Top Things Landlords Should Do to Protect Their Investments
Managing a property is a lot of work. Not only do you have to find tenants, fill units, manage relationships, and complete move in-and move-out checklists, but the condition of your investment also matters. To avoid nuisance maintenance calls, you can prevent many issues by keeping up with your investment with standard preventative tasks. Here are some of the most useful things a landlord can do to protect their investments.
1. Schedule a Roof Inspection
- Frequency: Yearly or after a major storm.
Spotting small problems before they get big can save you thousands in repair costs and extend the roof’s life. Leaky roofs lead to mold and expensive repairs, so catching a defect early is important.
2. Schedule a Pest Inspection/Treatment
- Frequency: Every year in the spring.
Having pest pros come over to inspect your investment and pre-treat it for pests is invaluable. During this service call, they can also identify any warning signs of termites. Early detection is key to preventing expensive remediation!
3. Get Landlord Insurance
- Frequency: Sign up once and renew as needed!
A landlord insurance policy is made just for investors, protecting rental properties from a wide range of risk factors like property damage and rent nonpayment.
4. Service the HVAC
- Frequency: Every 6 months, preferably in the fall and spring.
This extends the life of your property’s heating and cooling system and prevents health issues like mold developing in the unit.
5. Schedule Gutter Cleaning
- Frequency: Yearly
Depending on where your investment is situated, you may need to schedule gutter cleanings more frequently than one year. You may also consider installing leaf-blocking gutters to reduce the cleaning cadence even more.
6. Change HVAC Filters
- Frequency: Monthly
Put a clause in the lease for the resident to change filters monthly. To facilitate this, you may even provide a set of filters per vent. This reduces strain on the HVAC and lowers power consumption, resulting in a longer-lasting HVAC and more affordable utility bills.
7. Get a Financial Audit of Your Portfolio
- Frequency: Yearly or as needed.
Are your expectations in line with current market conditions? By running the numbers on your property, you can check which ones are still serving you and which ones need to be sold. Short on time? Marketplace Homes Investment Management can do it for you. We will run the numbers on each property then offer a custom plan to ensure maximum benefits.
8. Get a Property Manager
- Frequency: Hire your pro once and you’re set for as long as you need.
If you’ve been managing your portfolio alone and find yourself unable to keep up, or if you simply want someone else to take the load so you can travel and enjoy life, a property manager will give you back your freedom. Whether you have one investment or many in different states, Marketplace Homes manage your portfolio for you.
If you want to learn more about how to thrive as an investor through these best practices or want to learn more about getting landlord insurance through our partner Obie, contact us today.
Alicia Persson is a Content Strategist SEO writer at Marketplace Homes, utilizing previous years of experience on real estate teams that specialized in investments and property management. Before she joined Marketplace Homes, she was also a freelance writer for 7 years, leading to a specialization in real estate and home living content for boutique digital marketing agencies. During her writing years, she learned the basics of SEO and gained experience writing for many different clients, making her versatile at creating diverse content.
She is a proud University of Virginia master’s graduate and enjoyed her undergraduate years at the University of Mary Washington. When Alicia is not writing, she plays keytar and sings in a local 90’s rock cover band, or she spends time with her amazing family.