The Story of T.R. McKenzie
T.R. McKenzie, Inc. was founded in 2003 by Tim McKenzie. After working in property management for 20 years, Tim decided to break out on his own and build multi-family communities in Madison, WI that provided residents with the quality, comfort, and convenience they deserved.
Tim started to build his company by purchasing his first apartment building, Lamplighter Apartments while managing other properties. Each property was built and managed with our residents in mind – not only including modern amenities and city living perks, but more importantly reliable maintenance staff and on-site property management. Tim wanted each resident to know their needs were important and they were living in a community that was managed by courteous and service-oriented professionals.
Eventually, Tim branched out from developing apartment complexes and started developing new land for single family homes. In the process, Tim saw an opportunity to help bridge the gap between renting and home ownership – and the TRM Home Buyers Program was born. This program is still one of our most successful accomplishments to date – providing our residents with the opportunity to end their lease when they purchase a home (details and restrictions here). Through this program, the T.R. McKenzie Real Estate group was formed, providing our employees with the opportunity to grow their career as REALTORS®, in addition to working on the property management team.
In 2012, Tim got the unexpected news that he had pancreatic cancer at the age of 56, and passed away in the fall of 2013. The company was at a turning point. Alex and Jessie McKenzie, who had been working for the company for several years, decided to keep their dad’s mission alive for T.R. McKenzie Inc. and continue to grow the company on his values and the needs of Madison residents.
Today, T.R. McKenzie manages over 1,500 units across Madison’s west side, with more in the development phase. We are also a full-service real estate brokerage, helping both our current residents, and outside clients find their dream homes, or help them sell their current property. Our team continues to develop land for new single-family homes and our construction team has built several custom, quality homes that meet our high standards of craftmanship.
Why rent with T.R. McKenzie?
There are a lot of options out there, so why pick T.R. McKenzie? Here are our top reasons:
- We are a family-owned business, with over 30 years of professional property management experience. We want our residents to look forward to coming home and build our properties around these values.
- Our exclusive Home Buyer Program that will save you rent money. This program is unmatched in the Madison area. If you are a resident at one of our properties and are ready to move on from renting to home ownership, we can help. Most importantly, we can save you wasted rent money by releasing you from your lease when you close on a house. Some restrictions apply. Visit our Home Buyers Program page for more information and to get started.
- Our online resident portal allows our residents to pay their rent, enter maintenance requests, or view leasing documents on their computer or through the Entrata app on their phone.
- We have professional and responsive property managers for each property, including most properties with on-site staff to help you with any immediate requests during office hours.
- We are more than an apartment – we are a community! We plan resident events including pool parties, brunches, pizza nights, and volunteering opportunities.
- Madison is our hometown and we love finding opportunities to give back to our community.