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General Ohio University Discussion/Alumni Events

Topic: Investing In a college town

Topic: Investing In a college town

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DJCooperBurnerAccount
General User

Member Since: 2/4/2019
Post Count: 142

Status: Offline

Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/4/2019 10:54:54 AM

Has anyone owned rental property in Athens? Close to or on campus. Starting to dive into the real estate market a bit and thought it would be logical to invest in a place near or on campus. Obviously, screening tenants is priority, but curious if anyone has any experience. Thanks!

rpbobcat
General User

Member Since: 4/28/2006
Location: Rochelle Park, NJ
Post Count: 3,504

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/4/2019 12:30:35 PM

DJCooperBurnerAccount wrote:

Never owned rental property in Ohio.

But,over the years, my family has owned several rental properties in Northern New Jersey.

A few of suggestions:

1.I don't know about Ohio,but in N.J.,you can buy property without an
atty.
DON'T !!!!!!!

2.Before you buy anything,make sure you get it inspected.
The inspector should be familiar with Code Requirements for rental properties.

3.It may sound stupid.
But make sure the building has a valid Certificate of Occupancy,for what you intend to use it for,before you close.

4.Any lease agreement should be prepared by,or at the very least,reviewed by a Real Estate Atty.

5.As a precaution,we tell all prospective tenants that they should review the lease with an atty.
We even note it in the lease.

6.Make sure you have proof that the tenant has read the lease.
We set up our leases where the tenant has to initial each section.

7.Before a tenant signs a lease,do a "videotaped" walk through inspection of the unit.
In addition to showing the unit's overall condition,you should identify, on the video,any "issues".
A copy of the video should be given to the tenant,and noted in the lease.

8.Any "issues" ,identified in the walk through inspection, should be noted in the lease and initialed by the tenant.

9.One thing that we had a problem with was exactly what constituted "damage" and how it would be addressed.
Over the years that section of our lease agreement has gotten much more detailed.

Alan Swank
General User

Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,023

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/4/2019 2:43:07 PM

There is growing concern in the Athens real estate market/landlords with continued declining enrollment. Purchase prices are very high right now and some places away from campus/Court Stret can be rented right now for this school year. Also, unless you live in town, you'll need someone to manage your property and keep an eye on it.

Robert Fox
General User

Member Since: 11/16/2004
Location: Knoxville, TN
Post Count: 2,039

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/4/2019 2:55:13 PM

Alan Swank wrote:

There is growing concern in the Athens real estate market/landlords with continued declining enrollment. Purchase prices are very high...

Three thoughts: One, these two things seem unsustainable.
Two, some of rent costs in Athens are unbelievable with regard to cost vs quality. As most of you know, many of the houses are dumps, but the cost to rent is quite high, at least compared to other campuses in my area.
Three: Tenants are being frequently hit with some sort of "trashy yard" ticket from the city, which sounds a little sketchy. Someone throws a beer can in your yard overnight and you can be assessed a big fine.

rpbobcat
General User

Member Since: 4/28/2006
Location: Rochelle Park, NJ
Post Count: 3,504

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/4/2019 3:08:44 PM

Alan Swank wrote:

Also, unless you live in town, you'll need someone to manage your property and keep an eye on it.

This is the problem we had with a Condo my parents owned in Boca.

They used to winter there.But, as they got older,stopped going.

We thought about renting it,but living in NJ, we needed to a rental agent,and a neighbor to make sure the rental agent was doing their job.It was more trouble then it was worth.

When we decided to sell it,a realtor said we could get a much better price
if we renovated it.

Yea,I could see trying to G.C. a renovation,including permits,inspections,
contractors,materials etc. from N.J.

We found a realtor who wanted to buy the unit for himself.
he gave us a decent price,and we were done.

