We have been working with Chantel from Bear Property Management to find a place to rent. She has been so nice and accommodating and willing to answer any questions. We never have felt pressured, and she responds to emails and phone calls fast. This company is extremely professional. All of the properties we have seen have been very clean and well maintained. I would recommend using Bear Property Management to anyone looking to rent or buy! read more

A lot of misses=MISmanagement! A couple of months after signing on with Michelle, my daughter showed me an alert that my rental was "off market". I called and Michelle said there was some sort of MIStake, she had been working on the listing earlier and that she would look into it. Then, a recent hire had unexpectantly quit and had mixed up a bunch of keys and Michelle could not identify which one was mine so Michelle came to home to get another. Several months later after discovering that my house was no longer listed for rent I began calling Michelle and left a number of messages for a return call, which she never did. Eventually, I called Middletown Police to request an escort to Michelle's business so that I could retrieve my keys. Michelle told the police that it was all a 'MISunderstanding" as she thought I had fired her and that she had MISplaced my keys but was willing to reimburse me to have the locks changed. At the police officer's advice I went to Michelle's office, she reiterated that she could not find either of my keys and that she thought I had fired her because she had gone by the rental property and saw people inside. She wrote me a check and I left. It is a MYStery to me why she failed to contact me to verify that I had fired her, to let me know me know that she saw people (possible squatters) in my house, and to tell me that she had lost my keys and her intentions to replace them. The time spent with her to find a tenant for my property has ultimately cost me time and money. I MIStook her friendly demeanor for quality customer service and I MISjudged her level of professionalism. read more

Another week down and no reply from the President/CEO. Still no work on the cabinet. You'd think being such a "well known" name in the community they'd take care of the people who pay their salaries. Not sure if anyone see's this, but this is not how you treat paying tenants. read more

Nothing new to report here that people don't already see in other reviews. Broken appliances weren't fixed until tenants moved out (even though they were reported months prior), there is a charge for almost everything except oxygen living with them, and you can't get help for anything quickly. The places are cute if you like overpriced apartment style living with the lowest cost, poorest quality, but "fancy" touches and appliances. When it comes time to move out, good luck. The management company just aims to keep security deposits at all costs. When you rebuff their outrageous charges for normal wear and tear they ghost you. I don't recommend them at all if you can help it. read more

No I would never rent from Bear Property management in Kenosha. Stephanie who claims she works the front desk -is extremely rude, and unprofessional. I am hoping her boss sees this review and contacts me. Stephanie needs customer service retraining. read more

UPDATE: 25 days without deposit returned, and I got a check for the FULL amount of my deposit on Monday. The folks at BPM were nice while we were at their corporate office. I had to go to the office itself to collect the check. The story is kind of interesting as how that came to be. I contacted both the BBB, and the state DATCP (consumer protection, filed a complaint). I informed everybody who might be helpful in the matter at BPM via an email. I informed BPM of my complaint reports, and that I had an appointment Tuesday afternoon with the Small Claims clerk at the county clerk's office. I mentioned that perhaps BPM should consider that perhaps the check had been lost in mailing; if so, it needed a stop pay, & either I should pick up the new check or they should messenger it to my new address. Emily contacted me via email & phone. What a coincidence! Despite having supplied BPM with my new address 3 times via email & once on paper, Emily told me that there was an address discrepancy! I could pick up my check today. They would indeed stop payment on the old check. The new check was made out to me, as my (adult) daughter & I requested, as I paid the (rather hefty compared to other apartment complexes) deposit. It had the address we used at Prairie. I wonder when I shall see that old check, so that I might destroy it... ************************************ It has been 21 days since I vacated Prairie Apartments, a Bear Property, & by law, I should have my deposit returned by now. As you can see, I left the unit in good shape. I was told on April 17th, 2023, "Thanks so much for your email. I had a chance to touch base with the team today and was informed that your security deposit refund was processed last week Friday and will be sent out in the mail this week." How is this OK? I left because Bear allowed one of their best employees, Kathy, to leave, after 10 years of keeping Prairie very clean, full of nice people, & just very well run. There were gatherings, promotions, charitable drives. But in December, the director of property management managed to cause at least 6 complex managers to leave. And when those complex managers left, the independent cleaning crews left. The halls soon became disgusting pits. Our sub-building had feces in the hallways for 2 weeks, until somebody hired a once-a-week cleaner that only vacuums. Prairie is still without a regular complex manager or cleaners or maintenance staff. I would have stayed, despite the water that smelled & tasted of garlic from November to late March. I would have stayed, despite the trick of labeling the first floor "ground" & the third floor with 200 numbers, with no elevator (rented during pandemic). After Kathy left, when it snowed, the landscapers barely scraped. Kathy wasn't there to insist on a good job. Without any manager, especially without Kathy, there was no point. They have a guy who sometimes sits in the Prairie office, Tony. He's really the manager of HOA properties. He's doing it as a courtesy. There is truly nobody there most of the time. I lived in the apartment above the office, & constantly answered the bell since Kathy left, with people thinking that *I* was the property manager. I referred them to the main number and Bear website. There was no person designated to whom to send my notice when I left. I had to send it to the info email for apartment applications. I received an email reply from Julie, the same person who caused the upheaval in staff. Despite my record of paying rent before due, Julie decided that I was a deadbeat who didn't know how to clean; at least, that's what was inferred in the notice. She was more concerned about MY withholding my deposit as a rent payment in March than about customer relations (see photos). No "Sorry to see you leave" or inquiry as to why. I did not have the carpet cleaned because Julie's notice and the maintenance guy said it wasn't necessary, and the Wisconsin tenant site clearly stated that, by state law, I only had to vacuum well. Per the lease, I never hung any pictures on the walls, so there were no nail holes. As permanent fixtures in the unit had barely been touched (new sink & vinyl floor in bathroom but 37 year old toilet and bath/ shower; new floor in kitchen, but ancient cabinets made of cheap pressed particle board, onto which new counters were laid- which I protected with large trivets the entire time), it seemed a bit of a waste of labor. I knew there was a tenant to take my place, scheduled for April 10th. If I cleaned the place & vacated March 31st, why did it take until April 14th to process the return of my deposit? So here I sit, without my money. I am a retiree and widowed. I could use my deposit for other things. But that makes no difference to Bear! Tenants can't watch the process used to evaluate the vacated apartment, & are dependent on the management team for the return of their deposits. read more

