Teresa Sager, from left, Joan Newlove, Cathy Newlove Wenig and Denise Pickerel of John Newlove Real Estate.

J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune

For more than 40 years, John Newlove Real Estate has been renting properties in the Bowling Green area.

In 1978, John Newlove and his wife started their business. Cathy Newlove-Wenig, John Newlove’s daughter, said her father had been in real estate for a while and decided he wanted tostart his own company.

Wenig’s parents have since passed, but the family continues to run the business. Wenig said she,along with her siblings, had been involved with the business for many years before her parents passed. She said the family decided they needed to keep the business going despite the loss oftheir parents because they knew their tenants were counting on them.

Over the past couple of years, the business has experienced some downsizing. Wenig said they decided to sell many of the properties they owned in the towns surrounding Bowling Green so that they could focus more on student renters from Bowling Green State University.

“It’s a big change for us,” she said. “At one time we had, you know, 20-30 sales agents in here and over the years we’ve downsized and it’s only family in here now.”

Despite the downsizing, Wenig said they still have a full maintenance staff that is on call and can be at a rental in 10 minutes if need be.

Part of downsizing means that the business has stopped managing properties for other people.

Wenig said all their properties are owned by them. This means that any change they feel may be needed at a property can be changed immediately without them having to consult someone else.

Joan Newlove, Wenig’s sister, said they also do all the work themselves. She said whenever an issue arises before a tenant moves in, someone from the business goes to the building themselves to check it out and make sure the issue gets fixed.

Many of the rentals offered by John Newlove Real Estate are located close to BGSU’s campus.Wenig said this can be beneficial for students who are wanting to live off campus.

“You could be a student that doesn’t have a car and rent from us and be able to walk or bus or whatever,” she said. “And I think that’s pretty convenient for kids that don’t bring a car onto campus.”

Along with offering rentals close to campus, Newlove said the business has always been involved with organizations all over Bowling Green.

“My parents were extremely involved with the community as well,” she said.

As many of their renters are college students, Newlove said they recognize that most of their tenants won’t be here anymore after they graduate.

“We hope you stay longer, but you could get your four-year degree and move on and we’re still going to be here,” she said.

Despite most of their renters not sticking around, Wenig said they still try to get to know each person.

“We love to have conversations with the kids when they come in and pay their rent and just develop a relationship because we’re smaller now because we have downsized. So we really enjoy getting to know the students and their background and the parents too. I mean we have parents call all the time and we’re glad to talk to them and get to know them,” she said. “We get to know your background and try to make you feel like part of our family.”

The office of John Newlove Real Estate is open Monday- Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. More information can be found at https://www.johnnewloverealestate.com/.