Bertsch Properties

I’ve been living in my building since October 2013 so I feel like I can give a decent a review. I love my apartments it’s big and has lots of windows and of course a dishwasher in an awesome neighborhood. My overall experience I’ve had is pleasant. So to start out. When finding this apartment Diane was great and made everything super easy as I was moving from Virginia and had my friends word that I would like the apartment. These are old buildings a lot from the early 1900s so yea there are going to be bugs creeping in, some mold, and some squeaky boards. Last summer it seemed like their were more bugs than usual at my place but I just sent a maintenance request online and they came in and sprayed and sprinkled some stuff. I was worried about my cat but it was all safe so that was nice. When I see mold creepin on my tub I just bleach stick it and that seems to take care of it for a while. Every maintenance request I’ve made has been fixed within 24 hours. My neighbors are cool minus a hiccup of the cops showing up at 4am for one of them but otherwise it’s pretty chill. There is a cute old couple that comes and cleans our hallways and stairwells once a week. Every time I’ve emailed Bertsch they have been responsive and it’s nice that I can do automatic payments. My two wishes are 1. I wish they would clean out the basement and storage areas since it looks like a hoarders paradise down there. 2. I wish we had updated laundry or one more machine because ours are constantly busy. Otherwise I like my place and plan on staying a while as long as rents don’t sky rocket.

We have been living in our Bertsch-​managed building for about nine months since relocating from San Francisco and have been so happy with the company.
Any time there has been any issue (I.e. lights burned out in the hallway, etc) it’s always been quickly resolved.
They have an online platform for submitting maintenance requests and paying rent which is very convenient.
They do a great job of maintaining the landscaping and keeping the common areas clean.
They also have an outstanding maintenance team who go above and beyond the call of duty. If something goes wrong in the unit they arrive quickly, communicate clearly about the status of the problem and are incredibly friendly and caring of your things.
We really appreciate having such a hands-​on, dedicated team at Bertsch and feel very fortunate to be in one of their buildings.
Thank you for all of your hard work!

Like all the other 1 start reviews, I would not recommend this management company.
There were numerous issues wrong with our apartment and they just never seemed to fix them. Our pilot light would go out a lot and we would call them to start it back up because it was so cold outside and the windows leaked BAD (they didn’t even shut despite the ad stating they were new windows…). After the third time someone had to come out, the maintenance person showed us how to do it so he wouldn’t have to come back. That’s obnoxious.
Dealing with their leasing person is a joke. She will not leave you alone if you don’t respond RIGHT away. She’ll follow up like 2 – 3 emails instead of waiting for a response. It’s just all day and not necessary.
This company not only sucks, they let their tenants do whatever they want regardless if it’s ruining the building or creating a safety issue for the other residents in the building.
Additionally our place would get stray cockroaches and they said it wasn’t a cockroach. I paid my own money to hire an inspector to come out and sure enough it was a cockroach… They still didn’t care.
DO.NOT.RENT.FROM.BERTSCH.PROPERTIES

It is a cash cow. A money maker. An easy money maker at that. Passive income for those who do not deserve it. Leeches unnecessarily feeding off recent laws (that are contestable) that mandate private landlords need a management company. THEY ARE AN UNNECESSARY STEP TO RENTING, IN AN ALREADY FRUSTRATING PROCESS OF FINDING THE BASIC HUMAN RIGHT AND NEED TO BE HOUSED.
There will be a time in the future where laws will ACTUALLY START TO FAVOR THE TENANT, and if they do not already exist I am fully prepared to lawyer up with some savings to bring this company down. Once and for all.
You want me to go into details? Then message me through Unilocal and I will give you an individualized breakdown of the hell that I had to go through with my girlfriend who was just trying to find a basic placed to live. I do not want to name specific names in public so I will hold the specific issues to private messages after I have confirmed who you are BECAUSE I DO NOT DOUBT AT ALL THAT THEY WILL MESSAGE ME POSING AS SOMEONE ELSE.
Pardon if I sound like a paranoid schizophrenic but I seriously caution you from any and all contact with them.

Love my apartment but dont expect them to upkeep your building. They make over $ 40,000 a month from renters in my building but they can’t paint a wall or change a lightbulb in the elevator.

