CITY EXPERIENCES A SHORTAGE OF APARTMENT UNITS

Renters in Cape Girardeau are having a hard time trying to find a place to live, the result of what city officials and realtors are calling an apartment shortage.

"It's pretty bad," said Doris Wunderlich, owner of Wunderlich Real Estate, who manages about 600 rental units in the city.

"This has never happened before and I've been in this business since 1982," she said. "We're getting about 50 calls a day from people who want to rent a place, and there's nothing out there."

Others agree.

"This is as tight as I've seen it," said Rupert Meyer, of Thomas M. Meyer Realty, who manages 70 apartments and houses in the city. "There is a shortage of (apartment) buildings, and sales of homes have been good, so people who would otherwise rent a home are selling.

"I get calls all the time, and I just don't have the properties to put people in."

A telephone survey of apartment complexes with on-site managers found most had waiting lists for one and two bedroom units, and were refusing applications for new tenants.

Kent Bratton, Cape Girardeau City Planner, said apartment construction has been virtually non-existent in the past two years. The last complexes to go up were along west Themis and Whitener.

"No major apartment complexes have been started in the last several years," Bratton said.

Construction of apartment complexes in the city peaked in the late 1980s, he said. At that time, the market was flooded, and rental units were easy to find.

Now the situation is drastically different. Federal guidelines for handicap accessibility have changed since 1990, adding to the cost of constructing new apartment complexes.

New units must have wider doors and, in some cases, ramps at entrances and grab bars in rest rooms. Certain federal tax advantages for complex owners also disappeared in 1986.

Tax breaks previously were available to owners whose costs for operating a complex exceeded the income from the units.

Wunderlich explained. "Say you owned an apartment building that had an income of $20,000," she said. "But if expenses were $30,000, you were able to take the difference as a deduction. After 1986, you could no longer do that."

Bratton said 1986 was the last year apartment construction was considered high. That year, more than 200 rental units were built.

Wunderlich said families relocating to Cape Girardeau are finding it especially difficult to rent a well-kept house.

The problem likely will become worse as students return for the start of the fall semester in three weeks at Southeast Missouri State University.

Wunderlich said student housing likely will be scarce, because more and more owners are refusing to rent to students. Insurance costs for buildings occupied primarily by students is higher than for non-student buildings.

One complex that typically houses mostly students, Village on the Green along north Sprigg, now is about half occupied by non-students.

"I take care of a lot of student rentals, and many owners are starting to convert to non-student rentals," Wunderlich said. "Maintenance and insurance costs are three times as high for students."

Meyer said students usually aren't willing to sign a long-term lease, so owners prefer to rent to non-students and families.

Two- and three-bedroom apartments, townhouses, duplexes and homes are much in demand, Meyer said.

Owners also can be choosier about their tenants and are having no problem keeping buildings full.

"Any good location is popular," he said. "If you keep your buildings in good condition, you'll rent them."

It's not known how the shortage will effect the cost of renting in Cape Girardeau. Meyer said that because demand is so high, landlords can get away with slight increases in monthly rent payments and still find plenty of tenants. But he doesn't expect the cost of rent to raise significantly.

"An apartment that would rent for $240, you can now get $250 with no problem," he said.

Meyer suspects the shortage may lead to construction of new apartment buildings soon.

"I've been doing this for 30 years, and I've seen this cycle before," he said.