If you’ve recently made a real estate investment, you’ll soon realize there’s a lot that goes into it. Renting out your property requires a lot of upkeep. You’ll not only have to manage the finances and day-to-day expectations, but property maintenance is a key factor.
Keeping up with maintenance protects your investment while ensuring your tenants are happy. If it becomes too much, you may want to consider outsourcing this work to a Centennial property manager. Review what goes into property maintenance below before making your decision.
Property maintenance overview
Professional property maintenance is typically performed at large facilities like apartment complexes, hotels, or retirement homes. With complex equipment like large heating and cooling units, elevators, or technology upgrades, it’s important that these items get serviced on time. Larger facilities also have more space to keep clean like waiting areas, parking lots, or other common areas. Contracted workers like janitors or maintenance technicians are typically hired out to perform these tasks.
This doesn’t mean, however, that smaller complexes or rental units wouldn’t benefit from professional property maintenance. Since property maintenance helps keep real estate investments in flawless condition, it can be applied to any property type.
There are several tasks that fit the description of property maintenance. Through either proactive or reactive measures, these maintenance tasks bring quality, function, and comfort to any sized property.
They include:
Exterior maintenance: Anything related to the upkeep of the property’s exterior or grounds. This could include roof repair, cleaning the roof gutters and drains, landscaping, gardening, removing snow or other debris, and performing outside repairs.
Interior maintenance: Anything related to the upkeep of the property’s interior systems. This includes electric, water and plumbing, heating and cooling, and more. All systems should perform well, with repairs made as soon as possible for tenants.
General area maintenance: Some properties include common areas like entryways, hallways, stairwells, or mailrooms. Upkeep and cleanliness in these areas are also required.
Pest control: Property pests or rodents, i.e. mice, rats, roaches, or other critters, are removed with care. Pest control also includes preventative measures like spraying or ‘bug bombing’ for certain bugs or pests and keeping the property clean.
Recycling and trash removal: Recycling is an important part of any property maintenance schedule. You should be knowledgeable of local recycling collection laws and when trash/recycling days are. Removing trash on time can also assist with pest control.
Health and safety checks: Each unit should be outfitted with working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, as well as fire extinguishers. Property maintenance also entails inspections of mechanical and electrical systems every year to ensure the property safety of the units and property.
When to hire a property manager
It can be difficult to keep up with property maintenance, especially if you own multiple properties or units. A property manager can help you navigate property management needs, alongside many other management tasks. The function of a property manager is to act as the mediator between the property owner and their tenants. They can help with the daily operations of the property, as well as the general upkeep.
To contact a Centennial property manager to assist you with property maintenance, visit the Walters & Company Property Management website.