With the Fredericksburg housing market remaining slow, investors buying homes in hopes of gaining on appreciation when they sell have instead turned to renting.

Date published: 2/11/2007

BY ANDREA CHRISTIE

With the Fredericksburg housing market remaining slow, investors buying homes in hopes of gaining on appreciation when they sell have instead turned to renting.

Jack Carr, property manager for LandMarc Real Estate, said prices and demand for housing have decreased since last fall, causing investors some concern.

"Investors buy with the idea of seeing appreciation," Carr said. "But because of the decrease in prices [they] have decided to rent to anybody they can."

Jonathan Snow is one of those investors. The owner of a couple of properties in the Fredericksburg area, Snow recently decided to rent his brand-new home in Idlewild to three young men.

"I had the house on the market for about two, three months," Snow said. "But because the housing market slowed down so much, it was in my best interest to rent it out for now."

Many others in the Idlewild neighborhood have done the same and decided to rent to college students for the school year.

University of Mary Washington senior Glenn Gray is currently renting a townhouse in Idlewild, a home his landlord had on the market to sell for six months and then to rent for an additional two months.

"There seem to be fewer and fewer rental homes downtown, so when Idlewild opened up, it's been great for college students," Gray said. "[Last May] we contacted our Realtor and in one trip we saw five places, and there are still a lot of places available."

Snow said that while as an investor you have concerns about renting a new home, for him it is not age that concerns him when renting, but the responsibility the tenants have for the home.

Not all homeowners feel the same, however. University of Mary Washington senior Harrison Okin said that when searching for a house to rent, his roommates, both out of college, and he were turned down a few times before finding his current home in Idlewild.

"It was a little bit difficult because we are younger," Okin said. "But having a Realtor, someone on your side and helping you, is crucial."

Andrea Christie 540/374-5000, ext. 5617

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Date published: 2/11/2007