without knowing what you're signing up for is not an investment idea at all, it's an operational undertaking.

Oh I probably should add ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:53:00 GMT

Oh I probably should add that the university we attended was 300 miles from home or a good 6 hour drive one way.

I might be mistaken, but ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:51:00 GMT

I might be mistaken, but I thought that you could get a mortgage with terms more along the lines of a primary residence than a 2nd / investment property in this scenario. Just saying....

I can give you my experience ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:45:00 GMT

I can give you my experience with this. I have a youger brother and we both attented the same university. By the time I was a junior I finally convinced my dad to buy a house. He bought a 3 + 1 that was sort of fixed up and needed finishing. My brother and I finished it and took very good care of it. When I graduated my brother then rented out my room. The room rents (2 of the bedrooms) almost made the mortgage payment (about 10% short) but as time went on and we found that some students would pay a little more for a nice quiet semi rural home and we soon broke even. My brother stayed in school for post graduate work and I think my dad owned the house for maybe 6 or 8 years. After my brother graduated he rented it out to other students we knew and or people from our home town for their kids. By the time all the dust settled my Dad ended up sending two kids through college for free and pocketed an amount equall to one 4 year education. I was always very pleased to have talked him into it and to have helped by doing work on the house. He was not a wealthy man but as it worked out he became wealthier. I remember some of my business professors refering to me as being shrewd for that move. Ah, a fond memory from my youth :-). Does that qualify me as being a landlord since I was 19 or 20 years old lololololol. Seriously though it worked out very well for our family.

I have to agree with walty ...

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:41:00 GMT

I have to agree with walty and K101, all depends on the kid. All three of mine spent the first 2 yrs in the dorms with the understanding that the 2nd-5th could be off campus. I think it's good for them to develope additional social skills and to see how tuff it can be studying with a hell of a lot of noise.

The first two moved into off campus rentals, houses with up to 6 kids. Worked for them, and they learned alot about picking roomers.

My last one with 2 yrs to go will move into the house we are buying in LV. It has nothing to do with buy vs rent, it's a house we plan on spending a lot of time in and eventually retiring at. In the mean time, we put 8k + his girlfriends 8k into the house each year for the next 2. Yeah, we will still be subsidizing the note, but that's fine. They will pay utilities etc. They are both very responsible...probably scared of dad :) I will say, we did a pretty damn good job raising them, a little bragging. I wouldn't in this case rent it out to a bunch of college kids, I've seen how other parents raise their kids, or not.

Bottom line, all depends on what you want out of it in the end.