Marty Saklad is the principal broker and co-owner of Samson Realty, located on Wickenden Street on Providence’s East Side. The company has had a long history and specializes in sales and rentals.
Saklad spoke about the upcoming Match Day for medical schools, in which students are matched to residency hospitals, and why it has an impact on local rentals.
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PBN: What is medical school Match Day?
SAKLAD: Match Day is the day they find out, I believe it’s March 15. They will find out what city they are matched up with as far as going to do their residency.
PBN: Why is this of interest for real estate?
SAKLAD: Generally, the residency starts in mid-summer. So, we’ll have a whole bunch of people … future residents calling us and looking for places to live.
PBN: How is the rental market for 2019 on the East Side? Providence reportedly has one of the tightest markets for rentals in the country.
SAKLAD: I think especially for studios, one-beds and two-beds, it is tight, and things rent, especially seasonally. If you are in June and July, it is a better market than if you are in November, December. It is a good market for rentals. It’s much more affordable than Boston or New York. There also is a lot of choices here, not just cookie-cutter box places. You have two-families and three-families, as well as buildings.
PBN: Airbnb has taken up a fair amount of available rentals in Newport. Has the company had the same impact in Providence? Is it reducing the available stock?
SAKLAD: I don’t think it’s as big of a factor. There are pluses and minuses. The pluses are if you rent it out and get an occupancy rate that’s high enough, you’ll make more money. The flip side is you’ll get one person out of 20 that wrecks the place.
Then you’re much better off if you … rent it out for a year. You might get a little less that way, but you know you’ll get your money on a monthly basis. And you know who you’re renting to.
PBN: When you rent apartments on behalf of landlords, are you recommending they raise their rents this year?
SAKLAD: We advise owners in regards to that. The general philosophy we have is if it’s a good tenant, don’t raise the rent for a couple of years, even if they’re below the market rate. It doesn’t pay to turn over the unit if you have a really good tenant. If it’s going to turn over, that’s when you try to get market rent.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
