All Forum Posts by: Pete Woelfel

Hi @Sheree Wegenke - welcome to the Milwaukee area.  In my limited experience I've found it to be a great place to invest and there are lots of resources and helpful people to assist you along the way.  If there's people with specific skills you're looking to meet, please feel free to reach out and I'll do my best to put you in touch with anyone I might know!

Very helpful - thank you @Marcus Auerbach, @John Teachout and @Account Closed

I'm a super small fish renting out a 3 BR 1 BA 1000 sq/ft property in a nice but modest area in Milwaukee. I have been involved in REI for just a couple years and have not experienced many vacancies. I have had 100+ inquiries online and several completed applications. The requirements I have posted online are no vacancies for 7 years, > 600 credit rating, clean background check, and 3x rent gross income. I decided on these qualifications somewhat arbitrarily based on the advice of other investors/BP. I have had a number of candidates that have met every criteria with the exception of the credit rating, with some as high as 595. All of these credit reports and background checks have been done through zillow.

1) Why is the common expectation a 600 credit score?  Why is that the arbitrary line in the sand?

2) Am I at any risk for litigation if I accept a tenant with a credit rating under 600 now?  I've met several of these people personally, have income verification, and feel extremely comfortable allowing them to rent, but do my facebook and zillow ads put me at risk to allow them?

3) If I need to talk to an attorney, what type of attorney should I be looking for?

@Amaury Reynoso - Congratulations on your first property!  What part of town did you buy it in and how did you find it?

@Matt Maurice and @Marcus Auerbach

I'm curious how you see this appreciation and potential long term Denver-ish growth impacting rent rates for those of us looking to buy and hold long term (for me personally its mostly Milwaukee).  Do you see rent rates lag behind prices by a year or two?  Do they go up at essentially the same rate?  

Personally, whenever I have a place open up, I just go out to zillow, rentometer, rentals, etc and look at what places in the area are renting for.  Ours are usually nicer than 60% of them or more, so I'm picking a price right in the middle.  I have no idea if that's a good strategy, but I started doing it at the beginning and so far (knock on wood) vacancy has been low.  If others have ideas on better ways to maximize rents I'd love to hear them.

@Joe Marshall and @Jason Krivickas

As Gerrit mentioned, the Brew City REI group on FB is a great resource. They also have meetups that are very worthwhile. The Milwaukee REIA is also really good.

Jason, down your way I know there is a Kenosha REI. I've never been to one of their meetings but I know a few of the people in the group and they are very knowledgable.

@jonathan klemm

I would recommend @Marcus Auerbach or @Adam Gollatz - both of them are investors themselves and know the Milwaukee market extremely well.

@Kevin Auyong - I try to structure my leases so that they never end in Nov-Mar personally.  Its still tough to find tenants in Feb or March in WI in my experience.  I'll try to do things like 6 month leases with the option to renew for 12 months during the warmer parts of the year.  Typically tenants appreciate that too because as Marcus said, they don't want to move in the winter also.  We've also done MTM after a lease expires but usually have some sort of agreement on those that they won't move out during the winter months.

For realtors - I would reach out to @Marcus Auerbach or @Adam Gollatz - both of those guys know Milwaukee really well!

not sure if @Matt Maurice goes into the suburbs?