The Evergreen Debate: House or apartment?

I spoke with four students, each with a different living situation, to find out how they thought their home compared to others, if living on their own outside of the dorms has been advantageous or problematic and their worst and best experiences with their landlords.

Name: Courtney Reese
Address: Palmer Place apartments
Landlord: Cornwell Rentals
Rent: $1,695 per quarter per person (did not have to pay for summer)
*Note: Rent is increasing next year and will include summer payments
Number of bedrooms: 3, 4 or 5 (apartments with 5 rooms have two stories)
Advantages: "Houses seem to be a lot older and dirtier. This is very new, obviously, and it is still very nice and very clean. It's also pretty close to campus."
Disadvantages: "They built it way too fast, and I felt like when we first moved in we were constantly calling and complaining about things that were breaking down or things that weren't put in right. We have random bubbles in the ceiling and nicks in our wall. Things were not done properly."
Worst experience with landlord: "Our fan would not work forever. It was connected downstairs, so whenever we would turn it on they would turn it off, and whenever we would turn it off they would turn it on. We had no control over our fans, and it took them until this quarter to fix it. Also, our water heater was never really turned on until this winter quarter. Our shower was always freezing, so we finally called because we just couldn't take it anymore."
Landlord's worst problem with you: "I think they hate us because they call so much. We specifically have never been yelled at for trash or problems like that, but one of the main guys sent out a pretty nasty e-mail either last quarter or this quarter. He threatened to turn on the security cameras, which I really don't mind--I think it's pretty good that we have them--and to make it like a gated community. We complained because it was never in our contract."
Better than the dorms?: "Definitely. I do miss the dining halls, though."
Knowing what you know now, would you have moved in here?: "No, definitely not."

Name: Steve Zeisler
Address: 27 Mound St.
Landlord: Carol Ault
Rent: $985 per quarter per person
Number of bedrooms: 7
Advantages: "In our house, we have a really big back yard and a front porch. Some apartments, you might have to share the room with somebody else, but in our house, everyone has their own room. Basically, the only reason we got this house is because it had a huge back yard. And it was cheap. Really cheap...It's a nice house, and I like it. It's our house for the next four quarters, and I'm going to live in here until I graduate. I love my room. It's bigger than my room at my house back home. We live in a secluded neighborhood, but we have some crazy neighbors."
Disadvantages: "We live in a slum. I live in a slum with six other guys, so you can imagine what it looks like. We keep it pretty clean, but it's hard to maintain a big house. We've had troubles with the insulation, so our gas bills are pretty high, just because the house doesn't retain heat or cold. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer."
Worst experience with landlord: "Well, she came in the other day and did an inspection in our house and told us that we need to keep our house cleaner, and we actually have another inspection in August. She has been a really good landlord. I think that she looks at this house as being her pride and joy because we got our house signed up for a green energy program through the office of sustainability."
Landlord's worst problem with you: "Probably the cleanliness. She used to live here a long time ago with her kids, and I think it's probably hard for her to see her house in such a mess."
Better than the dorms?: "Definitely. In the dorms, you're in close quarters with your roommates, so if you have a problem or an issue, you better resolve it right then. Now we each have our individual rooms. You have more privacy, especially if you have a certain female companion you want to hang out with. Living in the dorms, you're more constricted with the whole alcohol situation because you have the whole R.A. situation. If you have a party in your room, that's unacceptable. You can have a loud party at your house as long as your neighbors are fine with it."
Knowing what you know now, would you have moved in here?: "Honestly, I probably would have moved into a house with girls because, at least with our neighbors across the street, there are four girls and their house is so clean. I don't do the best at keeping this house clean, and I think living with girls would definitely have helped rather than living with six guys. These are my best friends I'm living with here, and I figure you have to live in some sort of slum to appreciate that."

Name: Nikki Lawler
Address: 153 Mill St.
Landlord: Sabel Rentals
Rent: $1,450 per quarter per person
Number of bedrooms: 5
Advantages: "In a house, there is more space, more rooms if you want to get away from your roommates. In an apartment there is usually just one common area and the bedrooms, whereas our house has more rooms that you can go to."
Disadvantages: "You have a lot more responsibilities, like taking our trash. We are living in an apartment next year, and there you just have to put it in a trash can. We also don't get to meet as many people as you do in an apartment."
Worst experience with a landlord: "Our landlord showed up unannounced and went through our house during fall quarter when my roommates and I were sitting down talking about if we were going to live here or not next year because we had gotten a letter the week before saying that we had till a certain date to tell her if we were going to stay. When she was here, we told her that we were thinking about living here next year, and she told us that she had already sold it in the summer. We were surprised because we had talked to her multiple times and she had never brought it up."
Landlord's worst problem with you: "I'm not sure what her biggest problem is because she is not really around much, so she doesn't know about things. We have holes in our walls, so that is probably going to be the biggest problem, but she doesn't know about it now because we cover it up."
Better than the dorms?: "Yes, I am so glad to be out of the dorms. There is no one to watch over me."
Knowing what you know now, would you have moved in here?: "I would, but I would want things fixed if I lived here again because I would want it to be in shape."

