By Dawn Anastasi, RPA Board Member

I attended the Property Management Panel held by the Milwaukee County Housing Services Division. The moderator was Alexi Millard, Landlord Coordinator.

The panelists:

• Ed Riggenbach, Welcome Home Milwaukee
• Liz Perez, Smart Asset
• Akram Khan - KPM Property Management

Here are some of the questions that came up during the panel and the answers from the panelists.

What trends are you seeing in the rental housing market?

• Tenants are having higher and higher expectations for how quickly someone can come out to fix something and how 'upgraded' the property is
• Very high instances of fraud committed by applicants
• Growing expenses for rental properties -- insurance, maintenance
• Rents are staying strong

What percentage of property values are owners charging for rent?

• Years ago it was around 2% for new purchases, then it went down to around 1%, now it's around 0.6-0.7%
• If you get 1% today, you are lucky
• The market is softening, interest rates are not budging

What has been your experiences working with the Rent Assistance Program?

• The benefit is that the process is already there, there is no need to reinvent the wheel
• Everyone wants guaranteed rent and zero risk and this is just not a thing in this industry
• Working with Rent Assistance reduces the risk because the government pays for at least a portion of the rent, if the tenant loses their job, the Rent Assistance program can re-evaluate their situation and re-adjust the payment schedule to the owner
• One downside is the waiting -- waiting for the contract to be signed, waiting for the inspection to be scheduled, etc

What incentives or policy changes would make participating in Rent Assistance more attractive?

• Greater speed of communication and assistance
• Ability to think outside the box and come up with solutions for issues that arise
• Funding for property damage by the tenant outside normal wear and tear

Note: Owners have to register for the LIFT program in order to get reimbursements for property damage.

• The LIFT program does not apply to HACM, only MCHS.
• The program only applies to NEW tenants, not existing tenants.

How do you navigate issues like Late Payments when working with Rent Assistance?

• Get in front of it ASAP
• Communicate with the tenant
• Send a 30-day notice (5 day notice not allowed for tenants on Rent Assistance due to the CARES Act)

How do you navigate inspections when working with Rent Assistance?

• Go through the property using the inspection checklist and make sure that that everything on the list is in working order and that there are no surprises
• The most frustrating aspect of inspections is that the Housing Authority coordinates the inspection with the tenant and gives little to no opportunity for the owner to be there

How do you handle tenant retention and reduce turnover?

• Provide good customer service
• Use technology such as online payment options
• Handle situations quickly and in a professional manner
• Try to find common ground and compromise on tenant requests

Next Town Hall Topic: How to Pass a HQS Inspection

March 18th at 10:00am