There’s so much to say…
First off, the property is in a nice location on a peaceful block. I’ve lived at my apartment for about a little more than a year.
My apartment, particularly my bathroom, is falling apart. The bathroom ceiling collapsed within the first month of me living there, which I was told is common in older buildings. It shook me up because I was running the water and about to step into the shower, when it just completely collapsed with water and heavy tile almost falling on me. I called the maintenance people, and was not able to take a shower for more than two weeks. Mind you, this is the FIRST time this happened. I was promised that they would clean the mess that the event caused, but no such thing happened. I wasn’t even offered any sort of compensation, apology, or anything.
The SECOND time this happened, I notified the maintenance people about this weird rust-​colored stuff oozing out of the tile walls a month before. I expressed how I was scared the ceiling was going to collapse again, and how I didn’t want risk having it fall on me this time arounf. The property manager came in the next day and said I would be fine, and that I should just clean the walls. Something in the back of my head told me that I should be careful, and not risk it.
A month later, I wake up to the ceiling collapsing in my bathtub, and my cat absolutely terrified. I called the office that day, and was told that they would «call someone». I didn’t get in contact with them for another week. Now, it’s been more than a 6 weeks since I’ve been able to take a shower, which I paid rent for. After following up and pleading for these people to fix this problem, I’m continually being blown off. Finally, I was able to get some of it fixed, but I wasn’t made aware of it until an hour before that plumbers were entering my apartment to fix the issue. I was told this was because «the plumber was free, and [he] made a judgement call». I’m supposed to receive at least 48 hours, as the lease states.
Poor communication, poor handling of maintenance, poor management and overall a poor experience living here. Be weary when renting from this company.

I would say this is about average as far as Chicago leasing companies go (I’ve used several in this city). There were several problems over the course of my year with them, but nothing major enough to warrant fewer than 3 stars. The issues:
— Poor communication re: construction and projects.
— Laundry was disconnected for a couple weeks without any forewarning (new machine was installed)
— They are a little scattered and disorganized, I found it was occasionally difficult to reach the building manager
Overall, it was an average experience. I should note I didn’t have any major maintenance issues, which could easily have tipped the scale in either direction depending on how it was handled.

I’ve rented with Bertsch Properties for a little over two years now (two different apartments), and overall — a great experience. There was a little issue when moving from one apartment to the other that I got very aggravated over… but it worked out.
When I just renewed my lease at my current place, rent only increased by $ 15 — awesome!
My main point is their maintenance team/​department. Seriously the best. I haven’t had many issues that needed resolving, but when I occasionally do, they always call before entering, and fix it in a super speedy and helpful manner. Just yesterday they fixed my dishwasher, and noticed my top lock was not working the best (I hadn’t even had a chance to put in a maintenance request for that yet) and gave me a whole new top lock/​deadbolt. THANK YOU!
I would definitely recommend people rent from this company, and I’ll probably stick with them until I (if I) leave Chicago.

Diane Hagland is very personable and friendly. She will go out of her way to help you out from finding a right apartment to address your issues. I highly recommend renting with her and her Crew at Bertsch Properties.

The maintenance people always responded to requests within the time frame they gave us and they were very good about not letting my cat out. The property location was good and it had a nice back deck (reason for any stars whatsoever), but the old building was falling apart and the company did very little to help maintain it. The apartment I came to, a location off of Montrose, was completely decaying — especially in the kitchen and the bathroom areas. There were roaches all the time, which I was lucky enough to have my pet to dispose of for me.
During my application process the representative crawled up my butt if I didn’t respond to them right away and switched who was contacting me claiming that the first responder was incompetent, which was extremely annoying.
When I ended up moving out earlier than expected this company made doing so an absolute nightmare. I opted to buy out my lease and they already had three months worth of unused rent from me. The company then insisted that I still owed them more than another month’s worth of rent. I came to find out following paying them that they had made me pay for my roommate’s portion of the buyout and didn’t even ask her to pay at all, even though both of our names were on the lease and she should have been held responsible for her portion before they turned to me. My entire experience with Bertsch just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I will never be leasing with this company again and would not recommend them to anyone else.

