Wald Management Company

I don’t actually live in a building managed by Wald Management. However, I am currently in an otherwise very quiet bar listening to another reviewer (Amanda) yell complaints about them at the top of her lungs. She gave them a one-​star review, yet keeps mentioning she has lived there for six years. She has also stated several times that the apartment is a great deal. A tenant would not renew for six years if they hated management so much. Amanda is the worst. Go Wald! Please raise her rent.

I’m updating my review because I’ve lived here for over two years now, and aside from my initial encounter with them, I have been quite pleased with them. Their response to repair requests are still slow, but they keep their rent very reasonably priced.

Wald’s management is awful. Liz Fisher, the owner, routinely ignores requests for repairs, misses appointments with tenants, and has been actively rude to a number of people in the building. I was left without a working refrigerator for three weeks in August because management and maintenance are inept, and was denied any break in my September rent. I would not recommend renting from Wald.

Awesome management company! Very responsive, very reliable, and very transparent. It was a great experience Nd I recommend Wald to any renter in Chicago.

We have used Wald to manage our condo building for 7 years and counting. When we first hired them our condo association was a total mess; from several years of deferred maintenance, unpaid bills and ugly lawsuits.
Liz and her team guided our association and our building back to health over the next couple of years. Without their expertise, resources, ability to think outside-​the-​box and solve problems, and their massive amounts of patience, there is a real chance that everyone in the building would have ended up in foreclosure. And by being an honest broker between the owners they helped resolve multiple disputes, which helped make living there far more pleasant than it otherwise would have been. They also helped us avoid additional lawsuits.
The bottom line is that they saved our building and our collective sanity by knowing their business. They could have charged us 10 times their regular fee and the ROI would still have been well worth it.
If you have a condo association hire Wald Management and get to know Liz and Megan. Their knowledge and experience will save your sanity and help you maximize the value of your investment.

I have lived at Wald managed property for the past 3 years. In all, the experience has been good. Wald has worked with me several times when certain situations came-​up and needed to be addressed. I think you relationship with any company depends on the bond you have formed with them and how great of customer you are. I knew I was planning to move after the 3 years, but I was not sure if I was going out of state or stay in Chicago for another 6 months. Wald was great in allowing me to stay in the apartment for another 4 months after my lease was over. The people in the office were never rude, uncaring or simply thought of me as just number. My emails and phone calls have always been returned
My maintenance issues were handled right away. I was always kept in the loop for anything that needed to be done. Wald and I haven’t always agreed on everything, but the reason behind their decisions was always explained and balanced. I know that I am renting someone’s property and cannot have it my way all the time. After all, this is a business.
The property I stayed at was always clean and safe. The snow was plowed right away and never felt I was going to endanger myself. My neighbors were also fantastic.
The only reason I decided to move out of the apartment is because I needed another place for 6 months and Wald does not do this sort of lease. This is not Wald only thing, rather it’s the Chicago way. Since I am moving out of state, I did not want to do a one year lease. Otherwise, I would definitely consider releasing.

This management company sent me a lease renewal on my 13^th year and then called to rescind as they had found a renter who would pay twice as much as me. I had 30 days to move my business! They «graciously» gave me three more months at double rent. In the end, they didn’t actually have another renter it was just a bluff to get me out as they perceived that due to the upturn in the Southport market that they could get a high rent tenant. Stay far far away from Wald.

I wish I had read these reviews before contracting with Wald. Agree strongly with everyone that Liz Fisher is one of the rudest, most confrontational people I’ve ever run across in the business world. I’d call her unprofessional, but she’d have to improve a couple of notches to be considered unprofessional. Psycho is more like it. Since she’s the owner, you’ll end up having to deal with her if you do business with Wald. Stay away, stay very far away from this company.

When I find something good, I stick with it. Case in point – the apartment building managed by Wald at Southport and Addison that I lived for almost 10 (!) years. Yes, I said ten years… longer than most marriages.
Not only was the apartment in a great location, but the building itself was well-​maintained and always very clean. The engineers were top-​notch and always very friendly. One engineer in particular – Luis – I swear could fix anything, was really hard-​working & respectful, and the type of guy who would go above and beyond.
The unit itself was filled with vintage charm – original dark-​stained crown moldings, built-​in cabinets, original kitchen sink etc, but yet the refrigerator and pedestal sink in the bathroom were new when I moved in. (Boiler) heat was included with the rent, and they kept the building comfortably warm.
I only had to call the management company a handful of times – either because there were so few issues or I’m just very low maintenance – but at least in my case they always responded in a timely fashion.
Anna, their office manager, was very helpful when I needed to sublet the apartment, and my security deposit was refunded within thirty days.
I am not familiar with Wald’s other properties, but I would wholeheartedly recommend their building on Southport.

