They could hire someone who actually wants to work. Management is a waste of space. There are broken doors, broken washers. They increased rents significantly when they took over. The residents got nothing for those increases in rent. The building manager doesn't reply to emails. They are slumlords who should be pushed out of the city of Chicago. read more

Rude management, especially Jennifer. very old building at 1441 w Howard Street. package loss was v common here.

Winnemac properties tries to evade Chicago Tenant rights by trying to coerce you into letting them access your apartment with a random stranger - with only a 24 hour notice. If you didn't know, you have the right to 48 hours in Chicago. Once I mentioned this as my boundary to one of their leasing agents, I got this passive aggressive message back Do. Not. Rent. From.Them. read more

Winnemac Properties - Property Management Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My apartment flooded with 3 feet of water. Winnemac took 48 hours to bother draining it. Literally everything I own is destroyed. But no one from Winnemac has reached out! Am I homeless since I can't stay in my apartment, as it's legally uninhabitable? They don't know and don't care. This happened Sunday and they still haven't reached out. read more

Winnemac Properties - A hole running from the street into my living room. While I still live here. - Property Management Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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3 months later, still no response. Emails all have been ignored. No returned phone calls. They simply do not care about their tenants, especially if you are a person of color. read more

VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! DO NOT LEASE ! This place will ruin your credibility!! The property management can care less and is completely unbelievably discriminative toward me and service animal. All year of 2022 and 2023 lease was complete ignorance and mistreatment since day one. Lack of maintenance, lack of communication and there is this one middle aged guy that goes by the name of LYNN SMITH. It gotten so bad, not only I was uncomfortable in my own home I needed a mutual release!!! He tried to discredit my payment history, deleting and blocking my information online. Sneaking my back porch!!!! Claims to be the KING!? Got to be kidding right!? Lawsuits are heading your way! Please do yourself a favor QUIT while you still can. read more

So far, so good. I've been able to get a person on the line within 3 rings, they've handled my calls/concerns promptly, and they actually seem like they care. That's 99.5% better than most property management companies. I will give that last star when the heat turns back on ;} read more

1310 W. Lunt Ave -- managed by Winnemac Properties This building has a plumbing problem: in some apartments, the water pipes vibrate, producing an irritating noise that resembles a humming electric motor and a vibrating tuning fork. The noise starts and stops throughout the day, lasting from a few seconds to several hours per episode. At times, the noise can be so grating and relentless that it becomes impossible to focus on anything else. The likely source of the noise is the building's water pump. Even though the pump is isolated in a ground floor utility room, its on-and-off vibrations are easily heard on the upper floors of the six-story building. Winnemac Properties has known about this issue since 2018. Despite multiple complaints from tenants, the company has yet to replace the pump or implement an effective repair. If you're looking to live somewhere peaceful--where you can read, relax, and sleep without the possibility of being disturbed by a motor humming and vibrating from within your bedroom walls--then this building may not be for you. If you decide to tour the property, please keep this in mind: you are least likely to hear the vibrations during the summer months when the building heat is off, or at midday when water usage is low. In other words, the absence of vibrations during your visit isn't proof that you won't hear the vibrations once you move in! The only way to know for sure is to ask the current tenant. Fortunately for you, competitively priced, vibration-free apartments are in plentiful supply in Rogers Park. You shouldn't have any trouble finding a more comfortable unit elsewhere. Good luck! read more

Felt very at home in our apartment with Winnemac, beautiful building and so clean! When our fridge broke our building manager Freddie took care of it right away and has taken care of any other issues in the same manner! read more

I have had a very pleasant experience with the property management at Winnamac, both at my last rental on Fargo Ave, and my new rental on Lunt. I especially appreciate Freddie Raygosa. He always responds to text messages promptly, and provides me with solutions right away. read more

I am currently 30 living out of my car for a week due to an argument with my mom. I have explained the situation to the agent I applied with and asked if there were anything that I could do be it more money up front or a co-signer but I was just given a "good luck with your search" after denial because it's not their problem. Just say you want to rake in application fees and keep it moving. Clearly they don't care about helping anyone that can obviously afford the rent and are in a bind. I really hate this and America for being this fucked up for judging Someone's credit based off of mistakes made in college years prior that have nothing to do with who I am today. read more

