Archive for category Property Management

You Will Not Want To Miss AASEW’s Fourth Annual Landlord Boot Camp on Saturday Feb. 25th

Jan 3

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, City of Milwaukee, Collections, Credit Checks, De Novo Hearings, Earnest Money, Emergency Assistance, Evictions, Execution of Writ, Fair Housing / Discrimination, Holdover Damages, Landlord Liability, Late Fees, Lead-Based Paint, Milwaukee County, Mitigation of Damages / Re-Renting, Notices, Pets, Property Management, Protected Classes, Reasonable Accomodations, Reasonable Modifications, Rejecting Rental Applicants, Rental Agreements, Rental Documents, Right of Entry, Roommates, Screening Tenants, Security Deposit, Self-Help Evictions, Seminars, Small Claims Court, Smoke Detectors, State of Wisconsin, Tenant Damage, Untenantability, Walkthroughs | 2 Comments

Landlording can be pretty complex, with a seemingly never ending myriad of paperwork, rules, landlord-tenant laws and simple mistakes that can cost you thousands of dollars.

The Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin’s Fourth Annual “Landlord Boot Camp” can help you navigate these treacherous waters and teach you how to run your properties with greater profit and less hassles.

I have given similar landlord-tenant law seminars to fellow attorneys, landlords, and property manager organizations throughout the state for other state-wide semianr companies that charge attendees $300-$400.  This is your opportunity to learn all of the same information at a huge discount through the Apartment Association.

 

Who:   Taught by Attorney Tristan R. Pettit (who drafts the landlord tenant forms for Wisconsin Legal Blank)

When:    Saturday, February 25th, 2012. 8:30 am – 5 pm

Where:   Clarion Hotel 5311 S. Howell Avenue, Milwaukee [Map]

Included:  100 plus page manual/outline to help you put what you learn into practice plus helpful forms.

Cost:  $159 for AASEW members and $249 for non-members.  If you are not a member of AASEW but are a member of another landlord/apartment association the cost to attend will be $199.

Specials: Not a member?  Pay just a dollar more and enjoy a 2012 AASEW membership.

Wisconsin landlord-tenant laws are constantly changing.  To help keep you up to date we offer prior attendees a $50 discount.

Sign up by going to the AASEW’s Landlord Boot Camp landing page where you can sign up online and pay via PayPal.

 

What you will learn at the Apartment Association’s 2012 Landlord Boot Camp

Landlord Boot Camp covers everything that you need to know about residential Landlord Tenant law in Wisconsin, including:

  1. How to properly screen prospective tenants.
  2. How to draft written screening criteria to assist you in the selection process and protect you from discrimination complaints.
  3. How to comply with both federal and state Fair Housing laws including how to handle with “reasonable modifications”  and “reasonable accommodations” requests.
  4. How to legally reject an applicant.
  5. What rental documents you should be using and why.
  6. When you should be using a 5-day notice versus a 14-day notice, 28-day notice, or 30-day notice and how to properly serve the notice on your tenant.
  7. Everything you wanted to know (and probably even more than you wanted to know) about the Residential Rental Practices (ATCP 134) and how to avoid having to pay double damages to your tenant for breaching ATCP 134.
  8. When you are legally allowed to enter your tenant’s apartment.
  9. How to properly draft an eviction summons and complaint.
  10. What to do to keep the commissioner from dismissing your eviction suit.
  11. What you can legally deduct from a security deposit.
  12. How to properly draft a security deposit transmittal / 21 day letter.
  13. How to handle pet damage.
  14. What to do with a tenant’s abandoned property and how this may affect whether or not you file an eviction suit.
  15. How to pursue your ex-tenant for damages to your rental property and past due rent (and whether it is even worth it to do so).

. . .  and much more.  There will also be time for questions and answers.

You get all this for less than you would pay for an hour of an attorney’s time.

Last year’s AASEW Landlord Boot Camp was filled to capacity and we even had to turn a few people away.  So call early to reserve your spot.

Call the Association at (414) 276-7378, email membership@apartmentassoc.org or go to our Landlord Boot Camp landing page to sign up online and reserve your spot.

Remember that “landlording” is a business — so take the time to educate yourself on how to better manage your business and avoid costly errors!

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AASEW’s New “Mentor’s Corner” to Debut on June 21st

Jun 15

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in AASEW, Property Management | No Comments

At the next membership meeting of the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW), to be held on June 21, 2010, the AASEW will be debuting its new “Mentor’s Corner” for all AASEW members.

The “Mentor’s Corner” will be held at 6:30 pm prior to the general meeting.  The “Corner” will be staffed by one or more “seasoned” landlords who will be ready to answer your non-legal questions about any aspect of landlording.  This is the place to be to get “street-smart” answers from landlords that have already “been there and done that.” 

Come and ask all those nagging questions that you have been afraid to ask such as how to deal with such as the tenant that pays rent lat every month, how to deal with parking problems, intra-tenant disputes, what to do when tenants fail to mow the lawn, chronic complainers  . . . .