Campus Flow
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Alexandria, VA
Post Count: 4,952

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/5/2019 9:06:56 AM

Alan Swank wrote:

The slight decline in enrollment from the 2016-2017 peak I'd imagine has probably leveled off at this point. You are painting a picture that we are on a path back to the enrollment levels of the late 70's and already halfway there. Alumni are reading your comments and believing it. Freshman class is just going back to the 2012 level so in a few years we may see 23,000 again.

2009-10 (21,303)
2010-11 (21,508)
2011-12 (21,848)
2012-13 (21,724)
2013-14 (22,657)
2014-15 (23,306)
2015-16 (23,701)
2016-17 (24,210)
2017-18 (24,155)

https://www.ohio.edu/instres/Factbook/factenrl_hist.html

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

Alan Swank
General User

Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,023

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/5/2019 9:05:25 PM

Uncle Wes wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Wes I live here - have for 40 years - and I'm simply relaying what landlords are saying. This year you could actually do short term rentals and some places have actually gone back to 9 month rentals. Part of that enrollment figure might very well include online students and CC+ students.

BillyTheCat
General User

Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 9,471

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/5/2019 10:01:00 PM

Alan Swank wrote:

Uncle Wes wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Problem in housing investments in Athens are the mega housing developments that are considered luxury. The premium market and amenities have hurt the actual rental market of traditional student housing.

And guaranteed that figure counts CC+ and online

Last Edited: 9/5/2019 10:14:53 PM by BillyTheCat

bobcatsquared
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 5,039

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/6/2019 5:46:24 AM

My daughter is living in an apt at the Summit this school year. I was in the rental office last weekend and asked one of the office workers what the vacancy rate is this year. He said it was around 80%.

Campus Flow
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Alexandria, VA
Post Count: 4,952

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/6/2019 6:54:24 AM

I'm not saying the Athens rental market isn't soft. That can be for a variety of factors including more students commuting into Athens because of cost. Enrollment I'm reasonably convinced has peaked but its not tanking.

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

Campus Flow
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Alexandria, VA
Post Count: 4,952

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/6/2019 7:33:50 AM

BillyTheCat wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Uncle Wes wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

That number is an FTE which includes graduate online and graduate outreach. All the Osteopathic College students are also showing up in that number of which half are not in Athens at this point. I found an unduplicated headcount for Athens with those numbers factored out and it includes 2018-19 a more current data point. As I projected before enrollment is headed back to where it was earlier in this decade.

2012-2013 (19,911)
2013-2014 (20,420)
2014-2015 (20,724)
2015-2016 (20,953)
2016-2017 (21,103)
2017-2018 (20,884)
2018-2019 (20,073)

https://www.ohio.edu/instres/student/quartenroll/QuartEnr...

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

Campus Flow
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Alexandria, VA
Post Count: 4,952

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/6/2019 7:43:00 AM

I was going to talk about how this impacts future dorms in the AD thread but with the discussion moving on I'll put it in here. There is a plan to reconvert the current Osteopathic facility on West Green back to dorms. Earlier in the decade a plan was made to rebuild new south with larger dorms pending enrollment which I'm convinced isn't needed at this point with the enrollment trends. Plans for Ridges redevelopment were scaled back too. That means the 2016 university master plan is all but accounted for outside of doing something with the Convo, Bird Arena and the Aquatic Center.

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

giacomo
General User

Member Since: 11/20/2007
Post Count: 2,624

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/19/2019 9:31:12 PM

Every time I make an important decision I consult with the posters on this site.

DJCooperBurnerAccount
General User

Member Since: 2/4/2019
Post Count: 142

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 9/28/2019 11:12:15 PM

giacomo wrote:

Every time I make an important decision I consult with the posters on this site.

You�re right. Why would anyone want to ask if someone has experience when doing research before making an investment. Good thing you�ve got all the answers already. Congrats bud

DelBobcat
General User

Member Since: 8/26/2010
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Post Count: 1,135

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/8/2019 4:34:29 PM

bobcatsquared wrote:

Wait, are you saying they have an 80% vacancy rate or a 20% vacancy rate? If their units are 80% vacant how are they still even operating the place?