I have been a tenant with Winnemac Properties for 10 years. It has been a positive experience for the entire time. The building hallways and laundry areas are cleaned weekly, and the courtyard is well-kept. My maintenance requests have always been quickly addressed and resolved. The only time they did not notify me about entering my apartment ahead of time is when there was an emergency flooding or pipe leaking situation with other units that would affect mine, and needed to be addressed immediately. There has been some turnover with the building managers (which is expected during such a long stint), but all of them have been responsive, friendly, and professional. It's been a great 10 years! read more

I was lucky enough to work with Drew Conn during my apartment hunt. Compared to all my prior apartment searches in Chicago, this experience was surprisingly easy with no stress. Drew was understanding, exceptionally responsive, and honest. I asked somewhere between 70 and 900 questions regarding a specific unit, and each time Drew answered my questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. In the end, the process was wrapped up days before I anticipated with nothing left but signing the lease. Drew's professionalism and experience were a huge advantage - I'd recommend him to anyone looking for a new place in Chicago. read more

Went to a showing and loved the unit, asked on the spot for an application which Brian said he would send over later that day. When I followed up with him right after, he responded hours later telling me that the people who viewed after me had already submitted an application. Very frustrated that I wasn't given a fair chance to apply. Additionally, he was not knowledgable about the apartment at all. He was unable to answer many of my questions and did not have the keys to show the laundry area. I knew more than he did just from reading the listing. read more

DO NOT rent with this company. Poor management. Lynn Smith does a poor job of communicating with tenants. Upon move-in for my partner, we saw that the shower head was not properly placed at all. It was literally just balancing above the tile on the wall. One day it completely fell and there was no way to shower until it was fixed. When the weather started to get cold, my partner contacted management three times trying to let them know there was no heat. He slept in a cold apartment for over a week with no response from them. No apology. In emails, Lynn comes off very rude and condescending and is quite short in his responses. Extremely unprofessional for a middle-aged man that works in real estate. This company could care less about their tenants. I wish we would've looked into this company before signing anything. Reading all these bad reviews would have saved us a headache. read more

Winnemac Properties is a horrible company. Do not rent in a building they manage. The building at 3500 N Hamilton Ave/2138 W Cornelia Ave , owned by [redacted], has been infested with bugs for the entire 1+ year we have lived here. We have submitted numerous complaints, but the company has been dismissive and failed to take any meaningful action. Meanwhile we have spent hundreds on bug traps and sprays, for which they and Mr. [redacted] have refused to reimburse us. Aside from that, the building is negligently maintained, with filthy, poorly lit common areas, exposed wires, and random junk all over the basement. read more

my saga with winnemack Properties continues, as I mentioned before, this management company, and out of nowhere, unilaterally decided to not give renew my lease agreement and put me on month to month status (without any notification). and when I left, Mr. Lynn Smith, one of the managers, started sending me harassing and intimidating emails, one of them said to go back and take down everything I've posted about them so I wouldn't be charged for vacating my apartment. keep in mind I don't have a lease. few days ago Ass Hole ,Lynn Smith, had the nerve to send me a 1st notice warning me of an outstanding balance that I should pay or else. again, I wasn't under any contract or lease agreement of any kind. So ppl, before you go and try to rent a place from Winnemac Properties, i suggest the you think twice...the don't fix nothing, they invite themselves to your apartment without prior notice in violation of your privacy...and they look at tenants as $ signs not as human been that pay their salary... so after reading all this, and I hope it was helpful and informative, is there a real estate lawyer out there that can help with a free advice 773-698-9690...thank you read more

Up until three weeks ago I thought me and my husband made a good decision renting with Winnemac. This entire situation hasn't been unpleasant. There has been drain flies coming from underneath the flooring in my bedroom and has ended up throughout the entire apartment. I've advised management that I have a newborn and with Covid going on we should have just been given an option to move rather than different people entire the apartment knowingly I have a 7 week old. The damages wasn't caused by us it was caused by the company. read more

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We discovered at 9:30 am today that our water has been turned off, presumably to accommodate renovations taking place on the second floor apartment above us. We did not receive any advanced notice that we would have no water, nor do we have any idea when our water will be turned back on. We have no running water, during a global pandemic. read more

