Property Maintenance

Who do you call when your Investment Property is on Fire?

That is easy—911…but who do you call when you are on the beach in Acapulco and the water heater at your investment property dies?  Or more importantly, who do your tenants call when the water heater dies and you are out of cell phone range?  Do you have a plan and/or people in place so [...]

That is easy—911…but who do you call when you are on the beach in Acapulco and the water heater at your investment property dies?  Or more importantly, who do your tenants call when the water heater dies and you are out of cell phone range?  Do you have a plan and/or people in place so you can take vacation and confidently leave the properties alone?

With some simple preparations, you can easily slip out of town and relax knowing your investment properties are in good hands. 

Preparation prior to vacation:

• Have all your service & emergency calls routed through the same phone number.  You can then change the voice-mail message when you are out of cell phone coverage or just want to “unplug”.
• Consider mounting permanent lock-boxes to the door frames of each unit.  Alternatively, you can put an extra set of keys for an entire building into a locked store room or mechanical room and then put a key for just that room into a lock-box at the building.
• Compile a list of all contractors and handymen that you use on a regular basis.  Make sure they are listed in your cell phone. 
• Identify a “vacation buddy” who will take calls and manage any emergencies that may arise when you are away.  This may be your caretaker or your handyman, but it may be a parent, friend, or relative.  Make sure they understand your business.  Take them on a tour of your properties (print out a map with addresses!). 
• If you don’t have a caretaker at a building, at least identify a tenant that you trust to give you an honest assessment of a situation if they are the only eyes on site.

When you are away on vacation (where you can’t receive cell phone calls):

• Either change your greeting on your phone to give the callers the name and number of who to call for maintenance, emergency, and leasing questions or have your vacation buddy check your voice-mail periodically throughout the day.
• Be firm with your tenants and/or vacation buddy that any non-urgent requests must simply wait until you return.
• Print out a list of your contractors and handymen that you use as well as your tenant’s contact information and leave it with your vacation buddy.  Make sure your vacation buddy feels comfortable relying on the expertise and advice of your contractors.
• Leave your keys with your vacation buddy and/or make sure s/he has the combinations to your lock-boxes at the properties.
• Give your vacation buddy funds (a credit card) to pay for emergency items while you are gone.
• If you just can’t stand to unplug for a long period of time, pre-arrange a call date and time with your vacation buddy to check in.
• Give your vacation buddy your travel schedule and your emergency contact phone numbers (if you building really does burn down, you would want to know immediately).
• Take copies of your tenant phone list and contractor/handyman phone list with you so in an emergency you could help your vacation buddy with who to call or make calls yourself.

These preparations are good practice whether you are going to grandma’s house 100 miles away or to Acapulco for an extended vacation.  They will keep your assets protected, your tenants happy, and your vacation more pleasant.

Investment Property Maintenance 101

It is interesting when I tour investment property in Minnesota and especially in Minneapolis.  You can often tell right from the curb which landlords maintain their properties and which do not.  As a real estate agent and an investor, I am more often concerned and discouraged by the lack of minor maintenance than I am about the major [...]

It is interesting when I tour investment property in Minnesota and especially in Minneapolis.  You can often tell right from the curb which landlords maintain their properties and which do not.  As a real estate agent and an investor, I am more often concerned and discouraged by the lack of minor maintenance than I am about the major items.  In my opinion, the minor maintenance items are death by a thousand pin-pricks over the high dollar, major repairs/replacements.  The neglect of minor items also makes me question what else is wrong with this property that we are not seeing.

Here are some minor items that are fast and inexpensive to fix and improve the ”first impression” of your property.  These tips will help you both when you sell your investment property and when you are showing the property to prospective tenants.

Clean up the yard, pick up any trash, trim the bushes and trees, if there are no shrubs then consider planting some.

• If the front door knob is falling off or if the front door has been kicked in or damaged, repair or replace it.  Look at the mailbox, if it is also dented or damaged replace it.
• Make sure the lighting in the front hallway in a multi-unit building is bright.  Paint the hallways and staircases.  Keep the halls and stairs swept and clean.
• In a multi-unit building, if the apartment doors are damaged or need paint, repair them or repaint them. 
• If the building has an odor of pet, smoke, or mildew, fix by removing the offender (no not the tenant!).
• Clean up the laundry room and/or the furnace room.  Paint them and put in bright lights.
• If the blinds on the front windows are damaged, replace them.  If they are missing or the tenants have put sheets up over the windows, remedy.
• Walk around the outside of the building and look at the steps, the screens, the facia.  Replace, repair or repaint anything that does not look perfect.
• Confirm that you have door bumpers on all the doors and repair any damage in the walls.
• Look under every sink for any dripping drains and repair both the plumbing and then paint or re-skin the inside of the cabinet. 
• Recaulk the tubs and showers if they have mold growing in them.
• In Minnesota in the winter, make sure when you are going to show the property (to buyers or new tenants) that the sidewalks are absolutely clear of snow and ice.  Clear a path around the building to make it easier for the buyers to inspect the outside.

Many of these above suggestions are easy and inexpensive, but the best way to tackle these items is to do a little every month.  Then when you are ready to sell your investment property or rent to a new tenant, it is closer to looking perfect.