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manhattan kansas real estate

Kansas State University

Manhattan Kansas Real Estate

Welcome to the College Real Estate Page for Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Many parents ponder whether they should buy or rent while their students attend college. For some the answer is to buy and for others the answer is to rent. College Real Estate hopes to help you find which is the right answer for you. Another great tool in helping you decide is our College Real Estate guide book that walks you through the entire process of buying student property. We hope you find this site useful and welcome any and all feed back. If you would like to be connected with a College Real Estate's exclusive Realtor in Manhattan, Kansas please visit our buying page. If you have decided that buying student housing is not the right answer for you and would like to be connected with a leasing specialist please visit our leasing page.

Kansas State University

Officially called “Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science,” Kansas’s oldest public institution of higher education is more commonly known as K-state today. K-state is home to the easily recognizable royal purple Wildcats and it is located in a quintessential college town. With a campus stretching across 668 acres, a student population of 23,332 and a faculty of 1,191 the university has a strong presence in the town of Manhattan. While K-state does have a well-developed agriculture program – the school owns the Konza Prarie just south of town as well as 18,000 acres across the state that are used as Agriculture Experiment Stations – it also offers a broad liberal arts education, with 60 different academic departments. Ever since 1986, K-state has ranked first nationally among state universities for its enrollment of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman Goldwater, and Udall scholars.

If you are planning on becoming a Wildcat, you can anticipate $4,560 per year for in-state tuition costs and about $13,890 for out-of-state students. Room and board together average about $5,770 per year for on campus living, but there are plenty of off-campus housing options as well.

About the Area

K-state and the city of Manhattan are in the northeast corner of Kansas where the Kansas River and Big Blue River intersect. Manhattan is a city of 50,000 affectionately nicknamed “The Little Apple” since it hasn’t quite reached the size or status of Manhattan, New York. From your first visit to Manhattan, Aggieville will catch your attention as it is 6 square blocks just next to campus that provide shops, entertainment, restaurants and plenty of bars to service the student population. Aggieville is also the location of massive celebrations after a Wildcat football or basketball victory. If you’re a music lover, you should know that Manhattan is home to he largest music festival in Kansas, the Country Stampede Music Festival, that occurs annually and draws students as well as fans from all over the state.

Buying in the Little Apple

Purchasing Manhattan real estate is not a bad option right now as it is certainly a buyer’s market. Just eight miles west of town is Fort Riley, a U.S. Military base made up of mostly Army and some Air Force personnel. As troops are coming home from abroad, there are many new housing developments popping up in Manhattan to service the troops’ housing needs and the market has seen some huge jumps in appreciation rates as the demand for housing increases.

Traditionally, most college students want to be close to campus, which means under a mile so that walking to and from class is an option. This close to campus, you will most likely find older homes, and a typical 2 bedroom residence will run for $150K to $200K. If you are willing to go a little farther out and consider some of the newer housing developments, you can find a very nice 3 bedroom home for around $150K that will require little maintenance. While you can find anything from new condos to older colonial homes that have been split into four or five apartments or even six-plexes, you should be forewarned that it is hard to find good investment homes close to campus because investors have caught on to the fact that tenants are easy to come by and those properties get snatched up quickly. Any property that you find in Manhattan is expected to appreciate nicely over the next few years as more troops pour into the area, with an average of 5-7% annually.

Leasing Information

Similar to the off campus real estate purchase options, Manhattan has just about anything you could want in the way of leasing. You can find studio apartments for just one person that run $300 - $500 per month, two bedroom apartments from anywhere between $450 and $700 per month, all the way up to three bedroom homes that rent for $1,200 to $1,500 per month. Typically, 12 month leases start August 1 and end July 31, while another popular leasing period runs from June 1 to May 31. Because Manhattan is home to so many students, you will want to give yourself plenty of time during peak housing search months like May or July. Expect to spend about a month finding the best fit for you.

Kansas State University News

Other Helpful Resources

College Real Estate’s goal is to make the moving transition as worry and stress free as possible so we have created a moving center which provides you with helpful information from your utility providers to local grocery centers, restaurants, churches and much more.

College Real Estate also offers a How To database that will keep a new homeowner or those of you renting a house or an apartment from paying an arm and a leg for a service that can easily be done yourself. You can learn how to fix the garbage disposal, light the pilot light, the best way to get rid of rodents, and many other useful lessons. We invite you to take advantage of this knowledge or even post your own helpful article.