Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 27, 1993 TAG: 9308270274
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
Highland Village apartments is giving away a fresh-from-the-lot Chevrolet Cavalier - sticker price $10,235 - to one lucky renter this fall.
Other area apartment complexes are offering custom-length leases, rent relief and a grab bag of other inducements to attract tenants in a market some say is stuffed to overflowing with apartments.
The local rental market relies heavily on the more than 30,000 college students who attend Radford University and Virginia Tech.
Blacksburg Realtor Pat Cupp said college enrollment caps and an overabundance of four bedroom apartments in Blacksburg have contributed to a "slightly-soft market."
Others were more blunt.
"This is a renters' market," said Mary Combs, manager of Sturbridge Square Apartments in Blacksburg - whose renters, by the way, get a chance at a new mountain bike.
Sturbridge Square, located a few blocks from Virginia Tech and a stone's throw from restaurants, a supermarket and the University Mall, is at full capacity, Combs said.
But "I've had to really work it," Combs said. "I put in 80 hours a week for 12 weeks. You have to take every call, you had to get every person who walks through the door. Because if you don't, they'll go someplace else."
"It's overbuilt," said Highland Village Manager Ann Carroll in Radford of the rental market. "That's what it boils down to. I don't think that the university [Radford] has grown like people thought it would."
Recent classified ads for apartments in Blacksburg and Radford tell the story: "Win-A-Car," "Heat and hot water included," "free cable tv," "great amenities" - and the ultimate eye catcher, "Free rent!"
Blacksburg's Windsor Hills was offering two months' free rent on three-bedroom apartments last week, according to a newspaper ad.
Some local Realtors said they had rented all their apartments without having to lower rents or offer other bargains. "We don't have a single vacant bedroom anywhere," said Ken Bondurant, president of Bondurant Realty Corp. in Radford.
Bondurant attributed their success to becoming very service oriented, "out of competitive need."
Russ MacDonald, president of the New River Valley Apartment Council, said the struggle to fill apartments with students this time of year is nothing new.
"I would say in general terms it's always competitive," said MacDonald of the apartment rentals. "In most respects, it's a year like any other year." He said complete occupancy figures for the year are not yet available.
Others say the heavy bargaining, at least, is new - and far from welcome.
"Certain people started it and it kind of snowballed," said Jim King, a vice president and general manager with Snyder-Hunt Properties.
Snyder-Hunt runs Foxridge apartments, a vast complex of more than 1,600 apartments on the edge of Blacksburg that has long attracted college students as well as older residents.
King said Foxridge, located off Prices Fork Road, has had to make some concessions on summer rents just to compete.
"We were forced into it to some degree," King said of the bargaining. "We tried to minimize the damage as much as possible." He said apartment owners who have offered too much in inducements may find that when all is said and done, the figures don't add up.
Foxridge hopes to end up with 90 percent to 92 percent occupancy rate for the year, King said. Even a 92 percent occupancy rate would leave more than 130 apartments vacant. Conservatively figuring, that's $44,000 in unrealized revenue each month.
MacDonald, who as property manager at Townside Inc. in Blacksburg oversees more than 400 rental units, said their own occupancy rate probably will run between 95 percent to 97 percent.
MacDonald stressed that complexes claiming to be at 100 percent occupancy, when they have reduced rents to get there, are not telling the whole story. "No place ever rents out everything," he said.
No one can say they aren't trying.
Carroll, of Highland Village, said she started giving a car away last year because it was growing difficult to fill the complex's 174 apartments. Highland Village is handicapped by being several blocks away from the Radford campus, she said.
"That's why we came up with our gimmick," she said of the slumping rentals. "There's very few people who wouldn't like to win a new car."
She said the car giveaway makes good economic sense as long as the complex is fully rented - which it nearly is.
Several students said they chose Highland Village not for the car but because it is inexpensive - and offers such advantages as paid utilities and washer and dryer in the apartments.
"If you can get AC, and if you can get a washer and dryer - that's the big thing," said Highland Village resident Jeff Mullins.
Not that he would turn the car down if he won. "It's nice to think it's a possibility," Mullins said.
"Actually," said another student and Highland Village resident, Lisa Pence, when asked about the car, "I didn't even known they were giving it away until I'd already signed."
by CNB