Should You Buy or Rent a Home for Your OSU Student?

It depends on how long your student will attend OSU and your comfort with being a landlord. If your student has multiple years left, buying often costs about the same monthly as renting while building equity you can recover at resale — renting is simpler but returns nothing at the end.

Monthly costs are often comparable. A new-construction home near OSU with 20% down can run roughly $1,650–$1,750/month at current rates, while a comparable student rental house often runs $2,000–$2,800/month split among roommates. Buying can end up cheaper per person once roommate rent is factored in.

Yes. Many Stillwater parents buy a 3- or 4-bedroom home near OSU and have their student rent spare bedrooms to roommates, which can offset most or all of the monthly payment.

Los Rancheros and Frye Farms (built by Lennar) and Park Valley and The Canyons (built by Ideal Homes) are the active new-construction communities closest to campus.

You have three main options: sell it (there's steady demand from the next wave of OSU parent-buyers), keep it as a long-term rental property, or pass it down to a younger sibling attending OSU later.

Start 6–9 months ahead if possible. The two windows I see the most parent activity are April–May, right after admission decisions, and orientation season from early June through early August — both give you time to close before move-in.