Name: Chelsea Campbell
Address: 18 N. Lancaster St. (apartments)
Landlord: John Andrews
Rent: $1,525 per quarter per person
Number of bedrooms: 4
Advantages: "Our utilities are way cheaper, so I think we end up paying a lot less than [people in houses] over the year. I also like that you tend to become closer to people because you live in the same building as them. I also like that it is all one level."
Disadvantages: "We don't have a porch. That is the biggest deal ever. Also, you can hear other people walking around in the apartment."
Worst experience with landlord: "None. He comes by every time we need anything. He is literally amazing. He has come and changed light bulbs for us. He just came and fixed our cable. My roommate called yesterday, and he was here today."
Landlord's worst problem with you: "None that I know of."
Better than the dorms?: "Hell yes. I do miss the dining hall. Everyone thought that you were going to be so happy without it, but yeah, right."
Knowing what you know now, would you have moved in here?: "Yes, I would, for sure."

News of the Day

As Kathleen Gierhart points out in today's article in The Athens News, tenants and landlords have interesting relationships:

Local landlords recall harrowing encounters with tenants

By Kathleen B. Gierhart
The Athens News
Mar. 10, 2009

Pesky problems with water leaks and heating often mold relationships between tenants and landlords in the city of Athens. It is a direct communication between the tenants, most of whom are Ohio University students, and the local residents who rent housing.

Landlords are diverse in their observations, problems and sometimes nightmares, in responding to tenants and maintaining property. Just as tenants reflect a wide range of preferences in off-campus housing, each landlord has signature style in responding to his or her tenants. Read in full...

Other recent news articles from The Athens News and The Post:

Judge: Landlord-tenant law needs amended (The Athens News, 2/23/2009)
Code inspections keep student renters in check (The Post, 2/20/2009)
Local landlord takes out petitions for Athens City Council run (The Athens News, 2/12/2009)
Judge: City's landlord-tenant law 'may violate' due process (The Athens News, 2/2/2009)
Tips for tenants (The Athens News, 1/12/2009)

Code enforcement, college town

As you know, the last few days have been a bit windy on the Athens front. The gusts may have helped cool down the recent 70-degree days, but what you may not have realized are the problems they can cause tenants living in rental housing whose empty beer cases suddenly decorate the curbs. Trash issues are Athens Code Enforcement's biggest stress point on students living in rentals, but there are plenty more problems to deal with when it comes to code violations in a student's home. I got the chance to speak with Athens Code Director John Paszke to find out what he thinks are the most important--and often unrealized--aspects of code enforcement in a college town.

Violations

Out of all the violations that Paszke has overseen in his time as code director in Athens, trash problems are the most prevalent. Other issues, such as snow removal and over-occupancy, he says are also noticeable ones that often creep up in homes rented by college students. The Athens Code Enforcement, which is made up of two basic departments (the first in charge of rental inspections in homes, and the second in charge of solid waste and litter control), depends on the leases tenants sign with landlords to determine who is responsible for what issues.

"Some landlords have told me that they have written in there that it is [the tenant’s] responsibility to cut the grass and shovel the snow," Paszke says, "but we here at the department have no way of knowing that stuff."

In the event of a violation--anything from trash issues to improper porch furniture or snow removal--landlords have 30 days to comply. Following that period, a re-compliance notice is issued, allowing for an additional 15 days. For trash violations specifically, tenants are fined in $20 increments per violation ($20 for the first, $40 for the second, $60 for the third, etc.). If, however, tenants fail to remove trash five days following a violation, fines increase as the city comes for a bulk pickup.

"Basically, they have 45 days or so [to fix a violation]," Paszke says. "In some instances it might be 60 before we get back out there to re-inspect them, but by law they have 45 days or so to have everything taken care of. If not, it could be a misdemeanor offense and taken to court. But the landlords are pretty good about taking care of that stuff and getting it all done."

Tenants are not the only ones who face regulations, however. Landlords are fined $25 if they are not present for an inspection. But, Paszke says, out of the 400-plus inspections as of last month, only one or two landlords have failed to show up.

Inspections

Beginning Feb. 1 of this year, the department began the process of inspecting rental homes annually. Inspections, which involve everything from stair railings to blocked hallways to correctly installed electrical fixtures to smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, follow the same process for both houses and apartment complexes.

