By Meghan Conlin
WisBusiness.com
MILWAUKEE — Connecting people with the right place to live: That is what Chris Muellenbach was looking to do when he started his Milwaukee-based, full-service residential rental agency My Dwelling.
The company, which has been in operation since March, connects potential home renters with landlords and available rental properties throughout the Milwaukee area, handling the apartment marketing, showing and lease preparation.
“I really saw a need for this type of service, for both tenants and landlords. The goal of the company is to have enough apartments so tenants can come to us, talk to us about their needs and then we can find an apartment that suits them,” Muellenbach said.
What makes My Dwelling different than other rental listing websites is the comprehensiveness of the company’s services. The company takes the leasing process from start to finish, beginning by taking its own pictures of the property, writing the advertisement, and having the section up on their website within 24 hours.
They also offer to pick up potential renters at the airport, the office or anywhere else seven days a week to show them properties. My Dwelling follows through by doing credit checks and preparing lease documents in an effort to speed the leasing process and help landlords find qualified tenants.
“Our major difference is that we aren’t just marketing the properties. While we are doing some marketing, the potential tenants can contact us directly and we will drive them around, assist them with the lease and basically work as the middle man between the tenants and the landlords to make everything work smoothly,” Muellenbach said.
According to Muellenbach, My Dwelling’s services are very affordable for landlords, and can even save them money because their properties will rent faster, and if the landlords find a tenant on their own, no fee is charged.
Muellenbach hopes My Dwelling will be an important resource for potential tenants as well as landlords. By offering a database of available properties, he believes the prospective tenants will have to do less difficult apartment searching on their own.
“Instead of working with one management company, I bring the tenant a large portfolio of properties; I open up all the possibilities for them for different types of leases, different parts of the city or options if they have a pet. Basically I offer them more flexibility,” Muellenbach said.
Mullenbach’s services are especially popular for tenants with unique business relocation needs, or people who don’t have time to look for an apartment on their own.
“In the past six months since My Dwelling opened, I have seen the corporate housing market really take off, there has been an increase in demand for furnished units with shorter-term rentals and all the amenities included. These people want everything taken care of, pots and pans in the kitchen, towels, the utility bill; all of those are covered in the rent,” Muellenbach said.
In the future, Muellenbach would like to expand and open additional offices, and says that there is a need for this type of service all over the state and throughout the Midwest. He is hoping to eventually open offices in Madison, and also potentially the Fox Valley and Minneapolis.
Conlin is a student in the UW-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication.
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