Creating an Ideal Student Apartment: What Features Matter Most

By Garth Brunner on January 14, 2025

When you have a property in a college town, it makes sense that you would want to rent to students or maybe you are looking to break into the market and you’re not sure where to start.

Even if you’ve rented properties before, there is a stark difference between a regular apartment and an ideal student apartment. College students are eager to move out of their restrictive dorms, so you should keep in mind what features students miss or crave the most while living in dorms. Here are the key features that matter when creating an ideal student apartment for rent.

via Pexels

Location

One of the most important features of an ideal student apartment is its location. If you do not currently have a property and are looking to buy one to rent out to students, the location is vital. It should be close to college campuses, but it should also be close to a bus or train stop if applicable since there are many college students who don’t own cars. A key feature for students is the ease to travel to their campus for classes or extracurriculars. Even if your apartment checks all of the other important features on this list, it won’t matter as much if it is too difficult to get to campus.

You may also consider the other buildings within walking distance or a short bus ride from the apartment. If it is near grocery or convenience stores, great restaurants, or bars, it will greatly increase the amount of students interested in your property. After all, it will save them time and money going out or ordering from these places.

Multiple Bedrooms

Despite living in the same room as another student in the dorms, many still want to live with their friends once moving off-campus, whether to save on costs or just to be around a familiar face. With that said, students looking to move off-campus are completely over with sharing a room. Ideally, your property should have multiple bedrooms so students can still have roommates, but have their own space to have some much-needed alone time after a long study session.

Flexible Lease

When drafting your lease for student apartments, it should be flexible around the length of the lease. Students are not always interested in leasing an apartment for an entire year since the school year is 9 to 10 months. While some students are interested in staying in their college town for an entire year, others go home for the summer or go on an extended vacation. There is also the possibility of students only needing housing for one semester.

Because of this, you can consider a month-to-month lease, a lease for the duration of one semester or one school year, or you can allow your student tenants to sublet the apartment while they are away for an extended period of time. This flexibility will encourage students to sign a lease with you since they will not have to worry about paying for rent if they happen to leave for a month or two.

Amenities

As mentioned before, students are looking to live off-campus because their on-campus housing and dorms are not providing them with the amenities they need or want. This may require some quick research as to what the college dorms near you are and are not providing. For example, laundry may be incredibly difficult in the dorms or dorms may not even have laundry, requiring students to travel to a laundromat off-campus, easy-access parking spots for students that do have cars, and a useful kitchen with modern appliances.

Once again, cooking can be incredibly difficult for students living on campus. Sharing a kitchen with everyone on their floor or building isn’t easy, even when they want to make a simple meal. By providing a full-size fridge, modern oven, stove, microwave, and maybe even a dishwasher is a huge draw for students. Even if the kitchen is small, many students will value having one they can use whenever they please without having to worry about students they’ve never met hogging the kitchen.

Fast Internet Included

If there is one thing students absolutely need in this day and age, it is a fast and reliable internet to study, turn in assignments, and naturally, stream their favorite shows to wind down after hard work. Unfortunately, many high-speed internet providers force customers into lengthy contracts. In order to create an ideal student apartment, you can supply the internet and have the contract yourself, but charge them for it. This way, students do not have to worry about finding their own reliable internet as soon as possible.

By using this article as a checklist, you can create the ideal student apartment by providing students with the features they want and need the most when looking to live off-campus.

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