This is my second year renting from J Michael and I have had no issues with them. I transferred apartments last year and got my full security deposit back. They drop off little snack bags to tenants every once in a while, which is nice. read more

J Michael Real Estate - Real Estate Services Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Poor, cheap management, will ABSOLUTELY charge for unnecessary things on the security deposit. If you rent from them your security deposit will not be returned fully, despite a spotless/perfect condition apartment or house. You will also be charged painting and carpet fees (both of which were never disclosed) read more

A message to J. Michael Real Estate - Terrible Management Company from every aspect! 2 days before we moved into our apartment was broken into and a shooting took place outside of our apartment. The only thing that was mentioned was our window was broken and would be fixed. The only reason we found out was because someone from the news asked how we felt moving into the same apartment of a crime scene. Imagine our surprise when all was said to us was there was a broken window. A week and a half later we were notified of the shooting in the "general area" which was sent to all the buildings in the surrounding area. Through the continuation of our stay, many maintenance requests were ignored, including the dryer broken in our building and possible mold in our apartment. There were also several instances where people came into our apartment without notification. Two tours were given without prior notice as well as a carpet installation in our front entrance done by maintenance. This is basic violation of our lease. When any of these issues were brought up to our landlord SARAH LADWIG we were either ignored or given a brief, insincere explanation. It was only when I called their head office was my concerns address fully; even then I was met with "this is a busy season for us, we get many emails." Furthermore, at move out ridiculous charges were taken out of our security deposit in reference to the broken window I previously stated. This includes a window screen being improperly installed by maintenance that fixed our window, which was blamed on us. As well as the broken blinds on the said window that was never fixed. I am absolutely appalled at the treatment and disregard of any concerns brought to the management company. Not only did they violate our lease on multiple occasions, but our right to know about a safety issue upon move-in. The way they treat and take advantage of college students trying to get by is inappropriate and unjust. This management company should face charges for the conditions of how they manage their properties. read more

I have seen some negative reviews about Whistler Apts in Iowa City, and feel it is also important to leave something positive. While my daughter does not live at Whistler (yet), I want to express my appreciation for the top notch service Jessi Blackburn (Property Manager) has offered thus far. Jessi promptly responded to our initial online inquiry and was able to arrange a tour that fit my daughter's extremely busy school/work schedule in record time! As a US Military family, we move ALL the time and (with the exception of one assignment 10 yrs ago) we have always rented. That being said, I have rental shopped more times than I can even remember, but I have learned how to tell a fantastic rental company when I first talk with them (and I have spoken with a LOT!) So far, J Michael Real Estate has exceeded my expectations! Jessi has shown an Godly amount of patience and professionalism with me as I try my best from 2000 miles away to facilitate tours and ask questions from afar (we are currently stationed in California). She is always quick to respond to emails and always answers the phone. My daughter will be a Junior in college next year and is looking to get a 1 bedroom apartment to live solo for the first time. It is not easy finding a place that my daughter will not only love but that we, as parents, also feel comfortable with, especially because she will be living alone. Jessi helped ease my mind and has consistently answered all my questions and inquiries with professionalism and kindness. Unfortunately, the unit my daughter had her heart set on was already rented out by the morning after she toured. Since that time Jessi, Kevin and Margo have all been extremely helpful in trying to put her in another unit that she will still feel is a good fit. It is a little frustrating when we have to wait 24 hrs to see a unit with my daughter needing to get this secured quickly, but on the flip side that shows courtesy and respect for their current tenants, and that will be appreciated when my daughter is on the other side of things down the road. Hopefully by the end of this weekend things will be all set :) Much thanks to Jessi and her team who have beyond impressed us thus far! And thank you for the professionalism and patience with me as I try to help my daughter navigate the often daunting task of apartment hunting! read more

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY. Our daughter rented from them during the 2022-23 school year. They prey on students who don't know any better AND their parents who mostly pay their rent. The building my daughter rented was old and in disrepair. They had to turn in their checklist within one week after moving in which they failed to do. However they would have had to know that the stove wasn't clean in the burner area, the screens had to be inspected, there was no way of knowing they would need a ladder to change all lightbulbs otherwise be held liable. I spent 7 hours cleaning the entire apartment myself and fixing the walls and had it spotless. I contested the rental deposit rebate, took a video and turned it in. They sent me an email back with their "follow up" pictures, which were NOT dated, showing among other things a spotless refrigerator with one coffee ground showing, the cracks in their tile, the broken toilet seat that had been there all year. They know the students and most parents won't bother hiring a lawyer to get back part of the deposit. Let your child rent where there is no security deposit if you're able although there is a housing shortage. read more

