When it comes to owning and managing rental properties, maintenance is one of the biggest pain points for property managers. One way or another, you will need to spend time and money on keeping your property in rentable shape. However, lots of landlords and property managers just accept maintenance costs for what they are. One of the easiest ways to increase your cash flow is by finding ways to save on maintenance. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 7 easy ways to lower property maintenance costs.
1. Inspect before you buy
Doing your homework before buying a property is crucial. It may seem like obvious advice, but many home buyers will spend months looking at location and square footage and completely overlook the state of repair of a building. When it comes to avoiding future maintenance costs, the devil is in the details. A rental property investment that looks like a great deal could turn out to be a lemon down the line as you sink money into property upkeep.
“When it comes to avoiding future maintenance costs, the devil is in the details.”
Many prospective buyers will look for properties that are ‘fixer-uppers’ with the goal of getting a bargain and renovating themselves. This approach to property investment has been made particularly popular recently by reality TV shows. However, the people that do this are professionals. Properly renovating a property can take lots of time and money. If you don’t have past experience or good connections with contractors, it is a better idea to invest in properties that will not need a lot of work to make them rentable.
2. Prevention is better than repairs
You wouldn’t go for years without seeing a doctor just because you didn’t get sick, right? So why would you wait until there’s something wrong with your property before taking action? Just like regular checkups and a healthy lifestyle are the best way to prevent serious illness, keeping a consistent maintenance schedule is the easiest way to prevent larger issues and lower property maintenance costs.
“Don’t wait for your tenants to call before doing maintenance.”
Small issues that aren’t noticeable yet can rapidly turn into a broken boiler, a flooded basement, or worse. Don’t wait for your tenants to call before doing maintenance. Spending money to have someone check for issues might seem like a waste, but if you can catch problems before they are serious it can save you a lot of money in the long run.
3. Good tenants are key
We know. Finding new tenants to fill a vacancy in one of your properties is a hassle. Interviewing tenants can sometimes feel like a huge waste of time and energy. It also eats into your cash flow. Empty buildings mean no one paying rent. It can be tempting to just take the first person or family that comes along just to get it over with. However, this is a huge mistake.
“Interviewing tenants can sometimes feel like a huge waste of time and energy.”
Taking the time to properly vet your tenants will lower property maintenance costs down the line. For one, bad tenants mean more repairs. They will take longer to report issues and generally be less respectful of the property, potentially causing damages. If they are really bad, you may have to evict them as well. This means lots of additional legal costs on top of the normal turnover maintenance costs
4. Evaluate your vendors
Finding good vendors that you can rely on is essential to keeping your property in good shape and keeping your tenants happy. However, it can be a frustrating process. Once you’ve got one that shows up and gets the job done, it can be easy to fall into a routine of using them regularly. This can be a good thing. Having a relationship with a vendor is often a great way to lower property maintenance costs.
“Don’t let a relationship with a vendor blind you to their overpricing.”
However, it can also be an unnecessary hidden cost. You may be overpaying for maintenance services without even realizing it. Don’t let a relationship with a vendor blind you to their overpricing. It’s important to occasionally see if you can get a better deal elsewhere. Apps like ChoreRelief make finding good vendors at competitive rates a breeze. Take the time to post a job once in a while and see how much you could save.
5. Invest in quality
As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of property management. Particularly when starting out with your first rental investment, saving money on appliances can seem like an easy way to cut costs and get positive cash flow faster. However, the reality is that cutting costs now will come back to haunt you when you are replacing and repairing something new every month.
“Good prospective tenants will be turned off by low-quality appliances.”
There are plenty of ways to keep initial costs low when buying to rent, but cheap appliances and fixtures should not be one of them. Good prospective tenants will be turned off by low-quality appliances and they are much more likely to cause you headaches in the future. When looking at investment properties, include good quality appliances in your budget.
6. Keep good records
This should go without saying, but you can’t lower property maintenance costs without knowing how much you are spending in the first place. Keeping detailed records is essential to good property management. Knowing how much you are spending on your investment property can not only save you money when it comes to tax time, but it can help you identify areas where you are spending too much.
“Whatever solution you use, be sure to be consistent with it.”
There are lots of software options that can make keeping records simple. Some property management apps even have built-in records management so you can hire contractors and manage your spending all in one place. Whatever solution you use, be sure to be consistent with it. That way you can look back over your spending to see if your costs are going up and find ways to bring them down. Good records are the only way to do that.
7. Turnover is an opportunity
Turnover. It’s the word that every landlord and property manager fears the most. Nothing eats up time and money more than having your tenants move out. Holding on to good tenants is the first goal of every landlord. It means move out costs, downtime, cleaning fees and more. However, a lot of people don’t realize that turnover should also be seen as an opportunity.
“A lot of people don’t realize that turnover should also be seen as an opportunity.”
There is no better time to do a full inventory of your property than when it is completely tenant free. Your first instinct may be to try and get the next set of tenants in as quickly as possible and just clean and repaint the place. However, by taking the tie to properly appraise your property between tenants and get preventative repairs done you can lower property maintenance costs in the future.
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