BA OHIO 2010, BS OHIO 2010, MA Delaware 2012

Alan Swank
General User

Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,023

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/8/2019 5:32:01 PM

Simply anecdotal evidence but I'm seeing things that I've never seen this time of year: parking spots all up and down Court Street in the middle of the day, big landlords advertising for apartments for 20 -21 much later than I've seen before, and fewer cars on East State Street even though there are more businesses than ever. The town just seems to be not as full.

Last Edited: 10/8/2019 6:28:34 PM by Alan Swank

Campus Flow
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Alexandria, VA
Post Count: 4,952

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/8/2019 8:44:05 PM

Alan Swank wrote:

Its amazing how noticeable a couple thousand less students can make the place feel and goes to show how much overcrowding Athens has endured the past decade or so.

Most Memorable Bobcat Events Attended
2010 97-83 win over Georgetown in NCAA 1st round
2012 45-13 victory over ULM in the Independence Bowl
2015 34-3 drubbing of Miami @ Peden front of 25,086

Alan Swank
General User

Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,023

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/9/2019 6:52:21 PM

Uncle Wes wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Its amazing how noticeable a couple thousand less students can make the place feel and goes to show how much overcrowding Athens has endured the past decade or so.

To further make the point, I talked with a longtime uptown business owner today and without prejudice broached the subject. He told me that he can see it in his daily revenues.

BillyTheCat
General User

Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 9,471

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/9/2019 7:43:06 PM

Alan Swank wrote:

Uncle Wes wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Its amazing how noticeable a couple thousand less students can make the place feel and goes to show how much overcrowding Athens has endured the past decade or so.

To further make the point, I talked with a longtime uptown business owner today and without prejudice broached the subject. He told me that he can see it in his daily revenues.

I�m still waiting on someone to answer if that 5,000 student drop from last year to this year was a typo? And if not, then how are the retention rates still so high if freshmen admissions are off by what they are.

OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 14,016

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/10/2019 12:27:40 AM

Alan Swank wrote:

I agree with Alan on all of these points, except East State Street. Every time I go out that way I get caught in a big traffic jam. I have noticed a lot of people from out in the county and even out of county, come on East State Street from one of the highway exits, do their shopping and eating, and then exit town, never to go anywhere near the university or the downtown area. I was told that the average traffic count on East State has been rising steadily over the last few years, and my personal experience would attest to that.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

Alan Swank
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Member Since: 12/11/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 7,023

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/10/2019 8:25:56 AM

OhioCatFan wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Acccording to the city planner, the last traffic count (2017) showed 30,430 cars a day on East State Street.

shabamon
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Member Since: 11/17/2006
Location: Cincinnati
Post Count: 6,115

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RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/10/2019 3:56:58 PM

DJCooperBurnerAccount wrote:

giacomo wrote:

Every time I make an important decision I consult with the posters on this site.

You�re right. Why would anyone want to ask if someone has experience when doing research before making an investment. Good thing you�ve got all the answers already. Congrats bud

If you're not yet on Reddit, you should sign up and then post your question(s) to reddit.com/r/athensohio

DelBobcat
General User

Member Since: 8/26/2010
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Post Count: 1,135

Status: Offline

RE: Investing In a college town

Posted: 10/14/2019 2:06:38 PM

BillyTheCat wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Uncle Wes wrote:

Alan Swank wrote:

Its amazing how noticeable a couple thousand less students can make the place feel and goes to show how much overcrowding Athens has endured the past decade or so.

To further make the point, I talked with a longtime uptown business owner today and without prejudice broached the subject. He told me that he can see it in his daily revenues.

I do not know the answer, but it seems like it has to be a typo.

BA OHIO 2010, BS OHIO 2010, MA Delaware 2012

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