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If I could give a Zero star this company deserves it. I called and called and then called back yet again to ask for a property mgr to get back with me on some questions about a Senior property: White tail Ridge. This so-called management company is very bad at even answering basic questions; it appears that they are all running around chasing their tails. No company should run like them, please Avoid them at all costs! They are broken and morally bankrupt. Beware! Do yourself right by not getying a place to live with any of their properties! They are not worthy of your business. I'd rather live with my MIL, honest! They are extremely Unaware of the Consequences of how they treat potential clients on the phone. Very low service quality, low level of follow-through (as in Zero!) and lack of service throughout this organization. They have proven that they do NOT Deserve my business after I had to contact them several times to just have some basic questions answered. They responded for me to 'Check their website' every time. Ugh! I cannot stress enough how much these bots at this company are devoid of humanity! Please avoid living in a Bear Property --- even the name should Scare You Away! read more

I suggest going elsewhere if your looking for a rental. I should have known....their listings were the only one's sitting for months, its clear now they probably denied perfectly good applicants for months while collecting hundreds if not thousands in application fees and then they cannot tell you the reason as they hire an outside source to review their applicants and simply accept a decline or accept response with no explanation. I send a very nice email to the owner/president and director of property management after I paid the application feeds and got no response what so ever. It is unprofessional especially after someone has paid out money for an application/service to not at least return an email or phone call. read more

I hope you do not need a maintenance call. They take forever to fix anything, and charge you.

Walked into the office in Kenosha thinking there should be no problems. I was wrong. They denied my application because of something I did when I was 18. Talked to a very rude manager that told me their policy states that it has to be 20yrs or older. That is discrimination against arrest record in the state of Wisconsin!!! No wonder why all their propeties sit for so long. They are the worst! read more

For the most part, Bear Property has been decent. What I get for the price I pay is overall pretty fair. They do a nice job keeping the property looking nice, especially in the winter. My issues with the company have to do with their customer service and maintenance. If you have an issue, make sure you have thick skin before you call. I received automatic attitude from both the manager and the front office for a serious issue. The office is also pretty reactive instead of proactive. They won't call or make any contact with you until it's almost too late for situations. BPM oversees many different properties and I think they are just too disorganized and haven't set standards for how you treat tenants. If you're laid back and don't need much from your property manager/company, you will be just fine. read more

Working with a BPM representative here in Chi. The property we saw with him intrigued us, and we emailed him the same day to indicate our interest. No reply. Undeterred, I called him up for a second showing... voice mail. He did call back, and the appointment was set for Sunday morning. We showed up, he did not. Called him up... voice mail. FAIL! Do yourselves a favor... pass on BPM. read more

They are the best landlord I have ever had and will have. They always have a great sense of urgency in resolving any problems that may arise. Today, for instance, I left a message for our property manager (Beth) about a maintenance issue. It turns out she was out of office, but she checked her voicemail and made the call to maintenance to fix the issue. This is the level of the customer service that is unparalleled at any other place. I have been a tenant since 2007 and I look forward to being there in the next 10 years at least. read more

Tenants that are undesirable ones will always have something negative to say about their landlord when they vacate their apartment. Good, responsible people will always appreciate that landlords enforce rules, hold people responsible when they damage others property and take what they have to say with a grain of salt. It is fortunate that most tenants are great people and only a few that write in to Internet sites ruin it for everyone else. read more

I would advise against listing any rental property with this company. After 5 months of checking (and you will have to check because they will not offer updates or feedback proactively) as to why a property had not been rented I was told time and time again it is clean and shows well. When the contract expired they summarily pulled all advertising - never checking first to see if I wanted to extend the contract. When I saw the advertising had been pulled I called (again I had to call them) and attempted to solicit some feedback I was told the reason it might not have rented could have been because it is dirty and doesn't show well (essentially). After I pushed back they re-inspected it and less than 16 hours later found it was fine that it wasn't dirty and it did show well so maybe the rent is too high (here's a hint - I did not set the rent) or the neighborhood is a drawback (it is still in the same neighborhood it was 5 months ago by the way). On top of that when they pulled the listing no one called with any information as to when I would have the key to the house or my deposit ($500+) returned. When I finally pulled the plug I asked when I could see the key and the deposit. The answer was that they had already cut checks this week - and that answered the question how? That is the level of frustrating interaction you can expect to encounter. I feel as if I have wasted 5 months with this company. To sum it up - if you have an income property you want to rent find another way. read more

Moving into town soon and have been working with BPM regarding my move, it has been smooth and they are very accommodating! I wanted to thank Megan and Chantel for all of their help and quick responses to my countless emails and phone calls to the office. read more