‘I Could Say I Rented an Apartment From the President’: College Students Surprised to Discover Their Landlord Is…

Did you know that former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum owns and rents five State College apartments to Penn State students? If that's news to you, you’re not alone: very few of the apartment tenants know that the Republican presidential candidate is their landlord. Students Lucy Barnhart and Shannon Kane didn’t even know who Santorum was – let alone the fact that he owns their apartment, writes Jessica Weber for the Collegian Online.

Another tenant, Emma Martin actually knew who Santorum was (it’s a start!) but also didn’t know that he was her landlord. "I didn't think that someone running for president would be the landlord of this small apartment in State College," Martin told Weber. Jamie Long, yet another tenant living in a Santorum-owned apartment, had no idea the former senator was his landlord.

“Wow,” he said when he found out a presidential candidate own his apartment, “That’s pretty interesting.”

Mallory Kern, a Penn State senior, has been renting out one of the apartments for the last two years.

“I knew he was our landlord, I just didn’t think much about it,” she said, adding that it would be “nuts” if he were elected president. “Then I could say I rented an apartment from the president,” she said. Property Manager Mark Bigatel said Santorum is “one of the better owners and ‘always’ updates the apartments.” "He takes such good care, because he is a real proud Penn State alumni," Bigatel said. Each of the condominiums net Santorum between $15,000 and $50,000 annually and each is worth between $100,000 and $250,000, according to the Centre Daily Times.