Several weeks ago I received a telephone call from Journal Sentinel reporter Patrick McIlheran. Mr. McIlheran told me that someone had referred him to my blog and after reading some of the posts that he wanted to speak with me as he was in the process of putting together a piece about how the state and the city seem to make the business of landlording more and more difficult. I was more than happy to assist Mr. McIlheran as this topic comes up regularly during my interactions with clients, and at the the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin meeting. Truth be told, most business – not just rental property owners – wonder why the city makes doing business here so difficult and unappealing.
After speaking with Mr. McIlheran, I referred him to a colleague of mine, Tim Ballering, owner of Affordable Rental Associates, LLC and past president of the AASEW. Tim owns and manages hundreds of units in Milwaukee and has been a landlord almost as long as I have been alive (just kidding Tim ; ). It goes without saying that Tim could give Mr. McIlheran some necessary background and perspective that I could not.
Mr. McIlheran’s piece entitled “Landlords Feel The Loating” was published in today’s paper. You can also read it online at JSOnline.
It is a very good article. Please be sure to take the time to read the article and to email or call Mr. McIlheran and thank him for taking the time to present an accurate story on landlord’s present plight. In light of the soon to be proposed Milwaukee ordinance that will require landlords to submit to mandatory inspections of the interior of their rental units, Ms. McIlheran’s article could not be more timely.
#1 by Brian Meidam_Plan B HomeBuyers LLC on September 18th, 2009
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Nice work Tristan and Tim!
#2 by Attorney Andrew Schmidt on September 18th, 2009
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I read the article and feel it is balanced.
But the TOPIC is not. I represent tenants (through Judicare here in northern Wisconsin as well as landlords. There are good landlords and there are bad landlords. There are good tenant and there are bad tenants. A saavy tenant is not a bad tenant.
What is happening is that there are too many bad landlords – ones who let their properties go to waste, disrepair, or cannot afford the financial burdens of being a landlord.
Often these landlords got into the business because they saw one of those late night infomercials about buying “cheap.”
The complaints come infrom two causes/sources: (1) Landlords too poor or ‘ignorant’ to property manage their assets and (2) tenants who are to inexperienced to understand how to be or become a good tenant. The latter a saavy landlord can help – however the former cries for legislative consumer protection.
LANDLORDS start working together and then perhaps the heavy hand of legislation will stay out of your lives.
MY SOAPBOX: Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” was more likely that my previous paragraph!
ANDREW