"Really anything related to safety [we will inspect]," Paszke says. "Anything that you would think would potentially cause harm to a person we address, fire or whatever it may be."

The Athens Code Enforcement uses the International Property Maintenance Code, of which section 29 applies to Athens, to determine exactly what will be inspected. The department is not allowed to enter standard houses, or homes that are not rented, but it can by law inspect the outsides of these homes to search for structural or trash violations.

Paszke was not afraid to admit that his team of four to five inspectors, who are in charge of the approximately 5,000 properties around campus, have seen plenty of violations in their time with the department. What are some of the most blatant ones they've seen?

"I have heard some stories," Paszke says. "But I’m not saying."

If students have any questions regarding code enforcement, the department can be reached at 740-592-3306, or through its website.

Landlord Interview #1: Scott Hunter

Even though Scott Hunter spends most of his time in Myrtle Beach, he has been a landlord for Athens properties for nearly 25 years and currently owns around 50 properties around Ohio University's campus.

How long have you been a landlord in Athens?
I’ve been doing it for about 20 years, since 1984. Well, I guess we’re getting close to 25 now, aren’t we? How about that?

How did you decide to get started?
When I was a student, my grandfather had a couple apartments and he kind of gave me some interest. At the time the students were way down and there were just properties for sale everywhere, not like it is now. I just bought a couple places, no money down, and got started.

How much time and money would you say you spend on properties here in Athens?
I’ve got a full-time office person and a full-time maintenance guy. I personally come up there six to eight weeks out of the year. My sister manages everything. I come up when everybody moves out and hire 15 to 25 workers for two or three weeks and just clean like hell. Everybody kind of like rushes for the first day of school. We come back for about a month and get everything ready for the school year.

How many properties do you own here?
I’ve got 50 units, about 125 bedrooms.

What is your average rent price?
My average is about $1,400 or $1,450 per quarter.

How has the current housing crisis affected you, if at all?
Athens is kind of recession-proof. It’s very true. I truly had not had a vacancy in 25 years of doing this, except for a couple summers early on. I don’t think that the crisis, as everyone calls it, is affecting anything. What is going to affect it more is all these fancy units that are coming to town, these 900-bedroom complexes like The Summit. I think it’s finally catching up to the market. Borderline properties in borderline locations are going to be affected first like in Queens or Brooklyn because everyone wants to live in Manhattan. We’re not in New York, but the theory is the same. You can be out on the west side or all the way up on The Summit, but usually people want to be on Mill Street, on High Street and on Congress.

What is the worst experience you've had with a tenant?
You have some that don’t pay rent—not many, but you have a small percentage every year that you have rent-collecting problems with. You have that occasional one that is so dirty in the house that when you go to show it it keeps you from renting it. That’s probably my biggest problem, really, because you don’t mind six guys in a house who are generally dirty and who have a place that when you walk in there are 50 beer cans everywhere. I don’t really care about that until it affects the ability to rent the property. You’ll have one every five years where there are guys in a big house that cause problems. It does happen sometimes. When you get five, six or seven guys in a house it can get a little crazy at times. There might be some damage done, not huge. I’ve never had the problem where people trash it on purpose, but maybe they had a party and some walls got a dent or a break or something. I’ve never had too big of a disaster, but I’ve had a couple where like all their closet was gone and there were loads of extra damages done. It’s always a question of whether I want to go after it or not.

Top 8 household items that will make your landlord angry

As a semi-experienced off-campus-living Bobcat, I've had plenty of encounters with my landlord (who will remain unnamed here) that have been less than pleasant. These include, but are not limited to, refusing to pay rent until the six-inch holes were removed from three bedroom doors and hearing the words, "It will all be fine. I can't smell anything anyway" after having the stove disconnected by the gas company due to a gas leak.

Any student who lives off campus in Athens has probably dealt with similar circumstances. But despite the specific circumstances, I took a walk around my house and compiled a list of my own items that would make any landlord cringe.

8. Ratty furniture on porch

If there's a porch, there are places to sit. It's almost an unwritten rule. But, for most college students, many furniture items are hand-me-downs, pieces that were brand new and stylish in the '80s on someone's grandmother's deck but now are old and torn apart. According to City of Athens code enforcement, porch furniture must be in good condition and cannot include couches or any sort of indoor furniture, leaving some students to wonder what is and is not allowable.

7. Beer pong table on porch

It's a staple in off-campus housing, but just because it plugs in, lights up and has mirrors does not mean it is also aesthetically pleasing.

6. Messy basement

Pizza boxes are oftentimes too large to throw away. Cornhole boards don't fit in the kitchen. Dryer sheets, like feathers in the wind, usually do not reach the trash can when thrown. The size of an unfinished basement is directly proportional to its functionality as a dumpster.

