Maintenance and Refurbishing Tasks – Preparing Your Home

Planning to refurbish your rental property can be a great asset, whether you just want to provide a better quality of living for new tenants, avoid future repair costs or improve the capital value of your home in case you plan to remortgage or sell.

For this purpose, there are a number of different tasks you can either undertake yourself or have a specialist take care of them, while also keeping close track of the expenses involved.

Water Supply and Electricity

Water and electricity definitely don’t mix, but when it comes to making your new rental property as presentable as possible, they are two of the most important aspects to take into account.

Contracting the services of a reliable electrician to inspect the electric system and replace fuse boxes or reroute faulty wiring if necessary should be among your top priorities. What is more, frequent inspections and maintenance may be a very good idea for saving up on future repair costs.

The same is true for the plumbing system; however, in this case, it will be easy for you to examine the pipes, faucets and sinks yourself.

Also, most services will agree to give you a free estimate, examining the property and detecting smaller leaks and damages that could become more serious over time.

Paint, Tiles and Roof Repair

For most other maintenance tasks, it is very important to identify the ones that are necessary and set aside anything else for later in case your budget will allow you to complete them as well.

For example, if the ceiling is leaking, the home has cracked walls or new windows are needed, those are problems that cannot be avoided.

On the other hand, placing tiles in even the most remote corners of the house, painting ceilings that look almost brand new or buying expensive carpets and drapes just to make sure things look “new and fresh” may not be worth the added cost.

Some of the main maintenance aspects you will need to focus on are:

• Re-caulking bathroom and kitchen tiles to avoid dirt and the formation of mold can be a worthy investment.
• Thorough cleaning is also a very important and constantly required task – both for appearance’s sake and to maintain a healthy house. If you’re not very knowledgeable about how to do this, consider occasionally hiring a cleaning service.
• Walls should be painted at least once every 4-5 years.
• Doors and windows should also constantly be inspected to avoid any issues with locks or stuck handles. A damaged door or window can be both an inconvenience and a security problem.
• Energy-efficient blinds and lighting may be an added investment at one time, but it can save you a great amount on energy costs later on.

As an added benefit, replacing your air filters on a more regular basis can be a good way of avoiding the extensive cost of hiring a professional to clean all the air ducts in your building all the time.

The Cost of Maintenance

Everyone wants a beautiful home, especially when it can bring in a handsome amount of money from rent and prevent the hassle of having to do any large-scale repair work later on.

However, you also have to consider the costs and weigh them against the profit you could make, since it is very easy to get carried away and end up spending a small fortune when all you get in return is an extra few dollars per month.

The first thing you need to do is make a list of all the repair, painting and rearranging tasks you need to perform. Then, assign values based on how much you can handle taking on DIY projects, what you need to hire a service for and what materials – such as paint, tiles or roofing products – you may have to buy.

It may also be a good idea to look around the neighborhood and see the state of other properties that landlords charge a similar amount for.

Then, by eliminating unnecessary refurbishing tasks and calculating the costs of the changes you can make, you will be able to find a balance that would become advantageous – which means bringing in more money in exchange for a smaller investment.

Finally, the potential loss of some of the rent during periods when the property is being occasionally refurbished or repaired should also be taken into account.

Advantages of Past Prevention

Especially if you have owned the home you want to rent for a long time, when making a detailed list of all the repair and maintenance costs, you’ll find just how much past maintenance has paid off.

The new roof or the enhanced set of tiles you’ve invested in a few years ago is likely still in good shape today, and that will definitely show up as a significant cost reduction on your list of expenses.

This should act as incentive for the future, as the timely repair of a leaking roof, bad pipe or faulty wiring may save you the trouble of having to spend significant amounts on future maintenance and repair work.