<p>Dear Fellow parents,</p>
<p>I am sure you have thought of the question and weighted your options. The decision depends on individual/financial situations. Assuming that money is not an issue, would you consider buying an apartment or condo/house for your college-bound kid? What are the pros and cons? </p>
<p>Looking forward to your inputs and discussions.</p>
<p>PROBLEMS:</p>
<ol>
<li>student decides he dislikes his school and wants to transfer</li>
<li>student leaves school for any number of reasons (illness, suspension, study abroad)</li>
<li>student becomes the landlord of his condo and this puts him in a difficult situaton with roommates.</li>
<li>Liability for all the college related behavior that exists.</li>
</ol>
<p>There are several good threads on this, one fairly recently, weighing the pros and cons. I have to leave but if I have time later I’ll see if I can’t locate the links.</p>
<p>Not the first year, and maybe not the second. Assuming a traditional campus-type setting, I think living in a dorm on campus is a critical part of the college experience.</p>
<p>I have friends in Baton Rouge who have 2 daughters at LSU. Last year, they bought a small 3-bedroom bungalow very close to campus. The girls have 1 roommate, and that monthly rent helps to fund upgrades and small renovations. They plan on keeping it for a while - since they have another daughter who will be at LSU next year. A good investment for my friends, and a safe, comfortable, and well-maintained house for the girls.</p>
<p>My older son is in a 5 year program, and if he does the joint BS/MS, it will be 5-1/2 years. He plans on staying in the dorm his sophomore year (next year), but after that we will have to see. We might consider purchasing something, if we could find a place close to campus.</p>
<p>There are definitely two sides to this. I know a few families with multiple kids who purchased housing, knowing that the kids would attend that school. (I guess that cut down on the decision-making process). I also know the daughter of a close friend who had all of the problems with being the owner/landlord of the townhouse - so much so that she felt compelled to move out of her own home because the tenants had a lease agreement.</p>
<p>Here you go…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/239801-buying-house-off-campus.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/239801-buying-house-off-campus.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/571499-buying-house-vs-living-dorms.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/571499-buying-house-vs-living-dorms.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/177583-buying-house-condo-college-student.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/177583-buying-house-condo-college-student.html</a></p>
<p>We have friends who bought a condo for their oldest D in her college town. She had one roommate who lived with her for for three years. They were able to sell it after she graduated but that was in '08 when real estate wasn’t so hard to unload. Also she attended in a big state u. in a fairly small college town so there was always a demand for off campus housing. Their younger D is now at a diff. state u. and living in a rental apt.
Makes me think that the condo was more trouble than it was worth.</p>
<p>I would be afraid of being stuck with a house/condo I couldn’t unload in today’s economy. You definitely don’t want to end up being a landlord for other college students.</p>
<p>How many people are having a hard time selling their houses now? I am not a home owner any more, and I love it. I call my landlord whenever I have a problem with my apartment. I don´t have mortgage, insurance, taxes to pay. Most importantly, my money is available in my acct whenever I want it. Even if there is a possibility of making some money by buying a house for my college kid to live in (frankly, I don´t think it´s even the case), I wouldn´t do it just because of the hassle.</p>
<p>During my soph yr a girl who was a freshman (and in a dorm)- had parents who bought a condo across the street from the campus. It was a 2 br/2ba place. She lived there for her soph/jr/sr. I was a roommate for 2 of the 3 yrs.
The rent the 3 other students paid–easily covered the mortgage on the place. We split the ph/cable and pooled funds for groceries–each girl took one night a week M-Th to cook dinner for the 4. Worked well.
And the girl then changed her drivers license etc to the State and got in state tuition.</p>
<p>They repeated the process with her youger sister who then lived there for 3 yrs.