I lived in an apartment managed by Winnemac Properties for a year and was very unsatisfied. Issues started in the first few months when we had a hole form in our ceiling that leaked into the kitchen whenever it rained. It took maintenance several days to provide a "temporary fix" to the issue. Certain walls also had water damage and Winnemac refused to do anything until many months later near the end of the lease. Roofing construction began and the contractors did not properly seal the roof which resulted in heavy leaking in multiple bedrooms and our kitchen, again. They were slow to respond to an emergency line and did nothing but provide "temporary" fixes to our issues rather than permanent ones. I later discovered that there were conflicts between Winnemac and the property owner who did not want to perform repairs. I understand that this is a troublesome situation, however a property management company should know how to manage their tenants in such a situation and not say "sorry the owner doesn't want to do anything." I was severely disappointed with the lack of effort Winnemac made to improve our situation as tenants. read more

Truly have never walked into such A clean immaculate apartment for move in day. The service from Winamac properties has been excellent and the response time on any issues that may arise has been incredibly quick! grateful to have Tom as my property manager here at this beautiful Apt building. I just moved in and I'm ready to renew -so happy! read more

Horrible management. Building is so old that you hear every step, every word of your neighbors. I see cockroaches and mouses all the time. Stay away from this management because honestly all they do is, nothing. read more

Had a good experience, prompt replies to all requests made and no issues with billing. Edgar has been great, and is always quick to help.

Worst place to live. This building is so weak you can hear everything from the other apartments. Worst management ever. If you want your life to become a nightmare you are welcome at 1441 W Howard st read more

My experience living in a building managed by these asshats was miserable. They have a pattern of entering your apartment WITHOUT NOTICE and their maintenance crews get nasty and threatening when you assert your rights and tell them (for the fifth time) that they need to call at least a few hours before. The apartment was beautiful but needed some repairs. Every time we would request repairs, out property manager would respond with, "It's vintage." Vintage or not, our windows were cracked and unsealed. In addition to that, I blew a fuse by accident and an hour later than my landlord said he'd fix it, called me and asked if it was working. I said no, and he asked if I was at XXXX Hermitage. Uh, no, buddy, you just flipped the circuit breaker at the complete wrong apartment. I hope you didn't kill anyone's computer. Overall: maintenance is terrible, does quick and illegal fixes, and the property managers only respond when you use your rights and threaten to pursue rental deduction via city code (had to pull that one when the one single heater in our 3bed wasn't working). Seriously, regardless of how wonderful the apartment is, do not deal with these people. They're unscrupulous jerks who could not care less about anything but that rent check. read more

Signing up to yelp SPECIFICALLY TO WRITE THIS. I've lived in 1441 Howard for 3 years and it keeps getting worse. Allen is IMPOSSIBLE to get ahold of. He, in fact, will send me to voicemail after two rings. It is not a "whoops, my phone is off/died", it is a conscious hanging up on a tenant. Last year I discovered that I could fill out a form online to request maintenance. Too bad that they 1.) didn't tell us that and we had to find it on our own and 2.) they still only responded to requests about half the time. Last winter, when it was -20, our hot water went out. We immediately put in a request to fix it, called Allen a half dozen times, and had no hot water for AN ENTIRE MONTH IN BELOW ZERO WEATHER. When we first moved in, within a week, we realized we had bedbugs. Big adult bedbugs that had clearly been here for a while. When we complained, Allen told us that clearly we brought them and it was our fault. Which, since we didn't have them when we lived in our old apartment and they were massive already, we definitely didn't. And either way, as a landlord, it's his responsibility to make sure they don't spread through the entire building. We got them again this year. Same story. There are two elevators in the building. One jumps when it stops. Both are frequently broken. The "certifications" are xeroxed. They "fixed" the back elevator, and it does work better than the front one, but is still constantly not working. Instead of fixing the front elevator so it runs efficiently and doesn't jump when it stops, they put in cosmetic wood plating to the back elevator. We have had giant cracks in our celling (which is the roof, since we live on the top floor), which have been spreading since September. One ran all the way from one side of the room to the other, with plaster hanging from it. We requested over a dozen times for them to be fixed because we were worried about, oh, the ceiling falling in. We witheld a portion of rent, as in the city code, and miraculously, they responded and the cracks were fixed. It only took three months. The office, when it choses to reply, is rude, refuses to accept responsibility for THEIR BUILDING and have been raising rent since the building has been doing "improvements". Like "fixing" the front lobby. When it rains, water drips FROM THE LIGHT in the lobby. Safe. To be fair, we should have known better. When we came to see the apartment, we were told it was being renovated. So Allen took us into an apartment below us with the same layout. The apartment had people living in it. Who weren't home. Who's seen our apartment when we weren't home? I know the crappy "exterminators" come in when we're not here. The building is almost illegal, the practices almost definitely are, and management is rude. The only reason we haven't left is because we're too damn busy to move. read more

