Experts recommend that rental property owners set aside at least one percent of a property's value for maintenance each year. However, the cost of property maintenance can be more or less depending on how well you and your tenants take care of it.
If you want to build wealth and be profitable in real estate, it's important to look closely at the numbers and do everything you can to increase your bottom line. Taking steps to minimize the costs of maintenance can go a long way toward increasing the cash flow you gain from a rental property.
Below we'll take a closer look at how you can reduce the cost of your rental property maintenance.
Prioritize Tenant Screening
One of the best ways to reduce property maintenance expenses is to choose great tenants. High-quality tenants will treat your property well and avoid causing damage.
Take the extra time to screen a tenant and run a credit check and background check. By doing so, you'll be able to choose a tenant who will cause minimal harm to your property. This will reduce your maintenance costs since there will likely be less damage to pay for during a tenant's stay and after they move out.
Perform Property Inspections
Conducting move-in and move-out inspections will help you and your tenant understand the condition of the property. It will also help hold your tenants accountable for damage.
During a move-out inspection, you can charge a tenant for extensive damage that they made to the property. This can save you a lot of money. Regular inspections throughout a tenant's stay can also be helpful for keeping your property in good shape as well.
Stay on Top of Maintenance Requests
Maintenance issues will come up from time to time, no matter how respectable your tenants are to the property. Failing to stay on top of maintenance is a major rental property management mistake. Needed repairs shouldn't be ignored.
When a tenant makes a maintenance request, take care of it immediately. Also, perform preventive maintenance duties to ensure that small problems don't lead to bigger issues. Once problems develop further, they can be even more costly.
Hire a Property Manager
Staying on top of tenant maintenance requests, conducting inspections, and hiring contractors takes time, energy, and effort. Hiring a property manager will be well worth the cost and can end up saving you more money overall.
A property manager can take care of tenant maintenance issues. A property management company can also handle many more property management tasks such as marketing your property, screening tenants, and resolving tenant disputes.
Reducing the Cost of Property Maintenance
Reducing your property maintenance costs can be a great way to increase your bottom line and boost cash flow. Screen tenants well, perform property inspections, and stay on top of all maintenance needs to get the most out of your property.
PMI Atlanta OTP is a locally owned and independently operated company. Our team has over 40 years of combined experience in business and asset management. We can help take a weight off of your shoulders.
Need property management in Atlanta? Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help.
