Property managers are getting rent of $500 per bedroom, per month, in Athens these days.  What's more, the properties continue to hold or increase their value throughout the entire period of ownership.  I've been buying and selling homes in the Athens area for more than 15 years, and have always made a 35% minimum increase over purchase price.  My very first property paid my living expenses my entire time at college, supplemented my post-college income while I settled into my career, and then sold for twice purchase price 7 years later to pay for the downpapyment on my first home with my husband!

If you have a child going to college, I highly recommend looking into purchasing a property in the area.  Here's how it works:  Buy a 2 bedroom rental house; they are easy to find and your payments are usually less than 1 bedroom's worth of rent for your college age child.  THEN, make your child responsible for finding their own roommate and collecting rent from them for their monthly spending cash and to pay their utility bills.  If you stick by it, I promise you, he or she will find themselves a fiscally responsible roommate with whom they can get along! 

This teaches your children fiscal responsibility, how to deal professionally with property, and -at least for me - how to take care of their property and make regular household repairs (I quickly found I didn't need to spend my monthly income paying a plumber to come fix a toilet that runs constantly, or a general contractor to fix a sliding closet door that has come off the hinges).  These are important lessons, believe it or not!  You may think of them as your babies, but these are young adults who are going to have to learn to live in their own home one day!

After they graduate, sell the property to pay off college tuition loans, or give it to them to use as rental income while they get settled in their new careers.  Then, let them sell it to put a downpayment on their first post-college home.  Either way, you are gaining equity during their college careers rather than throwing away rent payments, you always have a valueable investment to borrow against for college expenses, and you don't have to provide your kids with spending money every month.  It is a win-win-win-win situation!

BTW: I have 16 properties for sell in the Athens area now.  All are fully leased, but Freshmen have to live on campus anyway.  So, talk to me about buying one of them today.  Enjoy the excellent cash flow this year, and then begin your plan for financial independance for your college Sophomore (unless they change their major again!) starting August 2009.