Legal Aspects of investing in Milwaukee

[Amanda Rogers]

Hello all, I am a first time investor/property manager, planning on making my first purchase in the Milwaukee area next year. What are some legal aspects of investing in Milwaukee that are the most challenging for investors? What have been some of your legal resources? Anything odd regarding inspections that I should be mentally prepared for?

Thank you!

Amanda

[Marcus Auerbach]

Originally posted by @Amanda Rogers:

Hello all, I am a first time investor/property manager, planning on making my first purchase in the Milwaukee area next year. What are some legal aspects of investing in Milwaukee that are the most challenging for investors? What have been some of your legal resources? Anything odd regarding inspections that I should be mentally prepared for?

Thank you!

Amanda

I would say it depends to what you are used to; if you are from CA or NYC you may find the Milwaukee spectaculary easy to work. I don't think you will encounter any particular legal issues. Milwaukee's landlord-tenant law's are fairly landlord friendly. In a little over 10 years I did not need an attorney other than to set up legal entities. A great ressource is the you can just google is a pdf called The Wisconsin Way, which is an overview of all applicable legislation. Contracts and forms are easy, you have an excellent ressource with Wisconsin Legal Blanks. The biggest challenge for OOS investors often is to understand the city and it's so very many different faces. Many are attracted to the "up and comming" neighborhoods, some of which have been up and comming for 20 years. But there are many great municipalities within Milwaukee county (hint: look at school district ratings) and even more opportunities in the suburbs. The inner city offers very low prices but also unique challenges and it's not an easy play. I would start with thinking about, who you want to rent to in sociodemographic terms, because this will already define the neighborhoods for you.