It was a win/win and they sold it for more than they paid…</p>
<p>Friends did this and it seemed like a GREAT idea at the time (six years ago). It saved them a lot of money on room costs as the student was able to share the place with two friends (three bedroom condo). HOWEVER…fast forward now…they had the choice of being landlords to college students in abstentia or selling the place. They decided to put it on the market…it’s been almost two years with no bites. Any money they saved is now being pumped into a condo they can’t sell.</p>
<p>Interesting topic as we’re discussing buying D (a junior at NYU) her own starter-ish place. It’s a bit unusual than buying in a “College Town” as she’ll 95% be settling in NYC for good. (Mostly due to her major and she has no interest in driving). She’d like a room mate or two and since we’re ideally looking for a two bedroom, it presents the issue of collecting rent from a close friend who most likely, doesn’t have the resources she does. Since it’s ALWAYS easiest to pass on the bill you owe privately (to say, your best friend for rent or in-laws) over a cell phone or tuition…I’m afraid it’ll put her in a pickle between us and her buddies. People say we should have her room mate’s send checks directly to us (which might make it a bit more formal of a deal) Should we insist on a written agreement from these kids? In some respects it makes sense financially, our family has always believed in giving with “a warm hand” (when you can see your kids benefit from a gift) and unlike many areas, its not only a great time to buy in NYC, it’s a great way to diversify in a market or otherwise low-paying investments. I can see the idea is causing her anxiety as much as its thrilling her…</p>
<p>Too many risks.</p>
<p>I know someone who just bought a 2 bedrm in NYC. Since he lives in area, and has many kids, it will most likely prove a good investment.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t take the risk. I just lost way too much on sale of house.</p>
<p>On the other hand, during his time between UG and grad school, son rented a 2 bed/2bath condo, directly across from campus. The ad was listed on his college’s housing site. That worked out well for owner and for son.</p>
<p>Ideally, my kids will live on campus all 4 years. I think it’s an essential part of the college experience. </p>
<p>At D’s college (a LAC) everyone lives on campus, barring unusual / extenuating circumstances. At S’s college, some students do move off campus jr and sr year but the apts are so close as to essentially be on campus, and anyway, I don’t see the point of moving off. I don’t see the point of apt living during college years in general. I never did it, neither did my H, and I don’t think we missed a thing. It was nice being able to study and do our activities without the issues of maintaining an apt or house. We had the rest of our lives to do that.</p>
<p>My kiddos both attended same school in LA and we didn’t seriously consider buying them a place. They both benefitted from choosing their own room mates & dealing with landlords. We have owned property for a while & found it works better for us to turn it over to a management company than to do it ourselves.</p>
<p>It would indeed put kids in awkward situation to be room mates & landlords at the same time, especially if resources are vastly different and the others might have trouble paying rent or other expenses in timely manner. </p>
<p>Would also be concerned about potential liability–college kids do some dumb things (have sometimes poor judgment) and I know of cases where owners have had property forfeited because of illegal drug activity in the dwelling–it’s part of the federal law. We have a good friend who has successfully prosecuted MANY of these cases.</p>
<p>Pizza-depends on the school. NYU has a much higher percentage of upperclassman in dorms because they’re usually way nicer (and safer) than an off-campus place. Many kids move to Williamsburg Brooklyn to save $$$$. But LOTS of schools offer very little in the way of 4-year dorms. When D was looking into Wisconsin, I think I recall they don’t even guarantee dorms for freshman let alone seniors My alma mater had like 6 dorms for freshman and 1 for seniors (and most of them were international) I was lucky to have the luxury of a beautiful sorority house to live, while H’s digs junior and senior year off campus can only be described as GRUNGY…yech skeeves me out just thinking about them!</p>
<p>That was a consideration for us when looking at colleges. H and I strongly preferred our kids to look at campuses where most kids lived on campus for all four years, or if you moved off, you were right there next to the campus. </p>
<p>Both H and I lived in Greek houses for 2 out of our 4 years, but our campus was such that the Greek houses were interspersed in the regular dorms, as opposed to being off-campus on some Fraternity Row set-up. </p>
<p>NYU (and maybe a place like George Washington University) is such a whole different thing, I don’t think it belongs in this type of discussion.</p>
<p>HI Mom-good point, not to mention dubious Manhattan coop boards. A lot of the places we’re researching have clauses against “guarantors” -which I gather means people who buy in someone else’s name? It’s interesting now that I think about it. D has actually lived in “apartment-like” digs for last two years as NYU has bought up a lot of luxury coops that went bankrupt during the boom. So, cooking, cleaning and maintaining a place is something their all used to. She’s in London now where NYU owns apartment-dorms there as well!</p>
<p>Excellent points, HImom.</p>
<p>Let me just say that if we could afford an apartment in Boston for PMKjr, well, frankly I think we’d use that money to travel the world instead! Always a bad mom, that’s me!</p>
<p>Even if our kiddos wanted to live in LA for good (they don’t), not sure it would make sense to buy a place there as college is pretty fleeting (S was there 2006-2010; D from 2009-2012 with 3 semesters of overlap). S lived on campus for his freshman year & an apartment controlled by campus housing for his sophomore year. D lived on campus for her 1st semester as a transfer & then an apartment controlled by campus housing for sophomore year as well. There is sufficient inventory of decent places to rent near campus. It is best for them to live as close to campus as possible so they can participate in as many campus activities as possible, plus neither drives more than necessary (& its generally safer than some other parts of this city). When they’ve graduated, they already indicated they would wish to live closer to where they work or in nicer residential areas (which are out of our price range anyway). S is already moving to the east coast & D believes she will probably move where her friends are ending up, closer to Hollywood. </p>
<p>Both kids do hope to eventually return to HI, so we are trying to remain in the real estate market so they can afford to have a place to return to–someday!</p>
<p>Of course, mileage varies, depending on family situation, campus, the housing market (where it is & how long the people are willing to stay with the property even if/when their kiddo no longer lives there). I can’t see either of my kids wanting to be landlords to their friends or room mates; I know I wouldn’t want to be in that position, nor would hubby.</p>