Area rental properties struggle amidst coronavirus pandemic

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Following Executive Order 1466, all evictions are temporarily suspended within the state of Mississippi.

This is good news for families who may be struggling financially during the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, real estate experts said the outlook for the rental industry as a whole isn’t good.

“I really feel sorry for them. I really do. I think they’re going to have a major problem,” said Cedar Cove manager Betty Brown.

Brown said she’s lucky.

Her apartment complex is made up of about 33% students, making it a little easier to collect on rent.

“We waved the late fee until yesterday. Yesterday I put the late fee back on, and that was just to get my tenants to go ahead and come on in and pay,” said Brown.

She said most of her residents have paid their rent on time despite the pandemic.

“We were waiting to make sure they had their unemployment, or they had their stimulus checks,” said Brown.

Other Starkville property owners aren’t as lucky.

“I’ve had a few people that have asked to get out of leases because they think that they needed to change their situation, maybe move home with parents, or try to go somewhere else to find work,” said Richard Linley.

Linley has been in the apartment business for many years. He said newer, student-based complexes will struggle the most if college classes remain online in the fall.

“It is a benefit of being more of a longstanding property owner, that you can weather this, but for a lot of people, this is a really tough time,” said Linley.

“I think it’s going to hurt the student housing tremendously,” said Brown.

Industry insiders said it’s hard to gauge how much damage the rental business will take on right now. Only time will tell.

“I hope that it all turns around quick enough that they can still stay in business, and the stimulus money, hopefully, you know some of them will be able to come out of this,” said Brown.

“I hope things return to normal as soon as they can, or something more similar to normal anyway,” said Linley.

Those in the rental business warn if colleges decided to move to an online format for classes, apartment complexes will see a significant drop in leasing agreements and renewals.