If it were possible to give them negative stars I would. I have never seen a management company that does so little for their clients. I live in a ten-​unit condo building, bottom floor and that had a problem with the sewer backing up — into my unit.
Their response was «here is the number for our plumber, take off from work and deal with it yourself». Are you F**cking kidding me?
Raw sewage from the entire building is backing up from the bathroom and spilling into my bedroom and suddenly I’m responsible for calling and on-​site management of contractors to maintain the building’s common elements???
But it gets worse. Their «preferred plumber «Madden Sewerage» did not fix the problem properly so the a week later is was backing up again into my unit. However this time it was the weekend so neither Wald nor Madden answers their phones. Had to find another plumber in the Yellow Pages on my own and pay out of my own pocket (they later did reimburse me).
Now a two weeks later the building’s sewer is blocked again, raw sewage is now flowing across my living room floor, it’s the weekend so I’m on my own AGAIN. What are we paying these people for?
But wait, there’s more. Their response to how I should handle damage to my personal property from this was I should make a claim on my homeowner’s insurance. Really??? Pay a big deductible and have my rates raised for filing a claim for something that is the fault of the management company’s failure to properly maintain the building’s common elements?
Oh and I have completely given up on calling them to have the sensor repaired so the lights on the back courtyard don’t stay on all day wasting our association’s money. The sewer problem is much worse than that.
My next call to them will probably be through my attorney.

The only person I would recommend Wald Management to would be a mortal enemy. Having had the misfortune of dealing with Wald for several years in my six-​unit condo building, I cannot stress enough how incredibly incompetent and unethical they are. The latter is a direct reference to a plumbing issue my unit had; they got someone to come over and fix the problem immediately. The problem was that they chose a plumber that was giving kickbacks to Wald and charging us 50% more than every competitor — something I, unfortunately, didn’t realize until after the job was done. Seriously, I did the work afterwards and realized that at least five other plumbers would have charged me upwards of 50% less for the same exact job! Otherwise, Wald have no clue what they’re doing. They lie, are evasive, aren’t protective or proactive, and generally do an awful job servicing clients. How anyone can recommend them is beyond me.

I thought that I was the very first person to write a review on Wald — But– I can’t seem to find it anywhere. So I’ll write it again hoping it won’t get taken off by …
I lived in a bldg that Wald managed, I rented a one bedroom. I was there for about 6 yrs. When I moved in the building was owned by a couple and Wald wasn’t involved then. The bldg was sold around August 2004 and Wald managed the bldg.
Firstly, I think that they knew the bldg was going to go condo and they let the place go to hell. Broken water pipe in the bathroom where the water ran straight in a huge bucket underneath. I called them several times saying pls fix it. Before I got a new sink it took them over 6 mos to do it.
Also, NO HEAT. I and others in the bldg called but nothing came of it. I was asked it I knew how to turn the radiators on!
A man moved in upstairs the last yr I was there who hated animals (alot of apts had animals), Coming down the stairs one day he saw my cat in the door way and went into a rage. He called me every vile name in the book and threw my cat down the stairs against the wall and came at me with firsts raised saying ‘he could fix me too’. I called Wald and all they said was ‘well u can’t let your cats roam the halls. Well, they didn’t and Wald never tried to resolve anything.
They did go condo and everyone was told to move by April 30^th ’07.
I had put down an $ 850.00 security deposit with the original owners and had been told originally that the money was now with Wald. When I moved out I never got my security deposit back or the last yrs interest on it. I called several times and spoke with Anna, the office mgr at the time. I always paid rent on time and thought I got alone fine with the people in the office but once I asked for MY money back everything changed. Anna accused me of of being to stupid to understand about my sec. dep. I keep asking ‘where is it’ and was told a bunch of nonsense like ‘are u sure u put one down? and ‘check with the company that bought the bldg (which I already had) and they didn’t have it!.Finally she said well it was sent to u and u just forgot!
They said don’t call for the dep anymore ’cause u r to dumb to understand these thing!!!
A while later I called again and spoke to a Liz Fisher who said Anna no longer was there and who actually was worse than Anna saying only ‘I have no idea where your money is’ and stopped talking.
I have all my original receipts from my sec dep and last months rent and even this wouldn’t budge them and do what is right. Others in the bldg also had problems with Wald re: not getting their deposits back and getting things fixed.
About 2 – 3 yrs later I recieved in the mail I paper they had filed to evict me-​even tho I had been living in my new apt all that time.
These people are a nightmare to deal with-​there fine is u just keep your mouth shut and don’t complain about broken pipes etc.
So, I’m just out MY sec dep. Pls beware of this company!