Judging from the reviews on here, I have to assume that Bertsch has a quality-​control issue across its properties. My boyfriend and I have lived in a one-​bedroom property in Ravenswood for about 7 months now and we have no major complaints. Our apartment is clean and feels spacious (even though we don’t have that much square footage). I haven’t seen a bug in here, and there is a cleaning woman and man who come on the weekends to refresh the common areas.
I was worried about the radiator heat in the winter (I’ve never had landlord-​controlled heating, but have heard that it’s always too hot), but it really hasn’t been an issue. It’s probably a bit warm for my personal tastes, but I like it cold. I don’t feel like the building is wasting energy though (e.g., we don’t have to open our windows and let the heat out because it’s sweltering). And the heat is included with the rent, so it’s hard to complain.
Overall, I think the Bertsch management team has been pretty considerate. When we had all that snow last week, they sent an email to update us on how the snow removal was going — I didn’t expect them to have it cleared immediately, but the note was a nice gesture (they had the snow cleared as quickly as they could).
We’ve only had minor maintenance things, and they’ve come fairly quickly each time. To give you an idea, I would say the «worst» experiences we’ve had are as follows:
1. The washing machine was broken for awhile and it seemed to take a long time to get fixed. It was broken (it appeared) because a tenant had tried to pull off the coin thing and rob it. They eventually replaced it. I also wish the shared laundry room had better appliances, but I mean, the rent is affordable and you get what you pay for.
2. Old door knobs fall off. Now, I don’t want to get rid of our doorknobs because they are the antique glass kind, and I like the look. But the knobs have fallen off on occasion. We just tighten them back up again. In general, I feel like this property would be truly beautiful if the landlord went «the extra mile» to maintain it – but what landlord does? For example, we have all this great woodwork in here, but it really should be stripped of the paint and refinished. Bertsch just puts another coat of paint on it. Same with some of the interior doors and the moulding around the windows. But, come on, that’s pretty picky. And, in general, the apartment looks nice.
3. Our stove/​oven is pretty old. We haven’t asked for a new one, but I sort of don’t trust the stove. On one of the burners, the gas doesn’t catch flame in some parts, so we don’t use it. They also tried to «paint» the top of it before we moved in to hide some of the places where metal was showing through, but the paint has been peeling off, and it just sucks in general. But for a rental kitchen, it’s pretty good. We have nice big cabinets (they almost go to the ceiling, which means we have plenty of storage, even if I can’t reach it without a step stool), and an inoffensive laminate countertop. I think the cabinets might have been new when we moved in, or at least newer.
If anything changes, I will update this review.

Lived in two different properties, on Bosworth and Magnolia. Older apartments that are not only affordable, but kept up well. Easily pay rent online and also submit maintenance requests. All of mine were completed within 24 hours, many times before I got home from work.
In the winter, sidewalk was always clear, and apartments were kept warm. I had to move away for work but would have happily stayed with Bertsch, no complaints here. If you’re looking for a great value with a responsive management company, definitely recommend Bertsch.

Haha. All the one star reviews are dead on! This company sucks! Moldy bathroom, Moldy Bedroom, Bugs, Bums as maintenance people (no seriously they hired the alcoholics that hang out front of the building to do the maintenance). My pilot light went out and they sent out the «maintenance man» to fix it, so how does he attempt to re-​light my pilot? Well he goes and gets a newspaper from out front, rolls it up and sets it on fire and than sticks it in the broiler (I wish I made this up). Needless to say, the city inspected and there were multiple violations associated with the apartment. DO.NOT.RENT.FROM.BERTSCH!!!

Bertsch recently purchased the building on Avers and Lawrence around 2 months prior to moving out. We were buying a condo and had realized it would take more time so we asked Eloy if we could stay one more month, he agreed and we payed, but then later he was being nosy and asking us unnecessary questions about our move such as ‘when is your closing day, who is your attorney, where are you moving” to me all he needs to be concerned about is that we are out of there before the month is up. This was over the phone, he had called a second time asking the same questions, and it got annoying so I got mad and he told me «instead of bitching you should be thanking me for staying there one more month» then hung up.
The whole year we were there the manager Frank was the main problem, he is an ex-​con so why is he a manager handling people’s rent money? He is nosy too and talks a LOT. He gossips about other people to us telling us their life story and I’m sure he does the same about us to other people. I want to upload the screenshots of his text messages, he does not even know how to spell. One time my cousin came over and he put his arms around her and was asking her if she was single, married or a lesbian. What the hell. This place was beyond unprofessional, noisy and our car had a bunch of dings and scratches because the people there are careless and kids even play soccer in the parking lot! We had to deal with some prostitutes in the apartment in front of us, and the noises from the alley and aside from that I had to call the cops 3 times due to fights outside.
We went back after we moved out to get the money for a key we had to pay for that would be refunded to us once we moved, Frank collected said money when we moved there but we did not get it back. Also when we went back our mailbox was open, we JUST asked if he had seen mail because some times even when you change the address there might be some mail that got delivered to the old address, he said no. He texts me days later saying he talked to the mailman which I thought was unnecessary
There is more bad experiences but I don’t want to write them all, do not move there, not at least while Frank is there. He tried to play nice in the end but I believe he was just scared.

Their apartments are very overpriced for the neighborhood, and they don’t take care of their buildings. Unlike the private owners I’ve rented from, it’s clear that Hunter Properties is just in business for a profit without caring about people. They prey on those who are in a desperate situation looking for a place at the last minute.
A few years after moving out of their property, I accidentally looked at another apartment of theirs (not realizing it was managed by them — the ad didn’t say so). As soon as I walked into the apartment I saw a large, dead, American cockroach on its back (these are just like common cockroaches except they are about 2″ long). Really? While showing the place? And the price on the place was higher than other decent apartments in the area.

