Things You Can Do to Minimize Maintenance Issues at Your Rental!

Things You Can Do to Minimize Maintenance Issues at Your Rental!

When homeowners move out of their residence and turn their home into a rental, there are sometimes customizations and upgrades that you might want to remove or change before you get tenants. Some items are generally appealing to most renters, but they may also create more issues and increase the cost to maintain the property. 

Garbage Disposals:

The estimated useful life of most garbage disposals is 8 years. When garbage disposals break, it’s either normal wear and tear from the tenant using it as intended or misuse by the tenant. An example of normal wear and tear is if the motor burns out. Tenant damage is typically when they put things down that are not supposed to go in garbage disposals.

Usually, this is an honest mistake and not intentional, but the fact remains, you have a damaged garbage disposal. Due to the cost, it usually makes more sense to replace it than repair it, especially if it’s nearing the end of its useful life. Most tenants will argue and not want to pay to fix or replace the garbage disposal.

Ceiling Fans:

Ceiling fans can malfunction in several ways. Either with the fan portion or if your ceiling fan has lights, then the light fixtures can go bad. If one light stops working, the tenants will want you to replace the ceiling fan instead of having a fan with one light constantly out. Ceiling fans are not mandatory, and while you may have enjoyed using the ceiling fan when you lived at the property, you may not want to spend hundreds of dollars to purchase and install a new one if the existing one breaks during the lease.

Lighting Fixtures:

While some tenants may get upset over not having light fixtures provided in all rooms, there are benefits for them. One benefit is flexibility. Without having a light fixture overhead, tenants can play around with where they want to have floor lamps. Another benefit is design. Not all light fixtures fit with tenants’ taste, and if they provide their own, then they can get fixtures that match their style.

Rooms that should have permanent light fixtures: Bathrooms, kitchens, hallways, and entrances.

Rooms that don’t always have or need permanent light fixtures: living room, dining room, bedroom.

Simplify Your Landscaping:

Most homes have grass in their yards and a few bushes and trees, which is acceptable for most rentals. If you have different types of flowers that require additional care, many bushes, exterior lighting, and custom pathways like stones or pavers, then you may have a yard that’s difficult for tenants to maintain well. The more you have and the more variety then, the more difficult it is for your tenants or landscaper to maintain and the more it will cost you to fix it when they move out.

Paint Rooms One Neutral Color:

Not only will it rent faster but keeping the number of paint colors you use to a minimum will make doing touch-ups between tenants easier and less costly. If you have accent walls and different colors in different rooms, not only will it make it more difficult to rent, but you may need to drop the price to find a qualified tenant, and doing touch-ups between leases is more costly.

There are many things to consider, and you may not want to do everything on this list since having a garbage disposal, or ceiling fans may help your property rent depending on your area and other rentals that you’re competing with.

These are just some things to consider doing before you get tenants that may cut down on the amount of maintenance requests you get and the cost of getting the property ready between tenants.

If you are looking for a Spring Property Management Company~ we are the one you want! RentLife® Property Management CRMC® is the best choice for property management in Cypress, TX. We also offer rentals and property management in Humble, Katy, Richmond, Spring, The Woodlands, Tomball, Conroe, Houston, Magnolia, and other surrounding areas. Contact us today at www.rentlifepm.com or 832-562-3600.