Orange County real estate firms merge

After managing properties in the area for almost 10 years, one local real estate company has joined forces with a former competitor.

The Dec. 29 acquisition of Redstone Properties of Chapel Hill-Carrboro by Mill House Properties brought more than 60 new properties to the company, bringing the total to more than 300 — though they still are not the area’s largest.

Mill House markets two types of rental properties: “Varsity” for undergraduates and “Pro” for professionals and graduate students.

Mill House owner Adam Jones said most of the acquired properties, which are mainly near McCauley Street and the Westwood neighborhood, fall into the “Pro” category.

Since Mill House primarily caters to UNC students, Jones said the merger marks an effort for his company to increase its number of professional renters.

“We’re still student-heavy, but this balances things out a bit,” he said.

Redstone Properties owner Sharon Fowler said she will stay on with the company and manage some properties. She said she rents to many graduate students but only those with previous rental histories.

“That’s important to me,” Fowler said.

Neither Fowler nor Jones said they knew if prices for transitioning rental properties will change.

“We’re reviewing that right now, and we’re going to determine if we’re going to raise those rents a little over the next year,” Jones said.

Jones said the aim of the merger is not to manage the most properties but to continue to offer properties close to downtown and in good shape.

“I don’t want to grow bigger just for the sake of being big,” Jones said.

After working on her own, Fowler said she welcomed the merge because she thought Mill House advertised their properties effectively and shared her value of quality real estate.

And despite a decline in the number of undergraduate students who lived off-campus, Jones said he is not concerned about filling up the rental properties.

“This past school year has been a bit of an anomaly,” he said. “But I think that the students will come back to the off-campus housing in 2011 and 2012.”

Although the merger increased Mill House’s holdings, owner of Louise Beck Properties Adam Brown said the merger will not affect his company.

Louise Beck manages triple the properties Mill House does, Brown said.

“It will have absolutely no change on the market other than it will be one less website for students to visit,” he said.

President of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Aaron Nelson said the merger will be a positive change for local renters.

“I expect that they’ll continue that high quality work with just a larger breadth of properties,” he said.

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