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Sep 18
Sept 17th, 2009 Milwaukee Journal Interview with Tristan Pettit and Tim Ballering on rental housing issues
The Department of Neighborhood Services until lately was a particular
cross. “There was a real culture of hatred in the city towards
property owners,”
[snip]
The Public Policy Forum a few months back said Milwaukee’s really
short of low-cost rentals. If more people went into the business,
researchers said, it could help. Yet Ballering, who’s owned for 32
years, told his son to find another occupation: “It’s such a difficult
business,” said Ballering. “There’s better things to do with your life.”
Not what a city in need of rental housing wants to hear from
entrepreneurs who provide it.
Read entire article
[My son was not happy to hear this from me a dozen years ago. He is
now the morning drive DJ on 92.5 FM and loving it]
From the Sept 17th Milwaukee Journal
“The Department of Neighborhood Services until lately was a particular cross. “There was a real culture of hatred in the city towards property owners,”[snip]The Public Policy Forum a few months back said Milwaukee’s really short of low-cost rentals. If more people went into the business, researchers said, it could help. Yet Ballering, who’s owned for 32 years, told his son to find another occupation: “It’s such a difficult business,” said Ballering. “There’s better things to do with your life.”Not what a city in need of rental housing wants to hear from entrepreneurs who provide it.” Read entire article
My son was not happy to hear this from me a dozen years ago. Today he is much happier than had he become a landlord. He is the morning drive DJ on WBWI 92.5 FM (Fuzz Martin) as well as doing freelance photography and marketing.
Aug 09
A reader of the ApartmentAssoc Yahoo Group asks:
What is the size of Residential apartment industry in Southeast of Wisconsin?
It is pretty big. I haven’t gone through the work to assemble this data recently, but here is some older data. Assembling fresh data should be less today due to the amount of information you can find on the internet these days.
Ten years ago there were 25,000 rental owners in the City of Milwaukee and 31,000 if you included owner occupied duplexes and fours. Continue reading »
Aug 04
As a rental property owner in Milwaukee the following items should rank high on your list of concerns. (Just a draft) Continue reading »
Jul 22
The Milwaukee Journal notes that Lenders are abandoning foreclosured properties
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/50548282.html
“Rodney Lass figured his days as a homeowner were over when he was hit with a foreclosure judgment more than a year ago.
He stopped rehabbing his two-story Bay View home and moved on. [snip]
The foreclosure, however, failed to go through after the California-based lender decided it didn’t want the gutted house. Lass said he found out for certain that he still owned it from the Journal Sentinel.”
Tim’s comments
There is another twist, probably worse for the community than abandonment by the lender. An emerging phenomena is owners of properties in lower income areas are being sued for the balance of the mortgage, not as a foreclosure but as a large claim action. The lenders are seeking only a money judgment against the owner and are not asking the court to give them title to the property. The only option at that point for many owners is bankruptcy. Continue reading »
Jul 22
This will be has been posted shortly at the Courthouse:
PLEASE NOTE
In Small Claims Eviction cases, you may only sign complaints and appear in court on behalf of a property owner if you are one of the following:
· The property owner (if the property is not owned by a corporation/limited liability corporation)
· A full time employee of the property owner
· An attorneyEmployees of management companies or other outside service providers may not sign complaints or appear on behalf of property owners.
Feb 17
No single idea, thought or policy has done as much harm to urban American than the political expediency of ignoring occupants’ responsibilities. While Milwaukee certainly does not maintain a monopoly on these ill-conceived ideas, we are a front runner.
Take today’s Journal article on snow removal as a timely, but far from unique example.
“A city ordinance requires snow and ice to be removed or prevented from posing a hazard on sidewalks within 24 hours after snow has stopped falling. If the city is forced to provide the service, property owners – not their renters – are charged $93 for a 60-foot lot and a $25 administration fee for the first occurrence. That administration fee grows to $50 for each subsequent occurrence”
Any tenant reading this article thinks ‘And here that no good son of a sewer rat I rent from put in the lease that I had to shovel. Even the Journal says it’s his job, not mine. No way I’m going out there in the cold and do his job!.’ Continue reading »
