Being a family-owned local business, John Frobose of Frobose Rentals says he offers something that larger competitors may not.

“We try to be very responsive to the students,” he said. “If there’s a problem – whatever that may be – it gets addressed right away. We’re quick reacting to their needs.”

John Frobose and his wife Mary hope students won’t pass by the Frobose Rentals table at today’s Off-Campus Housing Fair.

Frobose Rentals leases 48 homes in Bowling Green, and most are within four blocks of campus.

“We’re probably known for houses that are well maintained, close to campus,” Frobose said.

Frobose calls his approach to the real estate business “very hands-on,” managing all construction and repairs on the houses he rents.

“A lot of the properties out there we have built ourselves, brand new, either by purchasing a vacant lot or buying a property that is in need of repair and we fix it up or demolish it and build brand new,” he said.

Their last such project was completed last year: a two-story house, located at 302 South College.

Frobose responds to repair requests himself. That is what he says separates him from out-of-town competitors, like the owners of apartment complexes like Copper Beech and The Enclave.

Running a small, family business also means being on-call 24 hours a day and on holidays.

Two years ago, the pair got a call in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve that pipes had frozen in one of the houses they rent.

“We got the plumber out of bed on Christmas Eve,” Mary said, and added that Frobose went to the house himself to meet the plumber.

Frobose and Mary work out of their home, located on Melrose Street in Bowling Green. While Frobose takes care of construction and repairs, Mary “keeps the books,” she said. Even their two sons are involved – Henry, who is in high school, and Johnny Jr., who studies business and accounting at Wittenberg University.

“We all do it together,” Mary said. “And it’s hard work for our children, and yet they’re making some money. And I’ll tell ya, when the snow flies, everybody puts their boots on, and we’re out shoveling [at the rental properties.]”

During the summer, their sons mow the yards. When tenants move out, Mary cleans the places while her husband John paints.

“We enjoy the real estate business,” Frobose said. “We enjoy it because we get to know all the students.”

In the past, student renters have even become baby sitters and tutors for her sons, Mary added.

Frobose has had the opportunity to rent to students from the same family.

“So we get to see a whole family come through, then we get to know the parents also. And that’s a benefit to this. We develop personal relationships with a lot of the tenants,” Frobose said.

Frobose Rentals gets enough business from referrals and repeat tenants, he said.

“We rely on word of mouth,” Frobose said.

Most renters are undergraduates, but they do place a few graduate students. They take on few graduate student renters because most request a single room, and Frobose only offers a few single-bed spots, John said.

If a room opens in a rented Frobose house, the tenants choose a subleaser. The Froboses don’t try to place subleasers for the tenants. That’s because they “don’t believe in putting a stranger into the group” and no tenants have ever asked them to do so, Mary said.

Mary also said that renting almost exclusively to undergraduates sometimes means being sensitive to students’ financial problems.

“We work with the students. I have kids that call me up and say, ‘I have to buy art supplies this month, I don’t have money for the rent,'” she said, adding that student renters catch up on rent the following month.