Where do I begin, I have never met a single person that has had a positive experience with JMichael. This is their business model: entice college students to live in their worn down apartments for an affordable price. Once the students move out, JMichael will look for anything and everything they can possibly find to charge them for. If you have one small tear/burn in your carpet, they will replace the entire carpet ($400). If you leave sticker residue on a door, they will replace the entire door ($300). They charge ridiculous cleaning rates, and they will find extra things to charge you for - things that you would never even notice when filling out the move-in sheet. I lived in 251 Langdon St. this previous year. Out of 10 apartments of people that I knew lived there, only 1 apartment received any piece of their security deposit back. Every other apartment was charged multiple thousands of dollars in damages/repairs. This is why almost nobody ever resigns with them. For anyone at JMichael reading this, I hope you find great pleasure in knowing the type of company you work for. I honestly don't know how any of you sleep at night. I'm not the type of person to leave a review like this, but I feel obligated to protect any other future tenants from this atrocious company. Please for you own good and sanity, if you would not like to be screwed over for thousands of dollars, do not rent through JMichael - the worst property management company in Madison. read more

It wasn't 100% a horrible experience, but there were a few things done there that left a bad taste in my mouth and seem like generally self-destructive business practices. First of all, from the moment we signed on, the apartment was first advertised with $400 rent per person, then later it said there was a signing bonus of $400 per person or something of that nature. Then we looked at the website, and the rent had increased $100 a month or something, and when we asked the manager said, "Oh yeah, if you want the signing bonus you have to pay more rent"(higher in total than the value of the signing bonus. The signing bonus is just a scam essentially to get people to join with the persuasion of a lump sum). "Since you're asking right when we're changing to the higher rent + signing bonus like we do every year as a predatory advertising scheme, you can pick". That seems like a very sneaky way to try to get new tenants. Alright, secondly, they did not consistently give the 24 hour notice they are required to give to show the apartment, and some times of year they were constantly showing it at 10am after shooting an email at like 9pm the night before. They would also send passive aggressive e-mails that I thought were a bit prying "During the apartment tour some of the guests expressed an odor from your kitchen. Please clean it immediately or else you could be charged or kicked out." Finally, good luck getting your security deposit back in full. They wanted approximately 40% of ours and I felt we did a pretty good job cleaning. They tried to charge us for blinds that were missing when we moved in etc, and for some labor at $60 an hour for changing some lightbulbs etc(we replaced several of their cheap bulbs with LEDs.) We filled out a complaint form and got maybe a third to half of what they took back. They have a cleaning crew that is lined up to clean every apartment when you move out, which they pay for out of your security deposit regardless of how clean it is, and then say the apartment needed cleaning. Also I think their cleaning crew might have stolen my mail, because I couldn't find 2 packages that arrived on move out day. My advice; you've got a fairly smooth operation going; I would recommend that you raise your rent a bit to $450 or $500, and cut out all of your signing bonuses, and stop nickeling and diming the tenants. If you're going to always clean on move out, it is absolutely unacceptable to take that out of the security deposit, and this confrontational attitude with your tenants is destructive and bad for business. If there is a problem with filling the apartments, advertise a bit more, and work on getting better reviews. I would think that these locations at competitive prices would sell themselves. BTW Jessi B. was extremely nice and professional, and was the apartment tour-giver when we lived there. She was the only one we interacted with in person; my complaints are about only about certain business practices. read more

Excellent company to work with. Highly trained professionals with quick response time. I have been a renter for many years and JMRE is on the top of my list. read more

Possible the worst experience/property managers around the Iowa City area. I'll start with the positives: Jessi in the office is really quick at getting back to tenants when there is an issue and whenever there is something wrong with the building such as elevators or garage doors or if you're locked out they're really efficient Now to the cons: Total scam when it comes to charges and getting your security deposits back. Our apartment was with 8 hours worth of cleaning, in my right mind I can't think of any house/apartment that would require 8 hours worth of cleaning especially when I was there in Late June and cleaned and organized before I was the last one in the apartment. Story time: in October when we were settling into our apartments it was a windy day and the wind knocked my window out of the socket and it proceeded to fall and break my TV worth $300 and my gaming system worth $200. J Michael sent someone up and they decided it was my fault the window was faulty and fell out of it hinges, mind you I only slip the window up and down properly never removing it once from the hinges. Next in January or February the interior window cracked due to it being warm inside and cold outside and we reported it immediately to management which they said they would fix it, and never did. Little did we know when we got our charges back they charged up for the window cracking. read more

