When we built the calculators, we adopted two approaches that were polar opposites: Investors who wanted the least exposure are likely to take out a 30-year mortgage with twenty-five percent down as opposed to those who were jumping in with both feet and doing an all cash deal. The interest rate for houses that are not primary residences tends to be ¾ to one percent higher than the going rate thus the interest rate of 4.5%.
In our experience, bedrooms during the academic year rent for between $650 and $800 per month based on how attractive the house is to students. There are two options for renting a house during the summer in South County. Vacationers will most often pay around $650 per bedroom per week during the weeks in July and August, however, that can go as high as $750 based on the house and location. Owners close to the beach should be able to get at least five weeks filled each summer. As a rule, 9 weeks is the most you are apt to get. Students are willing to pay $700 per month per bedroom for all three summer months for houses not as close to the beach.
The price we suggest is 95% to 98% of the asking price. Most homes sell within four points of the asking price. The down payment is twenty-five percent of the price and monthly taxes are 1/12 of the previous year’s taxes (If you don’t know the tax amount, use $250.) The monthly mortgage payment is based on the 4.5 percent interest rate applied to the amount borrowed and the monthly insurance is $3.50 per thousand of the price divided by twelve. We add the 3 monthly expenses to get the total and multiply by twelve to arrive at the annual expenses.
The annual revenue depends on whether summer is rented by the week or by the month. We calculate it both ways labeling the weekly method #1 and the monthly #2. The academic year is the rent per bedroom per month times the number of bedrooms times 9 months. The academic year revenue is added to the appropriate summer total to get the annual revenue. It takes one more step to calculate the net revenue. A management fee of 12% of the rents is subtracted from the annual revenue giving the total revenue.
Total revenue less the annual expenses is the annual net revenue. When this number is divided by the cash paid up front for the house, down payment or all cash, we get the rate of return on investment.