I rent from them now. Two old Sweethearts, Esther and Betty, owned this building before, and I wish they still did. Dealing with the maintenance guys with Winnemac has been a nightmare. The attitude coming from George is incredible. Just signed a new lease with them and my apartment is a wonderful huge old studio, so I'll probably stay a few more years. My advice? Just refuse to deal with George. Everyone else is above board. read more

I am trying to be a great tenant by notifying them that I am leaving in advance and I am even offering to find them a tenant that is more qualified than myself. However at this time they are trying to nickle and dime me with fees although they stand not to lose 1 penny of rental income from my unit. I will keep you guys updated on how this deal goes in the next 48 hours. I mean I could have just left and not said anything but they are more interested in reading rules that make no sense. But stay tune read more

Worked with the leasing agent Joe. Said there was an eviction on my credit report. My lawyer didn't see any eviction. I asked for proof. Wouldn't take my phone calls. Slum lord. Unprofessional! They are full of it! Clear discrimination. From all the negative reviews I've read about this place online, I think they actually did me solid by not renting to me. Save your application fee, they re are thieves here. read more

I have never met a landlord so accommodating and attentive as Mas. We had a few small issues to take care of and we called on a holiday figuring no one would answer... Mas called us back within an hour and was at our apartment within two hours! He resolves the issues he can resolve ASAP and looks into the longer term ones as well. I really don't think you can get any better than Mas. Truly a 5 star landlord!! read more

I moved in over the summer. The leasing agent was very helpful and nice through out the process. One maintenance issue come up and it was resolved very quickly. read more

The good: I have rented from them for one year. Never had any maintenance issues. They entered my apartment once a month to spray for bugs and that's about it. Once there was a problem with a neighboring unit and they had to come in briefly. The bad: Not military friendly. If you are Active Duty stay away. When I went to sign my lease I asked if a Military clause could be added. Which protects Military member if they are given orders to move. The building manager had never heard of a military clause. I explained what it was and asked him what would happen if the military gave me orders to move midway through my lease his response was, "you're on the hook". When my lease had come to a close they had 2 months to show my apartment. I had to do two weeks of night shift during that time. I asked for one day out of the whole 2 months if they could not show the apartment so I could sleep. They wouldn't do it and showed apartment anyway. Bottom line: I stayed for a year generally no problems. Building Manager is rude. Plenty of better options in Chicago. read more

