As many students at the University of Rhode Island consider the off-campus living option, one company has made this venture easier by being the first realtor to have an office on campus.
Narragansett Property Management had only eight houses about five years ago and has now expanded to 240, according to principal owner and broker Tom Morrill. The office on campus makes it easier for students who are thinking about living off campus to look at some of their options. The office is open Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. If these times do not work, Morrill said students can call the office and arrange a separate meeting time.
Set up just like a living room, the new on-campus office has a map of the different neighborhoods and a flat-screen television to show pictures and talk about the different houses the company has to offer. Should students not have a car on campus, the company will arrange to pick them up and take them to the showings.
“We do a couple of things really different from the others,” Morrill said. Some of the Narragansett Property Management staff, like property manager calgary, are repair men. Should anything go wrong in the house, whether it includes plunging a toilet, repairing a hole in the wall or repairing furniture, the realtor will send someone out to take care of it with no charge to the students or owner of the house.
“A student who is 20 years old in a $400,000 house, which is what some of these houses go for, they don’t have the time or know how to take care of this stuff,” Morrill said, “Our doing this, the owners feel more comfortable about renting to students.”
Morrill said the company wants to help the students. He tells the students that rent from him to let him know if they are going to have a party. He will then drop his card and the address off at the police station and, if there is any problem at all, he asks the police to contact him directly.
Morrill said that most of the time, students don’t anticipate their small gathering to turn into a party of 120 people. “I get calls in the middle of the night and I jump into my clothes and, because of where I live, I can get there in five minutes,” he said. “I have no concern about the kids, they’re just great. If you treat them with respect, they’ll listen to you.”
Students can reach out to the staff at Narragansett Property Management for things that do not directly have to do with their house, according to Morrill. If students’ cars do not start in the morning, the company will send a staff member out to the student. If they can not get the car started, Narragansett Property Management will drive the student, free of charge, to campus.
“We are here to help them out in emergencies where they would normally turn to their parents,” Morrill said.