If you want to keep your rental property as low-maintenance as possible, we’re going to recommend a strong preventative maintenance plan and an investment in quality materials, finishes, and appliances. Cutting corners, deferring repairs, and ignoring problems will only cost you more and result in higher prices.
We’ve been leasing, managing, and maintaining rental properties in Roseville for years, and these are our five best ways to keep your maintenance level as low as possible.
1. Invest in Preventative Maintenance
Preventative maintenance keeps costs down by avoiding emergency repairs and unexpected disasters. It protects the condition of your property and its value.
When we recommend a strong preventative maintenance plan, we’re talking about:
- Annual service and inspection of HVAC systems, including the furnace, air conditioning unit, and duct work. Make sure tenants are changing filters regularly.
- Routine plumbing inspections. Look for leaks or drips under sinks and behind toilets and tubs.
- Roof inspections.
- Landscaping and pest control services.
- Seasonal maintenance issues that include cleaning gutters, inspecting irrigation systems, and checking insulation.
Ongoing inspections and service contracts with reliable vendors will keep your property in good condition without a lot of effort on your part. You’ll have fewer maintenance requests from tenants and an investment that easily maintains its value.
2. Avoid Deferred and Unreported Maintenance
A low-maintenance property is not a home with a lot of deferred maintenance. It’s actually the exact opposite. You know that small repairs never get easier or less expensive with time. They only get worse. Avoid that added maintenance headache by making simple repairs as soon as you know they’re necessary.
Talk to your tenants about the importance of making repair requests as soon as they’re needed. Sometimes, tenants will put off making a maintenance request because they don’t think it’s serious or they don’t want to bother you or they’re worried they’ll get blamed. Make it clear that you need to know when work is needed.
Deferred maintenance comes with expensive, long-term costs. It also causes your property to deteriorate faster. If an appliance has needed to be repaired or replaced for a year and you keep putting it off, you’re going to risk more than the appliance. You’re putting your floors, walls, and other parts of your property at risk.
Deferred maintenance will also take a toll on tenant satisfaction. If they’ve been making the same repair request for months and nothing is being done, your tenants will likely move out as soon as they can. This will lead to vacancy and turnover costs.
3. Make Upgrades and Updates
If you want to keep your property low maintenance, make sure you’re improving it whenever you have the opportunity. Usually, the turnover periods are the best times to make upgrades and updates. You don’t have a tenant present, so you can schedule the work and make the renovations.
Fresh paint, new appliances, updated lighting…all of these things contribute to a more modern, highly functional home. The wear and tear that your property suffers from tenancy to tenancy tend to build up and require extra maintenance unless you’re making constant improvements.
Install new appliances when the current appliances are beginning to need repairs. Putting in a new refrigerator is far more cost-effective than repairing that old refrigerator three times a year.
When you go through the process of making these updates to your Roseville rental property, you’re putting yourself in a position to see where things might be wrong. Just like with preventative maintenance – you give yourself a chance to avoid those surprise expensive repairs in the future. Avoiding emergency maintenance is essential when you’re trying to keep your property easy to maintain.
These upgrades and updates will also increase your rental value and attract better tenants.
4. Put Together a List of Preferred Vendors
When you have a low-maintenance rental property, you might think you’ll rarely need vendors and contractors.
But, you want to have a preferred network of responsive professionals just in case you do.
Good vendors are important to maintaining your home. They’re your partners in protecting your property and keeping it safe and habitable. When you’re putting together a list of quality vendors, make sure you’re working with:
- Plumbers
- Electricians
- Roofers
- HVAC contractors
- Drywall experts
- Painters
- Flooring experts
- Landscapers
- Cleaners
This is not a comprehensive list, but it’s a good start. Always look for licensed and insured vendors. You don’t want to be left with excessive liability and undue risk. If you hire just anyone off the street, you might find yourself unhappy with the quality of work and even face a lawsuit if that uninsured person gets injured making a repair at your property.
When maintenance is needed at your rental property, you don’t want to be looking for people to help you for the first time. You want to already have relationships in place so the work can get done quickly and with minimal expense and fuss.
5. Work With Roseville Property Managers
There are a lot of excellent reasons to partner with a Roseville property management company when you’re renting out a home. Property managers have a long list of skills, resources, and expertise that will help you have a better investment experience.
Most important for a lot of owners, however, is our ability to manage maintenance.
When you work with property managers, you don’t have to worry about vendor relationships because we already have them in place. We usually negotiate discounted rates for our owners, too. You don’t have to worry about deferred maintenance because our routine inspections and tenant relationships don’t allow it to happen. We have preventative measures in place and we know which upgrades and improvements will work best for your property.
Renting out low-maintenance properties is what we do best. We save you money and we protect the condition and value of your Roseville investment.
If you’re interested in making your maintenance process easier to manage, please contact us at Action Properties.
