From the outside perspective, property management might seem like a simple job. Keep the rental income flowing, satisfy all the tenants, and follow all rental laws. It’s smooth sailing, right? In fact, this is merely a surface-level understanding of what goes into truly great property management.
The passionate few property managers do much more than keep the lights on. As has been said many times before, property managers have to wear many hats. The best of their class can serve as financial advisors, real estate agents, market analysts, and more.
Milwaukee, like many other areas of the country, is rapidly evolving. A forward-thinking approach is essential to keeping property investments thriving in this economy. Here at Performance Asset Management, that is precisely what drives us daily.
Today, we caught up with our founder, Jim Miller, to give you a peek behind the curtain on our company’s history and what we’re doing to continue staying ahead of the curve in property management.
How We Got Our Start in Milwaukee Property Management
Before getting into property management, Jim was a real estate investor just like the clients he serves today. He would flip homes and then use the proceeds to build up a substantial real estate portfolio, gaining much of the investment knowledge that he would carry into his management business.
Jim founded Performance Asset Management in 2010 here in Milwaukee. He describes the company’s founding as a “byproduct” of his earlier years with his investment portfolio. The property managers he worked with then would take about 50% of his rental revenue. According to those managers, this standard was great. But Jim thought that he could form a team that offered better.
“When the financial crisis hit in 2008, flipping went away. I decided I needed to reinvent myself professionally. I knew I wanted to stay in real estate, I believed in it as an investment vehicle for myself and other people. I knew there was a great opportunity based on my experiences to start a new model of property management built for investors in Milwaukee.”
- Jim Miller,
Owner of Performance Asset Management
From Then to Know: What Drives Us
With an investor-first mindset as its foundation, Performance Asset Management has blossomed as a property management team that looks beyond the day-to-day minutia and seeks out what will make a Milwaukee rental property perform better as a business.
With 15 years of experience now, Jim has spent more time in property management than he did as a full-time real estate investor. But that hunger to maximize an investment remains. Jim remarked that 3 elements have kept him passionate about this industry for so long:
Jim and his whole team love the challenge of property management. “We’re in the nexus of all the different facets of real estate. I like being in that nexus and getting the opportunity to master all these different sides of the business while providing a home for our residents.”
“Property management is a great opportunity for us to be an advocate for investors and residents in Milwaukee. Getting to go to bat for them is always really exciting to me.”
“Property management constantly changes. Whether it’s the technology, the real estate market, or the people, there’s always something new to learn.”
You can tell just from talking to Jim for a short time that he’s always hungry to advance the field of property management in his local area, and that energy is infectious to the rest of the team.
“Property management, for me, scratches that entrepreneurial itch that I’ve had since I was 5 years old. Residential property management is wildly challenging as well, and I’m always fascinated by the never-ending task of trying to put this puzzle together.”
- Jim Miller,
Owner of Performance Asset Management
Why Choose Performance Asset Management?
A big question for any business, but especially in property management, is the why. Why choose Performance Asset Management over any of the other property managers in Milwaukee?
In response to that age-old question, Jim stays humble and realistic about what his clients and communities need.
Jim stated, “I don’t think we’re the right choice for all property owners in Southeast Wisconsin. I think the longer I’ve been doing this, the better I’ve gotten at identifying who we’re the right choice for. We’re the right choice for any owner of a single-family home or duplex in what we call the ‘A’ or ‘B’ market. I define that in Southeastern Wisconsin as places that are renting for more than $1,000 dollars a month.”
For Jim and the team, it’s important that their values and goals align with the investors they work with so they can use their expertise to its fullest potential.
Community Impact
It’s also important that the team has a positive impact on the communities it works in. Jim further explains, “When we started, we were an all-purpose property manager. If you had a property, we wanted to manage it. From those experiences, we got better at refining what our place was in the market. For me personally, on an ethos level, it’s about making a positive difference in the owner's and tenants' lives. I grew up very working class and aware of money, and I bring those experiences to property management.”
With the team at Performance Asset Management, you can rest assured that any property you own in Southeast Wisconsin will be managed with a profound respect for the tenants and a money-minded approach that will help you grow as an investor. Most importantly, it’ll allow you to foster a reputation as a landlord who cares about their tenants, fostering long-term relationships for your property and a positive impact on your community.
“We like to provide safe, happy, and healthy houses. We’re going to make sure everything works and that everything is safe. That’s going to put you in a position as a landlord where you get to bring the happy! I want Performance Asset Management to always live up to that goal.”
- Jim Miller,
Owner of Performance Asset Management
Cutting Edge Management for Rental Properties
When you work with Performance Asset Management, you’ll quickly learn that we’re always implementing practices to stay ahead of the curve. Whether it be in real estate, financial management, or technology, the team has applied its hunger for growth to streamline every aspect of property management.
Some of the ways this manifests in the business include:
Consistent research into financial data for the properties PAM manages and the wider real estate market. We apply this data to the decisions we make in our business to achieve success amidst market fluctuations while keeping our price increase to an absolute minimum. Since being in business, we’re proud to say we’ve only increased our prices one time.
An adaptive approach to maintenance where we’re able to implement either in-house solutions or third-party depending on what’s the most efficient for the job needed. Many property managers stick to one solution or the other. We choose the one that will get the job done right while optimizing financial performance.
Technology platforms that can automatically sort maintenance requests to the best available solution, ensuring same-day service and improving tenant retention. This also helps us meet our goal in 2025 of keeping maintenance costs below the national average.
Our research and focus on inflation have shown us that rent increases have caused a lower level of migration into the city of Milwaukee. Because of that, we’ve taken a high-level engagement approach to tenant retention that has kept our properties profitable. That means we have a dedicated customer service team that reaches out to tenants months before a lease is over and if they’re not renewing, we work with them on a solution to keep that tenant.
Our approach to vacancy also means we use our data to track when people are moving so we can align our lease windows with that. If the lease is scheduled to end in the months when more moves occur, we can fill vacancies faster and get a better rent rate for your property.
Inflation is a big concern across the country, and it’s no different for owners or managers of rental properties. That’s why in every avenue of our management, we’re always deploying data-driven practices to combat this.
“It’s all about how we invest our time. If we invest our time just doing what we’ve always done, we’re going to get the same results. If we invest our time finding different solutions, that’s where we start to see growth.”
- Jim Miller,
Owner of Performance Asset Management
Partnering with Us, the Wisconsin Property Management Pros
Our story at Performance Asset Management is just beginning, and we would love to share it with you.
Be on the lookout in the future for some in-depth looks at our strategies for property management and inflation-busting for rental property owners.
In the meantime, if you’re in need of a better solution for your property management needs, reach out to us today.
Come rain or snow, we’re here for you, Southeast Wisconsin!
Schedule a free consultation with us today.
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