Unfortunately, Winnemac Properties is the most abhorrent rental management company that I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. For the skilled Yelp viewers, I understand how one star reviews may be taken with a grain of salt--particularly if you have taken a basic statistics class (or introductory psychology class) and have been told that the kind of people that leave reviews are either ecstatic or scorned. Which is true! Very rarely will you see a person who had a pleasant or 'meh' experience be motivated to hop online and leave a review. Now, I won't lie when I say I am 100% in the scorned category, but I will do my best to give pointers on how you can investigate and protect yourself to add merit to this review. Like many of the other one star reviewers, I have had trouble with maintenance. Like most (probably all) management companies, there is a resident portal where you can submit your request and wait for management or maintenance to address the issue. IF you do decide to rent a property under this management company this will be very important to do. Do NOT ONLY call the office directly to speak to a property manager. DO NOT ONLY attempt to text the maintenance workers. These should only be done as a follow-up to your official request via the portal. IN ADDITION to submitting your maintenance requests make sure at the end that you put "I request that this be fixed within two weeks or I will enact my options (terminate) outlined in my lease agreement." This will go for general fixes; say a light fixture, or a door won't shut. It is not an emergency and two weeks is outlined as a reasonable amount of time to have the situation addressed (or even fixed). In the event that there is a code violation, (roof leaking, the communal fire alarm is broken and going off, the roof access door is open) ABSOLUTELY make sure that you include that you will terminate your lease if it is not fixed with 72 hours (or whatever is outlined in your lease). If you do at any point to attempt to terminate your lease make sure to send it by certified mail--This is imperative, and I will tell you why. Your only point of contact when renting from this property will be the managers. Depending on how many 'things' are wrong with your unit upon signing, you will notice that responsiveness will begin to dwindle. You will never be able to speak directly to the owners. It is for this reason that you MUST make sure that when submitting all requests that you enact your rights as a tenant. At this point you may have realized that I have only talked about terminating your lease. This is a good observation, and the reason why is because in order to take matters into your 'own hands' you must be approved by management. In other words, if you find yourself fed up that your fireplace hasn't been working for the first four months of your lease you will not be able to hire anyone UNLESS it is approved my management or the owner. Now, regarding my numerous repairs where I have been prepared to hire my own help and deduct from rent they have never approved this. For the sake of this review and libel--it would not be right for me to say that they will never approve outside help, because they just might--but it is not libel to say that it will take an unreasonable amount of time for a response. So let's say they approve someone else for the repairs. Congratulations, you have gotten farther than so far everyone who has left a review (excluding Tara M from 2016). Advice from a 2017 tenant will now warn you that if they say they will administer a credit for your repairs instead of allowing you to deduct the bill automatically, you may have to wait until the end of your lease to see it, if ever. This is again not to say that they will not follow through, but if you expect it within a reasonable amount of time, forget it. In Sum: 1. Do not allow them to rent you the unit without requesting a check off sheet for the condition of the unit. I requested it, and I never received it. REQUIRE TO BE GIVEN THIS SHEET. I absolutely recommend that you take your time with this. This includes, opening cabinet doors, looking at the ceiling, cracks where the wall meets the floor, etc. Keep a copy, take photos, take videos. 2. Your only defense with this company is your lease and the Illinois Housing Code Regulations. Make sure you have everything in writing. Do not have any verbal agreements over the phone. Send e-mails, and if you stop getting a response--install the chrome extension Hubspot Sales. I highly recommend it, it is free and it will serve as your own record of e-mails being opened and ignored. 3. The apartments are nice. I get it, at least where I am. I fell in love instantly but you have rights as a tenant and if you do decided to rent here make sure you are informed on how to proceed if you unfortunately find out that all of these reviews are true. I hope that this review was informative. read more

During our quest to find a nice and spacious apartment for our family on a tight budget, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved to come across Andrew Conn. He was understanding of our needs and was able to find a solution that was welcomed by both myself and the potential landlord to help make a property that was over my budget but that I loved, my own. Thank you Andrew for going above and beyond! read more

I am aware that my building has undergone several owners and property managers at 1310 W Lunt. What I can't wrap my head around is the fact that the current owner / property manager Is spending countless dollars updating and renovating the building and vacant units while my unit has deteriorating. Moldy walls, missing / cracking paint, mildew, warped rotting floor boards, a SERIOUS rodent infestation which has already caused me to throw out personal belongings due to the damage they have caused. There is no reason any human should be subjected to this squalor and specially at the cost of rent for this unit. I literally found a dead mouse in my water glass I keep next to me in bed, that had crawled in and drowned yesterday. That is actually how bad this really is and NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Did I mention they raised my rent $91 dollars while they are extensively renovating the building and vacant units with new floors, fixtures and appliances while I am literally hiding my groceries from rodents?!?!!!!!!! I'm at absolute wits end I've done everything in my power besides hiring a lawyer. My living conditions are absolutely hazardous!!!!! read more