5. Stains on freshly cleaned carpet

It's inevitable. On any given Friday or Saturday night, more than one Ohio University student will be inside of someone's house whom they do not know holding a beverage. Often, that beverage will take a tumble, usually as a result of being in close proximity to multiple others who have had more than one of a similar beverage. Problems arise when the liquid's landing pad had been steam cleaned hours before.

4. Cheesy stove

Whether it's grilled cheese, tuna casserole, Kraft mac 'n cheese or chili, cooking is another major cause of liquids landing in places they shouldn't be. Probability of this occurring increases when the cook is of the male gender.

3. Tiki bar in kitchen
Despite the highly decorative plastic alligators hanging from the roof, a robust Tiki bar in one's eating space might cause (and has caused) a distraction for the home's owner. Those who physically make residence in that owner's property, however, often beg to differ.

2. Wooden board in dining room window

It turns out that holes in windows can be fixed in a cost-effective manner. Until December.

1. Garbage in bushes

Athens City Code states that "no person shall place or dispose of any garbage or waste, or peelings of vegetables or fruits, ashes, cans, bottles, wire, paper, cartons, boxes, furniture, glass, oil or anything else of an unsightly nature on any land adjoining a public road." Out of all the requests we've faced, this has been the most frequent. The solution is easy--but only in theory.

Runners up (from other residences): "Who's your daddy?" sign in front window; stop sign in basement; trash can on roof; case of beer on roof; weight bench on front porch

Ohio University Enrollment Plans

In June 2006, it was recommended to Ohio University to create a long-term enrollment plan that would create an expected schedule for undergraduate enrollment figures and demographics, rather than a year-by-year prediction. The documents pictured below come from the first few pages of Ohio University's 2006-2010 enrollment plan. These visual examples of O.U.'s enrollment (or, at least, as they pictured that enrollment in the future) as time goes by lets one see the difficulty students might have with finding an off-campus residence.

The enrollment plan foresaw Ohio's undergraduate enrollment in 2008 as 17,300. Actual numbers from the Princeton Review count O.U.'s enrollment at 1,759, which is over 250 more than even the university had expected. A small difference, maybe, but when many off-campus residences house between two and six people, it is significant enough. Just over 7,500 students live in residence halls at Ohio University, leaving around 1,000 to find homes off campus.

Click on each image to read the document. The original files can be found here.




[Added 3/4/09 for further clarification and further explanation] These documents came to being as a result of the Vision Ohio Resources Subcommittee. As mentioned above, this organization suggested that Ohio predict its future enrollment for two different reasons: first, so that the university could plan to have appropriate resources necessary for the increasing enrollment; and second, so that it would have an idea of the number of graduate students, rather than simply incoming freshmen. For the purposes of this blog, those graduate numbers are more important than the freshman numbers. Many, if not most or all, grad students will not be living in run-down apartments and houses on Palmer or Congress that many juniors and seniors are actually seeking out. They won't compete directly for the same properties, but the finite amount of properties around campus to choose from are still being diminished.

If you look at the numbers on the fourth document listed, you will see the numbers for graduate students, as well as transfers, freshmen and other undergrad numbers. If you were to divide the segments in the document further into "likely to live off campus" and "not likely to live off campus," you would end up with the freshmen in the latter group (and perhaps some of the "other new," and transfers and graduate students in the former. Out of all the figures on the sheet, "other new" and freshmen were the only ones that were over-allotted (-84 and -65, respectively). The others, graduate students and transfers, were both predicted too low (+54 and +65, respectively). As a result, since the purpose of these predictions was to make sure that the university would have enough resources for the influx of new students, a situation is created where Ohio University has over-prepared itself in terms of resources while off-campus living is under-prepared. That's an extra 119 graduate and transfer students that are likely to live off campus that the university was not prepared for. That has no effect on O.U., but it definitely creates some problems with limited off-campus housing.

Welcome

Despite the multitude of property owners in Athens, many students find open housing a bit scarce.
Ohio University has never been considered the easiest place to find a place to live outside of the dorms. Once students have met the university's required two-year time frame in residential housing, many choose to get out and off campus. With around 45 options of rental companies to choose from, it may seem to O.U. students that choices are limitless. But with an undergraduate enrollment of just over 17,500, the properties that those 45 landowners offer often can become inadequate.

This blog will take a look at the issue of student housing in Athens from various viewpoints, from students who live in different properties with different experiences and different landlords to the landlords themselves, who make it all happen. At its core, this site is created as a placement for research found on housing at Ohio University--research that involves not only facts and figures but commentary and testimonials from the people who are affected firsthand, and research done by a fellow student who has seen these effects firsthand. It's not all serious, not all humorous, but a blend. If you've ever been to Athens, Ohio, you know that it has to be.