(11-13-2023 10:10 AM)Dukes_Royals Wrote:  

(11-13-2023 09:57 AM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(11-13-2023 09:53 AM)Dukes_Royals Wrote:  

(11-13-2023 09:48 AM)hburg Wrote:  Definitely older Gen x and older will probably stay away if not going to the game. But younger Gen x and younger would definitely be there.

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It is my millennial and Gen X friends who are saying that too. I think people on this forum forget the disdain for JMU in town if you didn't go there or enjoy collegiate sports. Favor is changing, but not that quick.

Honestly, this is off topic for the Gameday thread, but JMU should work on an affordable housing initiative ($1-2 million in funds) with our local Habitat and it would go a very long way to building community support. JMU is the reason a lot of locals can't find affordable housing.

Really? I thought the housing was quite reasonable, especially compared to other college towns that I’m familiar with. And that also works both ways, if the values shoot up those local owners saw their properties go much higher than they should be.

Small (1400 sqft) homes are going for roughly $300k currently which is roughly a $2,100 mortgage payment (added $150 for insurance and taxes) so you would need at least $82k to have an affordable house payment. Our median household income is $51k.

Harrisonburg, Charlottesville and Richmond are the three hottest markets right now in the state.

Our vacancy rate for rentals is around 3% whereas 5-10% is considered healthy. So rents are also crazy high now compared to income.

Having had to shop for apartments in State College, PA (Penn State) I found comparable JMU apartments at half the price, the price then increased a bit when looking in Charlottesville. Buying in State College was also much higher than H-burg. Also, State College can’t seem to build enough student-targeted apartments, it’s constant construction up there.