Buy a condo for college student (Orlando: apartment, rentals, HOA fees) - Florida (FL) - City-Data Forum

Jett456 · 08-16-2010, 05:11 PM

Does it make sense to buy a condo for a college student? The school is charging $500 per month for a shared room in a 3 bedroom apt and includes a pool, cable and utilities. I can probably rent a 1 bedroom for maybe a bit more than that but was thinking that buying one might not be a bad idea. The school is near S John Young Pkway and I4E. Condos are around 25000. What are the average common charges for a condo with a pool?

cfIfan · 08-16-2010, 05:39 PM

It completely depends on the community. Condo HOA fees could be as much as $500 per month. Condo's in good areas and there are quite a few in the John Young area vary in price. I have seen townhomes for in the $60-80K range in Hunters creek for 2/3 bedrooms which you could also rent out to offset some of the costs.

$25K is not much and I would recommend checking out the community and discussing this with your Realtor if you are using one to make sure you are not going to be purchasing a property which is going to have extremely high operating costs because at that price, your talking about the the same cost as a car. This is something of a give away and there has to be some reason why this is the case.

Good luck

Rabflmom · 08-17-2010, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jett456

Does it make sense to buy a condo for a college student? The school is charging $500 per month for a shared room in a 3 bedroom apt and includes a pool, cable and utilities. I can probably rent a 1 bedroom for maybe a bit more than that but was thinking that buying one might not be a bad idea. The school is near S John Young Pkway and I4E. Condos are around 25000. What are the average common charges for a condo with a pool?

A lot of people do it who have kids at UCF. I would get a 2 bedroom so a roommate can help pay for it or so there is room for parents to stay while they vacation here in Florida. Check out the condo to see how many are home owners living there and not rented out. Check to see that dues are being paid and that there is enough of a HOA fee that covers insurance for common areas if building is damaged in any way etc. We had some condos never rebuilt after the storms of 2004 because there just wasn't any money.
Too many had not been paying their fees or buying the insurance needed for their own units.

1200RT · 08-17-2010, 10:13 AM

My parents bought a 3 bedroom house for "me" when I went to college. I moved out of the dorms after freshmen year, so we got 3 years out of the house. We still own it, and rent it out (to non-college students now.).

The best advice I can give is .... even tho you may be renting a room to a friend (or friend of your child's) ... make sure its done "on paper".

GloryB · 08-17-2010, 11:52 AM

I think it's a great investment. You may not be able to resell it for awhile, but you can rent it for years to other students and probably make a nice profit. You can check the orlando Craigslist for room rentals to get an idea of what is available and what they are charging.

boy3365 · 08-22-2010, 05:34 PM

waste of money...just a glorified apartment.

totsuka · 08-30-2010, 04:03 AM

I would just rent. When the kid graduates and wants to move to a different area you won't have to worry about selling the condo.

Rabflmom · 08-30-2010, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by totsuka

I would just rent. When the kid graduates and wants to move to a different area you won't have to worry about selling the condo.

The friends we know who bought condos back in 2001 when our kids started at UCF still own the condos and use them most weekends as their home away from home when they go for concerts, to the parks, etc. in Orlando so I think getting condos for college kids is a great idea. A couple will retire to their condos in Orlando and sell their big homes here on the coast. Wish we had done that .