The “Mentor’s Corner” will be held at 6:30 pm before every AASEW membership meeting (which are always held on the 3rd Monday of each month) at the Best Western Hotel located at 1005 S. Moorland Road in Brookfield.

Hope to see you there.

Is It Time To Hire A Property Management Company?

Apr 27

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Property Management | 14 Comments

I would like to state at the outset that this particular post is very different from my past posts.  In the past I have tried to educate readers about various aspects of landlord-tenant law.  I will not be doing that this time.  My goal with today’s post is to generate a discussion and to have you, the reader, provide me (and the other readers) with your thoughts and concerns regarding the topic of professional management companies and when a landlord should consider hiring one to handle the daily management of rental property.

You may be curious as to why I am writing a different type of post.  The reason is quite simple and straightforward — in the last month or two I have received several phone calls from landlords that are frustrated with dealing with their tenants and the daily management issues.  My response to these calls is often along the lines of  “welcome to being a landlord,” but I have refrained from such comments lately as I have noticed that these are not just the usual rants about irresponsible tenants.  Instead I am noting real frustration and a wish to get out of “landlording.”  Many of the individuals that I have spoken with have been very upfront in telling me that if they could afford to sell their rental properties that they would but since they cannot they have decided that they want to hire someone else to take over the management.  They then ask me if I can provide them with the names of some professional property management companies that I would reccomend.

After giving the caller some names of property management companies, I make a point of explaining to the caller that hiring a management company does not make all of their problems disappear.  I explain to them that there are a lot of different management companies out there.  I point out to them that just like landlords, property management companies have different styles and ways of running their respective businesses. 

Giving up the daily management of your rental properties is a big decision.  The decision should not be made lightly.  A landlord needs to find a company or manager that s/he feels confident in and comfortable with.  It is important that you interview any managment company that you are considering hiring.  You will be trusting this company with the care of your real estate investment – take the time to get to know them and learn how they will handle their job.  Some management companies are more “hands on” then others.  Some are more “service oriented” then others.  Some follow applicable landlord-tenant laws more than others.

Most management companies will handle everything that you can possibly think of if you want them to, such as:

-  Finding tenants for your vacant units

-  Showing the units to prospective tenants

-  Screening applicants and vetting their applications

-  Fielding complaints and maintenance requests

-  Accepting rent

-  Hiring contractors to make repairs or making the repairs themselves

and much more.

If you find the right property management company, it can be the best decision that you ever made.  The exact opposite can be true if you choose the wrong company. 

Even if you hire a company to manage your properties for you, it is important to understand that you — the owner — may still be held responsible/accountable if the management company does something wrong.  If the management company does not understand fair housing laws and runs a discriminatory advertisement for your vacancy, both the management company and the owner could be sued.  If the management company doesn’t make adequate and timely repairs and as a result a tenant is injured, there is a strong chance that both the owner and the management company could be on the hook.

Some landlords wish to retain some level of control even after they hire a management company.  I know of landlords that still choose to be involved in the tenant selection process but leave everything else to the management company’s discretion.  I have met other landlords that want to personally approve every repair that is made to their income properties.  There are no “typical” situation.  It all depends on what the owner wants and what the management company is willing to do.

Some management companies consist of 1 person.  Others have hundreds of employees.  Some offer their services on an a la carte basis while others offer various packages that the owner can choose from (kind of like a trim package for cars).  Some only manage apartment complexes; others may take on the management of duplexes and single families.

I personally do not feel that there is a “right” time for each and every landlord to give up the daily management of their rental properties and turn it over to a professional management company.  Its not like there is a certain “cashflow magic number” that dictates the hiring of a property management company.  The best time to make that change — or even if the change should be made in the first place — depends on the specific landlord and his/her situation. 

I believe that there are three issues that often casue the topic of hiring a property manager to the forefront for landlords.  First, the landlord no longer has the time to properly manage their rental properties.  Second, the landlord realizes that they are not “cut out” to handle daily management of rental properties.  Third, a landlord gets “dinged” by a tenant.  This could run the gamut from having an eviction action dismissed because of improper service of a 5 Day Notice, or getting sued by a tenant for making an improper deduction from their security deposit, or any other number of situations.  These situations often arise becasue the landlord does not know th ebasics of landlord-tenant law for one reason or another.  We have all met landlords that don’t have a “clue” what they are doing . . . they usually are the ones that are not members of an apartment association, do not attend seminars, and don’t read my blog : ) 

In my years as a landlord-tenant law attorney I have read many good articles that discuss what you should consider when hiring a property management company.  One recent article that I came across is entitled What To Consider When Hiring A Property Management Company.  Another article adressing the topic is entitled Should I Hire A Property Management Company For My Rental Property?  What are the 10 Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring A Property Management Company?  There are many more articles on the web that discuss this issue.  I would suggest that you take the time to read these articles and others as they are very good at raising issues that you should consider when making this important decision.

If you have just finished reading the above paragraph and have now realized that this is the end of the post and are about to click away . . . DON’T.  Please post a comment.  If I don’t get any comments on this post then I will be forced to just go back to the boring old lecture format.  Nobody wants that, do they : )

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