I’ve lived in 5 apts in Chicago now and Wald Management is by far the best company I have dealt with. I have always dealt directly with Catalina from the Irving Park Office and she has consistently responded to my requests and concerns promptly and respectfully, usually within hours of my initial phone call or email. Maintenance requests have been dealt with also in a timely and effective manner, usually within a day or two. The contractors they have sent have also been reliable and professional. The building upkeep is great; they actually send someone to come clean it regularly! The apt I currently rent from them is probably the best (and surprisingly affordable) apt I’ve lived in and I consider myself very lucky because I’ve experienced a lot worse.

My girlfriend and I lived here for 4 years (her all 4, me just 1) and Wald started the off great with them taking care of the property during the first 2 years when things went wrong.
Starting about a year ago, the management company simply stopped responding and it would take several calls to even get a response on important items, like the hot water heater was broken (no hot water for 3 days is no fun).
At one point during the year, the neighbors (two stories up) would play music so loud that it would wake us up all throughout the night. One night when i was out of town, my gf went up to ask them to turn it down and she was verbally abused and they tenants threatened to physically remove her if she didn’t shut up. When we told Wald of this situation, we were told they could do nothing about it – let me repeat, other tenants threaten and verbally abuse other tenants and you don’t take ANY action? Please. Calling the cops on a nightly basis was the only action we could take (even though the rules of the lease clearly state that no loud music is allowed — Wald still proclaimed they could do nothing).
To top it off, i recently noted that the buildings COMMUNAL power was routed through the tenants electrical boxes. I looked into this, THIS IS ILLEGAL. It took wald a speedy 6 months to finally take action on this. 4 years of paying for the hallway and building lights power adds up.
Do not rent from this group unless you are prepared for a complete run around and maximum time for your requests to be fulfilled. I’ve been with 4 rental associations since i moved here and nothing has been even close to Wald. TERRIBLE

I’m on the board of my condo association, we’ve used Wald for 3 years now and have had a good experience.
We’re not the most experienced or organized association, so there are a lot of emails back and forth — and to Wald. Liz is very responsive to emails, I’ve never felt blown off so far, and genuinely tries to help/​address concerns.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when we started with Wald. I just knew that most of the companies we’d contacted weren’t interested in managing smaller buildings like ours. I guess I assumed that whoever we chose would treat us like an afterthought, and I’m glad to say that’s not the case.
One negative thing I can say is that, like any company, they have contractors they use regularly for certain things — and like any contractors, they don’t always do what they’re supposed to (call folks back, keep appointments, etc.). I think it’s endemic to the industry so is hard to avoid. Not sure that it reflects on the management co. so much.
I’d like to give 3 ½ stars, since for 4 stars I’d expect someone to tap dance for me. (Five would involve someone feeding us chocolates during board meetings). But 3 seems sort of ‘meh’ so I err on the side of nice here and give 4.

Wald Management is an O.K. business to work with.
My apartment was in decent shape when I moved in, but it needed a total scrub down before it was even remotely inhabitable.
At one point during my time with the apartment, there was an issue with a radiator pipe that ran underneath my floor. It required that I remove everything from my bedroom and live out of my living room for almost a week. As a result of having to re-​do the floors in my bedroom, I lived in a cloud of dust from all the sanding and the stench of varnish provoked many-​a-​cat-​nap. Furthermore, they didn’t fix the floorboards correctly, so I had a little mouse problem for the week after they left. I’d say I saw about 3 mice a night scatter across the floor as I watched TV.
I understand problems happen once in a while, however it wasn’t handled very quickly and they never called me about it once! I had to pursue them for a partial refund on my rent for that month and that took over a month and a half to work out!
They’re also not a very gracious company to work with. For instance, I needed a place to live for an extra month and they had no grace in granting me an extension on my lease stay in my apartment before I moved. I was willing to sign any sort of contract, pay extra, etc. I guarantee no one will be living in my place while I’m out at my parents. Ridiculous.

I have recommended Wald Management to a few people already, just because I’ve been extremely happy with them while renting with them twice.
Both apartments were clean, in excellent condition, and reasonably priced. One apartment had two rooms painted something other than white. Since I didn’t like the colors, they offered to let me pick out two new colors for the room, and they painted them (and did a good job)!
I noticed that the other apartment I rented with them had some scuffs/​scratches on the wood floor throughout and tile kitchen (that couldn’t be taken care of with a normal cleaning). They offered to refinish the wood floor for me before I moved in. It was taken care of and the floor looked beautiful. They also gave the kitchen tile a thorough bleach scrubbing as well (like hands and knees style) and it was gleaming afterward.
They also refinished the bath tub for me — just because I asked them! Don’t think that I’m the pickiest person ever or that these apartments weren’t OK to live in before, but I do like to try and ask for things. Oh, and they put in electrical outlets in a room that didn’t have one where I wanted one.
Trust me, this is an honest company that will treat you well. And I’ve always gotten my deposit money back with interest.