The worst management imaginable. They will lie to you and refuse to be flexible during move-in and out in any manner. maintenance requests are not addressed until weeks after the initial request, and no work is done on the properties between tenants moving in and out like they claim they have done. We moved in and the place was a mess, the toilet was broken and half the windows didn't lock. blinds were missing and light fixtures did not work. None of this was fixed until weeks into our lease. The electric bills were always suspiciously high, even when most of the month the house was vacant. Even when requested by the tenants moving in after us if we could leave furniture behind for them, since we were not using it anymore and it costs management nothing to let us leave it behind for them, management refused to comply and threatened to take our security deposit. Their actions speak multitudes on how little they care about renter quality of life and satisfaction, they only care about taking your security deposit for themselves. If you're fine with losing your money and in exchange receiving the worst management service possible, be my guest. Screw these guys. read more

DO NOT SIGN A LEASE HERE AND IF YOU ARE A PARENT DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD SIGN HERE (specific to telluride but I'm sure none of the J Michael properties are any better). J Michael WILL scam you and try to make money off of you. They have awful customer service and are notorious for lying about damages to collect a security deposit. This company is taking advantage of college kids looking for housing and it is disgusting that they prey on these kids to make money. Do better. And if you're reading this, save yourself the trouble and DO NOT SIGN WITH J MICHAEL. Oh and they will also promise new furniture to get you to sign and then say that deal fell through one week before move in, so don't believe them if they tell you you'll have new furniture by next year. read more

Renting from J Michael Real Estate?? Watch out! In life, we have all run into businesses that seek to take advantage of the supply/demand situation in their industry or market, and have dishonest business practices because they know they can get away with it. You will never find a better example of this than renting an apartment from J Michael Real Estate in Madison, Wisconsin. I know your son or daughter will say they 'found a great place', which is not easy in Madison, and they will be referring to the location, and will have no idea it is managed by an unscrupulous owner/landlord. We are finishing with our 4th student going to an out of state school in the past 3 years, we have done this many times. In this case (fall 2020 - spring 2021), we were there on the day of move in and the day of move out of this particular unit - we helped with the cleaning. As a parent, when you move your student in, you know you cannot judge these units like you would your own home or apartment. As a result, you overlook the scuffs on the floor, the carpets looking aged (and often not very clean), or you see the refrigerator and stove are not sparkling. You will mentally note this and not think much of it, and this is where J Michael Real Estate will get you! They know you are not paying attn to every little thing - so they do! When you move out, they will find every possible little mark, cobweb, handprint on the wall, or similar AND YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR IT. Clearly, their financial calculations internally are to keep your security deposit. They have no intention of returning it, and they know that the day you move in. If you are counting on this kind of expense (losing your deposit), go ahead and rent from them. If you are thinking you just have to return the apartment to its original condition - think again! As noted, they come in with cameras and the intent to find every possible item that can be deducted from your deposit. One might logically think they do not have to move the appliances, or clean the walls that look like they did when you moved in - nope, they expect you to do this too! So, spare yourself and the other families you are likely joining in this rental. Find another company to rent from. If you don't believe me, read the reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook, Birdeye, or any other public place. Just like you would not go to a hotel or restaurant with these kinds of reviews, you should not rent from a company like this. Should you not heed my advice on avoiding this company, my last suggestion is to photograph and videotape every inch of the apartment. Ideally, you should also insist they come to view the property with you and go over it together in minute detail. Then, ask them to sign a letter stating you have both agreed on the condition of the property, and insist the same person come back to view it with you at the end of your lease - this is likely the only way you have any hope of getting your deposit back. DO NOT LET THEM OVERLOOK THE SMALL SCRAPES AND SCRATCHES ON THE FLOOR, OR OTHER MINOR BLEMISHES - REMEMBER, THEY ARE COMPLETELY PLANNING TO CHARGE YOU FOR THOSE THINGS IN A FEW MONTHS WHEN YOUR SON/DAUGHTER ARE READY TO MOVE ON. They know you do not have time to pay attention to these things - and they make money on that fact. read more

