Cofounder, Sandhills Real Estate
Richard Joseph Spinelli
Owner and operator of undergraduate housing in the Bronx neighbourhood of Belmont, minutes on foot from Fordham University.
Richard Joseph Spinelli leads Sandhills Real Estate, the business he cofounded in 2020. Every building acquired since 2022 stands two or three streets from the gates at most, and a single in house team handles the buying, the rebuilding, the letting and the upkeep of all of them.
About
A short account, with the gaps left as gaps
Richard Joseph Spinelli studied economics at Boston College and now runs a student housing company. He cofounded Sandhills Real Estate in 2020, and since 2022 every acquisition has landed in one small cluster of Belmont streets, no part of it more than two or three streets from the gates.
The company is small on purpose. Thirteen assets and twenty seven units at the close of August 2026, packed tightly enough that a single team can cover all of them. Fordham Athletics made Sandhills its Exclusive Off Campus Housing Partner in August 2026, and two squads wear the patch through the 2026 to 2027 academic year.
Outside the buildings he runs. He covered forty two miles at a last man standing race in Portland, Maine, and the 2024 Austin Marathon in 3 hours and 30 minutes. Both turn up in the writing, mostly as arguments about decisions rather than about running.
The work
One neighbourhood, run by one team
- Where
Belmont, on and around Belmont Avenue, Lorillard Place and Bathgate Avenue
- Units
Three, four and five bedroom apartments and townhouses, one group to each
- Leasing
Live Off the Hill, the student brand the company leases under
- Standard
Resident first, with every repair call inside a short walk
- Fordham
Exclusive Off Campus Housing Partner of Fordham Athletics since August 2026
Writing
Essays on operating, buying and deciding
Twelve pieces here across five subjects, and 28 more on the two channels he posts to, all of it listed in one filterable index.
- 3 essays
Off campus housing operations. The leasing year, who carries a lease, and what an empty unit really costs.
- 3 essays
The Belmont and Fordham market. Demand, supply and pricing on the blocks beside one campus.
- 2 essays
Buying and renovating in the Bronx. Offer to closing, then the order the building work has to happen in.
- 2 essays
Building from the operator seat. What the training gave him, and which figures turned out to matter.
- 2 essays
Endurance and decision making. Two long races, read as arguments about deciding under pressure.
Each of those essays is also read closely, beside the others that share its argument, in the Sandhills writing study.
Contact
Leasing, the company, or something else
Questions about housing near Fordham, about Sandhills Real Estate, or from people who want to reach Richard Joseph Spinelli directly all arrive in the same place.