I’m from the southside of Chicago originally, and when I moved up north to be honest I was very weary of finding the right apt and the right landlord bc you hear a lot of horror stories about apartments up north. Through a co-​worker, I ended up hearing about Bertsch and since then, I’ve considered myself lucky to have been referred to them.
I’ve been a renter from Berstch for 4 years and am only moving now bc a job opportunity is taking me to DC… But while living in 2 different places managed by Bertsch I truly felt like they actually cared about my living condition… which is contrary to the story that SO many of my friends who live in other apartments managed by slumlords and shady businessmen. So as a tip to anyone who’s on the hunt, here’s a recent renter’s review of why I liked being their tenant.
Great apt selection at reasonable renting prices.
Northside apartments are getting more and more expensive, but I found that when I was searching apts on Bertsch website, I was surprised at the buildings they had available in AMAZING locations. I lived at their location on Southport and Addison… walking distance from Wrigley field and 2 blocks away from the Southport Brown line… and I was paying about ¹⁄₃ less than my friends who also lived in the same area. When I moved 2 years later, I lived in a similar apartment under Bertsch control, still walking distance to wrigley and a red line stop, and once again for much cheaper than I expected.
Accomodating
When I moved into both apartments under Bertsch, I recall being amazing how everything was brand new. Upon seeing the places for the first time, the previous tenants in both cases were clearly young fresh out of college kids who roughed things up a little… but when my move in day came… new wood floors, new oven, new windows, new sink and mirror in the bathroom… it was really impressive. I know landlords have to clean everything before you move in, but they had clearly taken into account that the previous tenants had worn things down and replaced everything without us having to ask… very professional…
Responsive
We lived in a garden apartment with a gangway outside of the back door. There was a drain in that gangway that would occassionally get clogged with leaves from a tree and create standing water if it rained pretty heavy, I noticed this and gave them a call and basically asked that they come snake the drain as I was worried about potential flooding… they did me one better… they actually built some sort of small wooden wall next to the drain in our gangway that helped funnel the excess water away from our door and back toward the drain if it ever clogged again… it was some serious engineering… and sure enough during one of the hurricane like storms over the summer, we worried about flooding but were relieved when we saw that the wall they’d built was actually keeping the water away from our back door… this is the best example of their service but for any problem I could hit Ned or Rob, the building managers on their cell phones and even if it was outside business hours or weekends, they’d make sure they sent someone by to address any problem
in towns like Chicago, it normally sucks to rent, and it feels like you’re getting screwed over, but it doesn’t have to be like that. If I were still renting in Chicago I would avoid the likes of Apt Management Group and giant realty companies and go with a more people oriented organization like Bertsch… when I have a problem or a question, I’d rather be able to call or text a responsive person I can trust… than email a huge inbox of a giant company and hope the receptionist calls me back before 5pm… they have a more personal way of doing things, and most importantly… they actually CARE about their tenants

I’ve been a tenant for about 13 years. When I first moved into my Horner Park apartment, it was an exceptional value. A big one bedroom with a big dining room I used for a music room. Since it was a really good value, it wasn’t perfect. The kitchen was outdated, and the floors weren’t shiny. But good bang for the buck. The neighborhood was not Lincoln Park, but it was quiet and starting on it’s way up.
Overall, management was quite responsive in addressing issues that came up. It’s a building built in the teens or 20’s, very solid, but like all old buildings, there are mice and occasional roaches. Welcome to the city. I found over the years that I only see mice when they are attracted by tenants leaving garbage on their porch for days at a time, rather than putting it in the dumpster. Roaches are a function of how clean you keep the apartment (I’m not a slob, usually, but I’m not compulsive either). For a few years in the 2000’s when the neighborhood was being purged of very mild gang activity, gangs would occasionally tag the back door. It was painted over promptly. The weekly cleaning crews have always done a good job and are reliable, friendly and unintrusive.
After a few years I requested an upgrade in the kitchen, and it was done to accommodate my schedule while I was on vacation and I was able to talk to the crew regarding progress and what I wanted during the process as well. The rent increase for this was fair and reasonable. Maintenance has gotten better over the years, too, as their business has grown. I’ve always found their maintenance employees friendly, courteous, and enthusiastic. In my experience they have responded well to emergencies, including being accommodating when I’ve locked myself out of the apartment. Rent increases have always been fair also, at or below what I expected. In 2009, at the height of the economic downturn, there was no increase.
A few years ago when I was considering moving to a 2-​bedroom, I looked first at other apartments they had available at the time. They are a bigger company now than when I first moved in, and they’ve had their growing pains I’m sure. In my experience they are honest and make a genuine effort to accommodate tenants and address issues as they arise. Though I’m leaving Chicago, if I return I’ll check first to see what apartments Bertsch has available.

