Five Questions With: Marty Saklad

MARTY SAKLAD is co-owner of Samson Realty in Providence. / COURTESY MARTY SAKLAD
MARTY SAKLAD is co-owner of Samson Realty in Providence. / COURTESY MARTY SAKLAD

(Updated 11 a.m.)
The rental market on the East Side of Providence has entered the busy season, in preparation for renewal of contracts and new leases, which typically starts in June. Samson Realty, at 346 Wickenden St., has specialized in student rentals for more than 20 years. Marty Saklad and David Schaeffer, who own the business, employ six agents. In addition to residential and commercial rentals, the business is a brokerage that has sales listings. Saklad spoke this week with Providence Business News about the business and recent trends.

PBN: What is the founding story for Samson Realty?
SAKLAD:
We started in 1993, at a location at the end of Blackstone Boulevard. We built the business doing sales and rentals. In 2006, we moved to our Wickenden Street location. A large part of the reason we moved here was to capitalize on the Brown University and RISD [Rhode Island School of Design] retail traffic, which includes the colleges. We like that kind of business and there’s a lot of it over here.

PBN: Do students want nine-month leases? Is that typically what you ask landlords to provide, or do they want 12-month leases?
SAKLAD:
The owners all want 12-month leases. Most of the student rentals, not all of them, go June to June for that reason. There are some students who come in at the end of the summer, and they’re looking just until the end of May. We can accommodate them as much as we can.

PBN: Does that mean that March, April and May is the busy season for leases?
SAKLAD:
Yes, it starts in March. It gets very busy. From now until June 1, it gets very busy, especially with “Match Day” for doctors being March 17. The residents who have applied to various residency programs across the country have one date, and this year it is March 17 … they get assigned to the hospitals.

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PBN: The East Side has had a really busy few years for sales. Is that squeezing the apartment market? Are they being converted into primary residences instead of apartments?
SAKLAD:
There is high demand, but there is adequate supply. I wouldn’t say there is a large shortage. If you get a little extra demand, it’s usually a seasonal thing.

PBN: Are rents increasing this year due to demand, because the market is picking up?
SAKLAD:
Rents are moving up, I would say probably 3 to 5 percent on rent prices. Most of it is driven by the market. Some of it is taxes, which are going up, and landlords feel the need to go up as much as they can to cover their costs. [The average one-bedroom is now] $950 to $1,100 a month.

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