Bellevue is home to three world class colleges and universities, while the Puget Sound Area is home to over 20. As a result, the demand for student housing is high, whether for rentable apartments, dormitories or share-housing opportunities with single family homes rented out to multiple students. Bellevue property managers allow you to invest in student housing in the area, even if you don’t live there, making for a lucrative investment opportunity for both small and large investors. The following includes tips form Bellevue property manages on how, where and why to invest in student housing.
Why Invest in Student Housing
With more than 74,000 annual students attending colleges in the Seattle area, and prospected numbers on a steady rise thanks to increased technical job availability through Microsoft, Amazon and other the giants in the Kirkland and Redmond areas, the demand for student housing is at a high. However, the area only currently supports somewhere around 9,759 dorm rooms, which represents a significant gap between student body and dorm availability. This leaves a great deal of room for investment opportunities in creating additional student housing near colleges in Bellevue. In addition, the global market for student housing is worth somewhere around 200 billion, making it a feasible investment no matter where you are.
Types of Student Housing Investments in Bellevue
There are many ways to invest in student housing in the Bellevue area but you primarily have to ensure that your property is located near enough to one of Bellevue’s schools. For example, Bellevue College has three campuses, giving you plenty of opportunity to purchase land near enough to the student housing area to rent to students.
Apartments and Dorms
Purchasing apartments and dormitories allows you to directly rent to multiple students with no drawbacks. By providing low-cost rental rates to students, you can quickly rent out your units and keep them full for eight or more months out of the year. Dorms provide more return because they are smaller and therefore can fit in more units for the building size while apartments rent for more because they are a luxury home.
Single Family Homes and Condos
Single family homes and condos rent out well to students especially on a share-housing basis, where a group of students rent out the home together. The more bedrooms the house has, the better it will rent out, and the more you can charge for monthly rent.
Developments
Developments are costly because they require that you or you and a team of investors build student housing to rent out, but also offer the most in terms of long-term gains, because once you pay for the cost of construction, you have a new building with modern amenities that is easy to rent out.
Bellevue Property Management
Once you have a student housing investment, hiring a Bellevue property manager to rent it out for you ensures that you keep students in the building, keep up with maintenance and repairs and fulfill your obligations to tenants in accordance with Seattle and Bellevue city ordinances.