Awful leasing company. Apartment has had cockroaches ever since lease started. Have submitted several complaints and issue did not get resolved. The company has done several "fumigations" around 7-9 at this point and it never works as the whole building is old and needs to be fumigated. In October, the company did about 4 weekly fumigation back to Back which also a health hazard as I had to breathe harmful chemicals. It was also super inconvenient to be told to put away kitchen/bathrooms items every week in October in preparation for the fumigations. I am very hygienic, clean, and organized so it was the buildings fault. I also spoke with other neighbors and they said they had same issue. One neighbor upstairs even broke his lease because he was so frustrated with the building/management. It is such a shame to expect people to live under such circumstances. This building needs to have a city health inspector come to report all the health/unsanitary issues of this building. Other problems I have had are clogged sinks, clogged bathtub, broken door knob, outside loudness, thin walls, and Heat that doesn't seem to work well. Floors also creak a lot and there are several small holes that let in cold air on the edges of the walls/floors. I am so disappointed with this company/building and cannot wait for my lease to end. It's frustrating I have had to waste so much money on expensive rent under such conditions. This company should be ashamed for what they do. read more

My son hasnot lived in his apt since October 3 because of bedbugs. Is apt is full of them. The manager told him that they would not discount his rent and he could still live there. My son had emailed him pictures of them still there. What lind of landlord does this? read more

Bedbugs, cockroaches and mice at 1310 W. Lunt. Absolutely disgusting building to live in. From the very first night of living there, my roommate and I woke up to full-sized bedbugs, which we never had in past apartments. The former property manager for the building, Robert, lied about the building being bedbug-free before we signed the lease. Maintenance was an absolute joke, Winnemac hires the cheapest and most idiotic maintenance employees they can get. Please do not be fooled by the great agents who show you the apartments, who are nice and friendly. They are just there to get your money. Everything in the apartments look okay for the rent price on the surface... until you actually live there. Then you'll find out why rent is low. Besides living among vermin and bugs, all of the coin slots in the washers and dryers were jammed in the middle of an extremely cold Chicago winter, so my roommate and I ended up walking a few blocks away to do our laundry. Waste of rent money since part of the reason for living there is easy access to washers and dryers in the building. Neighbors smoked tons of weed constantly. The second floor reeked of garbage and cigarettes, it was absolutely awful! Management didn't do anything about it. The smell seeped into the apartment. The elevators haven't been inspected in 2 years and sometimes tenants and visitors get stuck in them and need maintenance. These are the same elevators that tenants are required to use to move in, so why doesn't management care about tenants' safety? Please save yourself a massive headache, unhappiness and bedbugs bites and DON'T sign a lease with Winnemac. They are slumlords who do not care about your living conditions. read more

DO NOT RENT FROM WINNEMAC PROPERTIES!! Especially the 1545 w fargo building. I've been here for 4 months and I already know I will not be renewing my lease. When I first moved in the maintenance man, George, told me my lock was broken and that if I wanted they could fix it. Seriously? Yeah, I wanted it fixed. However, it is still broken. When I called them they said they needed to order a new doorknob plate and that it would take 2 weeks at the most. It's been over a month! I can't open my windows because of all the mosquitos. My screen door for the back is all busted up which lets in more mosquitos. They still haven't fixed the wooden step that's loose in the back. Yet that's not the worst of it, THIS PLACE IS INFESTED WITH ROACHES!! At first we had water beetles, now it's cockroaches. They're everywhere. The gigantic ones roam the hallway that smells like a dumpster. They're probably living in the carpets that have never been cleaned and the little ones are adventuring through my apartment. I find them taking leisurely strolls across my floor which are laminate flooring, so every mark I am suspicious of. They're coming up my drain and hanging out in my bathtub. Now when I shower, I'm constantly staring at the drain. My downstairs neighbor told me she woke up to one under her pillow. So, now I'm waking up in the middle of the night and checking my sheet with a flashlight. Can you tell I have a massive phobia? The last time I called the property manager, Allen, he had the nerve to chuckle and send someone over with glue traps! I have cats! Glue traps are the worst when you have cats. I had to throw one out because my cat kept throwing his toys into the trap. SOMEONE PLEASE CALL THE DAMN ORKIN MAN!! read more

I recently called inquiring about a apartment that I was looking to rent. I had a great experience on the phone with Stephanie. She was polite, she gave me all the information I need and gave me the phone number for a leasing agent. read more