I only have nice things to say about my two years of renting an apartment at the Whistler in Iowa City. The building was brand new and well taken care of by the J Michael staff. Jessi and Kevin were a pleasure to deal with and were always available to address any questions and concerns I had. You hear a lot of stories about problem realtors in downtown Iowa City, that is not the case with J Michael. As far as I know they manage three properties in Iowa City. (The Whistler, Telluride, Breckenridge) If you are looking for an off campus apartment in Iowa City, check them out. read more

J Michael Real Estate at Telluride was horrible to deal with regarding our security deposit. At the beginning of the lease, we requested to have a bed removed from the apartment because my son wanted to use his own bed. They removed the bed but did not provide a receipt to remove the bed or the $100 charge. At the end of the lease they charged us for the bed. They could have cared less and dIdn't review security camera footage. Their local manager lied about collecting the $100 fee in cash form my son. Beware when dealing with them. Video everything and get paperwork for everything. Expensive lesson. I wouldn't do business with them. Plain dishonest. Plan on losing your security deposit and more. read more

About the above reference to Sahra Ladwig not doing her job right. She does her job which is a Liasion between the property manager Shanda Kennedy and the tenants in a professional and caring manner. She does have to do what the property manager tells her to do. She is one of the nicest, nicest, people we have met and leased with J Michael Real Estate because of her for five years. Sharon M read more

If there was a star for below 0 that's what J. Michael would receive. They exploit students and unnecessarily charge them for their security deposit. We were charged for "ceiling cleaning." How does someone get a ceiling dirty? While yes, we are students. But we're not animals. We should NOT be charged for "dusty" blinds. Everyone I've ever met says don't live at J. Michael but we didn't listen. I wish we did. My friends and I lost over $1000 out of our security deposit when our previous apartments were met with full refunds. The service is a scam so heed my advice- don't live in any of their buildings. Ps. The laundry room is home to numerous homeless people in Madison and none of the machines work. read more

Scumbag real estate company that preys on college students. Out of all of the slumlords I had the displeasure of dealing with during my time at the University of Wisconsin Madison, they were hands down the worst. If you have to rent with them, be VERY thorough in what you fill out on your evaluation form before moving into the apartment and include pictures before and after because they will do their very best to completely screw you over. And make sure to look at your boxsprings because they will charge you for those at $150 a pop even though they are in perfect condition. They are as sleazy as it gets, buyer beware. read more

If I could leave a 0 star review, I would. J Michael Real Estate care's only about money and taking advantage of college students. The apartment I lived in was continually dirty, only being cleaned once per semester (there was constantly a smell of vomit in the stairwell). At the end of the year, they claimed that a modem they owned was not left behind, when, in fact, it was left in plain sight in the middle of the apartment. They of course took this out of our security deposit (which they see as a way to make money when students have their hands tied behind their back). After numerous emails to management (most requiring 3-4 reminders for them to reply), they refuse to help us even look into the issue more (look at security camera footage, provide us with modem details, etc). There is a significant lack of communication accompanied by dishonesty and an extreme lack of trust. I would not recommend this company for your rental needs, unfortunately. We disputed their dishonesty in security deposits but really cannot do much more because they are so incredibly frustrating and a pain to work with. Avoid renting from here at all costs, unless you don't mind a dirty building and losing your money on a security deposit. read more

No pride in their properties. Cookie cutter. Hard water. Quick response to maintenance issues but sloppy workmanship with low-quality hardware. I'm not sure what landlords are thinking. I doubt they'd live in their own properties so why would you? Too much about the $. No real respect for you to make a home. read more

The property manager Sarah Ladwig is incompetent. It has been a nightmare dealing with her. She is a complete twat when it comes to even the smallest problems. The properties are generally below par but they are priced right. I would avoid going through J Micheal. read more

I have been going through J Michaels for the past two years and it has been great. The quality of the apartments has been very good and the prices have been great. If I have ever had any problems they have takin care of it right away. The atmosphere has always been great and I love the locations. If anyone is considering buying an apartment I would definitely recommend J Michaels. read more

We were customers for 3 years at the Knickerbocker Street property, and were pleased with the apartment. Quiet, safe building conveniently located next to the J Michael business office. Underground parking was wonderful, especially in the winter. Any problems that arose were dealt with promptly and professionally. The office staff was pleasant to work with, and always responded to calls/emails. Would recommend this particular property. Fantastic location! read more