You got into real estate investing to reach your financial goals and find financial freedom, so the idea of taking care of your assets is a no brainer. Rental property maintenance ensures your investment maintains its value—or even appreciates—over time.
When maintenance is neglected, it only takes a single bad tenant to take a property from an A+ to an F. However, even if you have the best tenants, over time, wear and tear adds up: maintenance is essential to maintain value. Furthermore, tenants stay longer in well-maintained properties—decreasing vacancy time and leasing costs. Regular maintenance is a win-win!
Use these maintenance tips to help keep your Ashburn investment property in ideal shape!
1. Inspect Often
You cannot fix it unless you know it needs fixing. Even the best tenants can be forgetful—or not even realize that something needs fixing in their Ashburn rental home. Scheduling regular property inspections helps to ensure that issues are found before they spiral out of control.
Property inspections generally occur before leasing and after a tenant moves out—but that isn’t the only time a landlord should inspect their properties. The best schedule for property inspections in Ashburn is every six months. This allows you to spot potential issues before they get too costly, as well as providing you with a glimpse into the home to verify the lease is being honored.
If you’re worried about upsetting your tenants with an inspection schedule, don’t forget that inspections can be done during maintenance visits by keeping a good eye out. However, most tenants are fine with the occasional walkthrough when they are given enough notice.
2. Practice Preventative Maintenance
There are many opportunities to perform preventative maintenance for an Ashburn rental property.
What types of preventative maintenance should you have on your list?
- Flush the water heater to remove sediment per your appliance’s recommended schedule.
- Test the garage door sensors and auto-reverse functions for proper operation.
- Give heating and cooling systems a tune-up and ensure the air filters are being changed per your lease agreement (tenants are notoriously bad about this).
- Inspect the roof for damage—especially after harsh winters or very damaging storms.
- Don’t forget chimney cleaning, when applicable.
- Clean dryer vents: tenants struggle to do this on their own, and vent connections should always be cleaned between tenants.
While this list is not exhaustive, it does cover some common elements that warrant inspection. Check window seals, walkways, driveways, and anything else that could become a danger to people on your property. This not only provides necessary upkeep, documenting these inspections (and keeping accurate records) is useful in the event of a sale or injury.
Some of these elements should be worked into your lease. If you are having tenants maintain certain elements of your property, it doesn’t hurt to send them automated reminder emails to help them keep on top of the preventative maintenance assigned specifically to them.
3. Keep up with Maintenance Between Tenants
Landlords are generally responsible for normal wear and tear, as in damage that would occur no matter who was living in the rental unit. Between tenants is a good time to take care of wear and tear, so it doesn’t become full-on damage over periods of neglect.
Common Areas
Check the carpet, especially around transitions and walls. Sometimes carpet can come loose and start to fray even if it isn’t at the end of its life. This is especially important if your tenant had pets, as some of them like to paw at transitions.
Check window locks and safety mechanisms, as well as the sealing around them to stop drafts.
Kitchen
Clean the dishwasher food trap, the garbage disposal in the sink, the coils of the refrigerator. These will ensure your appliances work better until you can service them. Check your flooring, repair any cracks in the tile, and seal around the countertops if needed. Clean the range vents if your tenants didn’t—and they probably didn’t.
Bathroom
Snake the sink and tub to avoid getting the dreaded “midnight maintenance call” from your new tenants. Check the sealant around the sink and tub as well. Cracks can let water seep in and create mold—plus, fresh sealant looks nice and makes the property feel clean.
We could go on about property maintenance for Ashburn rental homes, but instead, we’ll remind you that we’re here to help! It can feel overwhelming for many landlords to manage Ashburn rental property maintenance on top of a full-time job. Our expert property managers at RentSimple will ensure your investment is maintained before, during, and after a tenant lives there. Our maintenance staff will ensure that everything is in tip-top shape—as quickly as possible—so that we can get back to leasing and finding new tenants to keep your properties generating long-term wealth.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help with the maintenance for your Ashburn investment property, contact us! We’ll be happy to discuss your unique needs as a rental property owner.
