Own a house in a college town? Here's how to make extra cash on game day.
Homeowners in popular college football towns can more easily tackle their mortgage payments by renting out their homes during game day weekends.
Sacramento State wide receiver Johnnie Rucker misses a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Montana on Saturday in Missoula, Mont.
Patrick Record/AP
Homeowners in popular college football towns can more easily tackle their mortgage payments by renting out their homes during game day weekends, according to a new NerdWallet study using 2016 data from vacation rental giant HomeAway.
The study reviewed data for 10 cities that had a football team in the AP Top 25 last season and found that nightly rates leap significantly on game weekends, offering a potentially lucrative opportunity for homeowners willing to pack their bags for a night.
In the college towns reviewed, the median nightly listing price on HomeAway for all days of the week more than doubles during game day weekends — it’s 2.37 times more, to be exact. This is an increase of $410 from the median nightly rate.
Because of this price surge, homeowners in these towns could on average pay off 70% of a month’s homeownership costs by renting out their homes for just one Friday or Saturday night during football game weekends. Monthly homeownership costs, a 2015 figure from the U.S. Census Bureau, include mortgage payments, utilities and real estate taxes.
In some towns, the potential returns are even greater: Residents of South Bend, Indiana — home to the University of Notre Dame — stand to make enough to pay a whopping 144% of a month’s homeownership costs by renting for one night during a game day weekend.
Read the full report for more details.
Emily Starbuck Crone is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: emily.crone@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @emstarbuck. Dan Tonkovich is a data analyst at NerdWallet. Email:dtonkovich@nerdwallet.com. Franny Canine is a visual designer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: fcanine@nerdwallet.com.
This story originally appeared on NerdWallet.