About Us

“I’ve been a landlord in Salina for many years now. I’ve always taken pride in my community and have tried to do what I could to make it a better place. In the fall of 2017 I turned over the day-to-day management of my rental property business to my son, Logan (Metzger Homes and Property Management). Leading up to this transition I gave a lot of thought to what I would want to do with my newfound free time. Other than a little more fishing and the occasional afternoon nap, anyway

I was somewhat reluctant to include this article, but I think it gives some insight as to why I do what I do.

From an article in The Salina Journal, September 5, 2004, by Edie Hall.
Brian Metzger says he is following God’s call to be a compassionate landlord

Making a difference

He said he just wants to make a difference in the lives of his tenants and neighborhoods.

“It seems more important now to do things right and to try to do things that are going to make some kind of difference,” Metzger said. “When I had my surgery, I thought about if I don’t make it through this surgery, what are people going to say about me? Would my being here mean that much if I didn’t make it? I still don’t know the answer to that.”

“There are a lot of good people out there who need a good place to live,” he said. “Also I’m proud of my community, and I like being able to take something that is an eyesore and turn it into something that someone can be proud of.”

It’s important to do things right to make a tenant’s life easier, he said. That includes doing work that might not be evident at first glance.

“My banker was here a couple of weeks ago, seeing how I was spending his money, Metzger said. He was looking at the paint on the outside of the house that I hadn’t finished yet, and wondering what I was spending money on. He couldn’t see the upgrades in plumbing insulation and the electrical improvements I had done.”

There if you need him

The tenants, whether they’ve lived in one of Metzger’s properties for three months or three years, have good things to say about him.

(tenant name removed), who has rented from Metzger for three years at his 411 W. Hamilton property, said she’s had no problems with Metzger. “If I need him, he’s here, and if not – he doesn’t bother us,” she said.

(tenant name removed), 124 N. Ohio, had the same types of things to say, although she’s only rented from Metzger for four months. “I was pregnant at the time and needed a place to stay”, She said. This was the first place I looked at. It was nice and we decided to rent it.”

No complaints about Metzger as a landlord have been filed with the city’s Human Resources Department.

Prodigal drug-user

Although he attended church with his parents every Sunday until he was 11, Metzger’s path to faith actually began with an appetite for any drug he could get his hands on, beginning earlier than he can remember.

“I was kind of a child prodigy when it came to using dope,” Metzger said. “I was doing drugs when I was 12, but before kindergarten I was stealing my folks cigarettes, beer – whatever.”

Metzger said the feeling he got from drugs and the acceptance from his peers kept him using. “Anything I could get my hands on, I would not turn down – pot, cocaine, sedatives, tranquilizers ,speed and alcohol – I was even drinking lighter fluid (which caused hallucinations).

Metzger’s life was falling down around him. “The feel-good didn’t last but a couple of years, and in eighth grade I remember getting high to feel normal at school,” he said. “I knew I was dependent.”

Metzger said he tried to prove to his friends that he wasn’t dependent by going drug-free for 30 days. “I was miserable,” he said. “I didn’t make it to the 30 days, I was just miserable, suicidal. And someone suggested that I go to a meeting.” So, Metzger went, scared to death, and started a 12 step recovery program getting clean in 1980.

Find a mission

He said at first he didn’t want anything to do with God, despite the fact that a relationship with a higher power is an important part of the 12-step program. But after nine months of meetings, he started to open his heart and mind, and he began praying.

He’s spent the last 24 years praying for knowledge of God’s will for him, the ability to recognize it when God reveals his will and the power to carry it out. “It’s a relationship I’ve really been trying to improve for most of my life,” Metzger said. “I had somebody here a while back who said something about how I was a good Christian man. Most of the time I don’t feel very good at it – but I am trying.

“When I was excitedly telling my dad what I wanted to do, he was quiet for a long time, and finally said, “Brian, sometimes you scare the heck out of me,” Metzger said. “My family is supportive, and my dad seems to be proud of me, which means a lot to me.” He said he also owes a lot to the men who work with him to fix up the properties he buys. “I can’t afford to pay them much, But they have great hearts and are working hard to help me out,” Metzger said.

He also finds help and encouragement in unlikely places. “A few years ago, I had a heating and air guy working on an air conditioner in one of my places,” Metzger said. “He was asking some probing questions and I told him the abbreviated version of the story.” “I told him I knew it sounded ridiculous and he said, ‘Well, Brian, God needs landlords and heating and air guys, too. Find a mission in whatever you do,’ and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”