Townhome rental communities in Oswego new housing trend

Michelle George and her husband, Russell, were looking to downsize.

After selling their five-acre farm where they took care of chickens, three llamas and a peacock, the couple decided to move to Home at Ashcroft, a new townhouse rental community in Oswego.

Renting a three-bedroom townhouse instead of owning it was a concept that fit for the couple. For one thing, they don’t have to worry about maintenance. The fact their townhouse has a finished basement is a bonus.

“It’s the best fit for us,” she said. “It’s simplicity at its best. I come home and my place is beautiful. It’s where I want to be. I just love the open floor plan,” she said. “It is very spacious.”

It also helps that her new home is only a few minutes away from downtown Oswego and her store, Ginger Thomas Soap Company.

“Everything lined up perfectly,” George said. “We’re at the point in our lives where we want to relax. We want to enjoy our time together. And this was the perfect move for us.”

With mortgage interest rates still high, build-to-rent communities are becoming a growing trend across the U.S. In 2023, almost 27,500 build-to-rent houses were completed nationwide, an all-time high, according to the website RentCafe.

Home at Ashcroft is the second build-to-rent community in Oswego. When completed, Home at Ashcroft will feature 178 three-bedroom attached single-family homes. Monthly rent, which includes a range of management services and amenities, starts at $2,591 per month.

An on-site management team provides such services as plant watering (inside and out), yard care, snow removal, package receiving and dog walking. Lynd, a national real estate development and property management firm, is building Home at Ashcroft.

“It is single-family style living with the amenities associated with an apartment complex,” said Anthony Tiritilli, president of development for Lynd, in talking about Home at Ashcroft and the build-to-rent concept.

He said build-to-rent communities are attractive to a variety of people, including baby boomers who just sold their homes and do not want to deal with maintenance issues any more.

“And then you have a younger group of people that have never owned a home and are at the point in their lives that they might be starting a family and want more space,” Tiritilli said. “What you’re hearing right now is that the costs have made home ownership almost unattainable for a lot of people. Because what you don’t see, certainly in the suburbs of Chicago and in most big cities, are true starter homes. So it’s making affordability even harder on that younger, first time buyer.”

A $2 million community clubhouse that will feature a state-of-the-art fitness and wellness center, lounge, private library with fireplace, game area/billiards room and an outdoor pool will serve the subdivision.

Maggie Duran along with her husband, Giovanni, and their daughter, Caitlin, moved to Home at Ashcroft at the end of February. The couple had previously lived in Geneva for almost 20 years.

“We sold our home in Geneva with the idea of purchasing another one,” she said. “The home that we were going to buy somebody else bought from under us. And so rather than rushing to buy whatever, we decided to look for a place to rent and take our time.”

Duran is a real estate agent and an events manager.

“In my real estate career, I have discovered that Oswego is a great place to live,” she said.

The couple love living in the Home at Ashcroft community and don’t plan to move again anytime soon. “The house itself is gorgeous,” Duran said. ‘We’re not even completely moved in yet and it feels like home. … And it’s going to be our home for at least a couple of years.”

Along with their home being spacious, she said it has amazing acoustics, which helps since her husband is a musician. He is a music director for a church in Aurora.

“For Easter, we brought in a gentleman who is a professional violinist and we were rehearsing here,” Duran said. “It’s perfect for many, many, many reasons.”

June Nilles and her husband previously owned houses in North Aurora and Sugar Grove, but are not looking to buy another home.

She liked what Home at Ashcroft has to offer.

“You feel like you are in a house,” Nilles said. “The hallways are wide and there’s a laundry room.”

The couple moved to the subdivision in December. Home at Ashcroft offers three different models.

Each of the models have three bedrooms. The house they chose is a one-story house, which they wanted because they are getting older and don’t want to climb up and down stairs as much any more.

“And then there’s a full basement under that,” Nilles said. “We wouldn’t have accepted anything that wasn’t a ranch. We do love having the basement, too. But we don’t go down there every day.”

Nilles also likes the fact the community is pet friendly and offers fenced-in yards. And even though the community is an attached single-family development, she doesn’t hear her neighbors.

“I never hear a sound from my neighbors and I don’t think they hear me either,” she said. “They constructed it so you wouldn’t. That’s great. When we sit down at the dinner table and look out over the pond, we’re looking at muskrats and ducks swimming and an egret or a crane catching fish. It’s beautiful.”

More information about Home at Ashcroft is available at homeatashcroft.com.