Residential Property Management in West Chester, PA involves serving two different rental communities.
The first community includes students attending West Chester University. As certain geographic areas of West Chester do not allow student rentals, it is very important that you make sure in which part of the city your investment property is located. Student accommodation takes a lot of time to property managers and requires additional man-hours to meet their needs. For example, with student housing we get calls to change light bulbs, remove snow or ice, clean rooms, and many other requests that we don’t normally get from non-student tenants. As an investor, you want to make sure you have a property management company in West Chester, PA prepared to handle these issues or be prepared to handle them yourself.
Also, with student housing you will get a high turnover and most students stay for a year and move on. So be sure to plan for high tenant turnover when considering investing here.
The second community in West Chester, PA is not for students. This may include people who live in this very popular community or, in some cases, people who work at West Chester University. These types of tenants tend to be more mature and easier to manage the properties in which they reside. Plus, they tend to pay their rent on time and don’t need as much maintenance or attention. As an investor, this may be the best option, but these types of investment properties tend to cost more per unit.
The good news is that non-students can live in their investment property for many years and reduce their vacancy time.
West Chester, PA is a very popular community with many shops and restaurants in the downtown section. West Chester, PA is also home to QVC, one of the area’s largest employers.
This city is still a very active market for both sales and rentals. The median home sales price as of November 2018 is $414,100. The average sale price has risen 3.4% in the last year. The rental market is also experiencing good price appreciation. Median rent is $2,242 per month and increased 1.5% over the last month. This compares to the median rent in Philadelphia of $1,581 and nationally of $1,449. Given the high popularity and strong employment in the area, I would suggest this is a great place for real estate investors to look for investment properties and above average returns.