Keeping up with routine home maintenance is something that all rental property owners understand is important, but staying on a schedule and giving your property the attention it needs can sometimes be a challenge.
Don’t let it slip from your radar, however. When you prioritize the routine maintenance and the preventative services, you enjoy a lot of benefits, including:
- Longer lifespans for the systems and functions in your home.
- Fewer expensive emergency repairs
- Less deferred maintenance
- Higher rental values
- Better tenant placement and retention
Let’s dive into why routine home maintenance is so important to your Roseville rental property.
Help Your Home Stay in Excellent Condition
Well-maintained homes will be useful and attractive for a longer period of time. Their systems will give you some good, durable years, and you’ll find you’re making expensive repairs and replacements with less frequency. If you stay on top of routine maintenance, you won’t have to replace your roof, your HVAC system, your water heater, or your plumbing as often.
Homes are constructed differently today, and most modern properties are not built to last for 50 years. Replacements will be needed in the first 10 or 20 years. If you take some steps every year to pay attention to routine maintenance and you respond with preventative inspections, cleanings, and treatments, you’ll find you are able to preserve the condition (and value) of your property a little bit longer. That means you make more money from it, so those minor routine maintenance expenses from time to time are worth your time and your money. Major repairs will always be needed, no matter how much work you put into the property, but the benefits of doing that ongoing maintenance will greatly outweigh the costs.
Avoid Expensive Emergencies
Those emergency calls for help from tenants in the middle of the night are less likely to occur when you’re performing routine maintenance on your property.
Most emergencies are due to flooding or fires. Accidents, roof issues, and problems with locks, water heaters, and heat are often the reasons that tenants will request emergency maintenance.
Unexpected things will happen from time to time. There’s not a lot you can do to completely prevent the random toilet back-up or a tree crashing onto a fence during a storm. But, with regular maintenance inspections and services, you’ll likely see some danger signs before they turn into maintenance emergencies. Checking sinks, tubs, and toilets for minor leaks, for example, can prevent a major plumbing disaster.
Deferred Maintenance is Expensive
Another great reason that routine maintenance is so important is that it protects your property from the effects and expense that comes with deferred maintenance. Sometimes, it seems easy to put a minor repair on the back burner. Maybe you don’t feel a sense of urgency in getting to a small fix that doesn’t seem so important and isn’t causing a huge inconvenience to your tenants.
Those deferred repairs are a bad idea. Nothing gets easier or less expensive with time. If you leave something and don’t fix it right away, it’s only going to get worse.
Keep up with the routine maintenance issues and take care of everything as soon as you learn of it, no matter how minor. Let your tenants know that you expect to be informed as soon as something breaks. You don’t want them to hesitate or delay making a maintenance request.
Well-Maintained Homes Earn Higher Rents
You are trying to earn as much rent as possible on your property, and you also want the value of that home to increase over time. Obviously, the market has a lot to say about what you can charge in rent and what your property is worth, but keeping it maintained is an important way to ensure you don’t lose money on the home.
Maintaining the systems, appliances, structure, and even the curb appeal and landscaping of your property will allow you to charge more in rent. Tenants will be willing to pay more for a home that is modern, updated, and in good condition. You’ll stand out in the market, especially when competing properties are showing signs of age, deterioration, and wear and tear.
Routine maintenance will keep your rental value high and you’ll also increase your equity because as your tenant continues to contribute to your mortgage and other expenses, the value of that property will continue to rise. Maintenance is an investment.
Attracting Roseville Tenants With Routine Maintenance
Tenants want to live in a home that’s well-maintained, welcoming, and attractive. They’ll be looking at whether you seem to take care of the home when they browse the photos in your listing and arrive for a showing. To attract good tenants, you have to offer a home that clearly benefits from routine maintenance.
Even more important is tenant retention.
When your residents make a maintenance request, you’ll need to take care of the issue right away. Maybe it’s a simple garbage disposal reset that doesn’t seem worth your time or energy. It is worth a maintenance visit, however, because it means you get to take a larger look around the property and its systems. So when you respond right away to that garbage disposal problem, you’re showing your tenants that you care about the condition of your home. You’re also taking the opportunity to make sure there aren’t any additional problems that may need attention.
Retaining tenants will responsive maintenance will reduce your vacancy and turnover costs. It’s better for your property and for your bottom line.
Performing routine maintenance on your property also delivers peace of mind. You know that things inside the home are being maintained property, and you have a seasonal schedule of preventative maintenance items that need attention. That often means a lot less anxiety and frustration. Major repairs are unpleasant, and it’s better to be prepared before things go wrong.
Having the peace of mind that your home is well-maintained will improve your investment experience, your tenant’s rental experience, and the overall condition and value of your asset. If you’d like to talk about how we can help with routine maintenance, please contact us at Action Properties.