Like others have said, I should have checked here before moving in to a Bertsch building. It started out seemingly ok. My apartment was huge, beautiful, and a great price.
The whole building was being rehabbed at the time we moved in at the end of August a couple of years ago and there wasn’t a laundry room yet. We were promised a laundry room within a month. It didn’t happen until October. We were also promised storage units in the basement — there was plenty of space — and they never happened.
As the renovations progressed, things got worse. Our water was turned of with no notice. Our hot water was turned of in the middle of winter and not turned back on. We had to call emergency maintenance to get it on and that’s after a couple of days of heating water on the stove to bathe.
Both winters we lived in this place we had to call to get heat. I started leaving a thermometer out and the temperature in my apartment often averaged between 50 – 55 degrees F even after they started running the heat. Every time they ran the heat, though, my husband and I would get sick. When the heaters would kick on, it was like we were having an allergy attack and when they turned off, we’d start getting better. We tried to say something about it and we were told «You’re sick, go to the doctor.» It happened again the following year, but by that point we knew better than to even try to say something. I’ve never once seen them flush out the heating system.
Another bit of building care I never saw was pest control — not once in the year and a half I lived there. The bug problem was incredible. We deep cleaned repeatedly and sprayed consumer grade pesticide, but when the building has a problem, there’s very little a tenant can do. One time after a deep clean when we sprayed, so many bugs came out from behind the cabinets in the kitchen and started crawling up the wall that it looked like something out of a horror movie.
During their renovations on the apartment above us after those neighbors moved out, the people working left something wrong with the toilet. That evening, it started leaking and dripping through our ceiling on to our toilet. We called emergency maintenance and explained the situation and they wanted to deal with it the next day. It wasn’t until we told them that if they waited there was a strong likelihood that the neighbor’s toilet would be sitting on top of ours by morning that they took it seriously. They never came and fixed the damaged ceiling and drywall after saying they would.
One of the bedroom’s doors had a doorknob with a lock on it like what you’d normally put on the front door of your apartment. We were not provided a key. When it accidentally turned when we shut the door and we were locked out, they wanted to leave us locked out of our bedroom all weekend rather than dealing with it. When they came, they practically destroyed the door jamb getting us in and never came back to fix it.
This is just a small sampling of the maintenance horrors we dealt with. I’ll leave you with the story of our move out. When we didn’t renew the lease, we had been told by multiple people in the office that we didn’t need to fill out move out paperwork, just don’t renew. Then, we got emails about not having our move out paperwork. We also received an email with every other tenant that was moving out when we were copied on it without using BCC. I now have all of their email addresses and they have mine. The email told us essentially that they were going to start showing the apartment. Ok, that’s expected. What’s not expected is this actual quote I’ve copied and pasted from the email: «I will notify you at least two hours prior to entering your apartment to the most recent phone number we have on file, by text, or by email of you prefer. Please make sure your apartment is clean and presentable. It does not matter to me if you are home or not, we keep spare sets of keys at the office for all apartments.»
First of all, code requires a 48 hour notice AND that if we prefer to be home for the showings, they need to abide by that. Having had a situation where the real estate agent wouldn’t lock the door when leaving after showing our apartment before the Bertsch property one, we definitely prefer to be there for showings. I ended up sending them a message through the Chicago Tenant Rights app and they sort of backpedaled, but asked if we could reduce the notice time to 24 hrs, which took a lot of nerve at this point.
It didn’t take many showings for them to get a new tenant because, like I said, the apartment is beautiful. It was all I could do, though, to not tell the people coming to see it to run and not look back.

Bertsch properties finally fixed our moldy bathroom! Yay! New (real) tile on the walls and new shower fixture. Plumbing issues were fixed. Walls were gutted and they even put in a new sink and medicine cabinet. I’d also like to say that the man who came out to fix our bathroom was extremely nice and he did a wonderful job!

So far, so good! Bertsch took over my property from my former small landlord (LBM Realty), who decided to retire. I was very nervous about the switch, but the transition was seamless. Diane especially has her stuff together, and it’s a pleasure to interact with her.
Repair requests have been done efficiently, and the maintenance staff is very nice. The building is maintained well, and I haven’t had any serious concerns. If it continues in this way, I’ll be a loyal Bertsch renter for years to come.