How do you keep youre repair cost low on rental properties?

Question

For your rental properties, any repairs to the house do you charge your tenants? Do you pay for them on your own? Thanks

Bill S. · Answer

Prevention via inspections, timely maintenance, and having the place in tiptop shape when they move in. Rarely do things just go bad all at once. Starts out a drip then...

All damage is charged to the tenant. Wear and tear gets paid out of reserves and if properly funded is more than enough to pay for normal wear and tear.

I know landlords spend lots of time figuring out cheap fixes and trying to cut down on things they pay for out of pocket but the biggest expense of most landlords is vacancy. Spend your time learning how to retain tenants and how to minimize turnover time and that will put enough money in your pocket to hire out the rest.

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

I don't want deferred maintenance issues coming back to bite me in the end.  So take $5 and 5 minutes to fix something now, or take $500 and 5 hours to fix something later. The former is better than the latter.

I would never, ever implement a "deductible" policy with my tenants for repairs.  What happens when you have a deductible on your insurance?  You get into a scrape, you don't report it to your insurance company so your rates won't rise. Same thing with tenants.

Matthew Paul · Answer

I am a contractor , all damage caused by the tenant is time and materials paid by the tenant . The tenant is forbidden in the lease from doing any repairs . I had a tenant once added some ceiling fans and tried to give me a bill for his labor and a hefty mark up on the fans .  He was month to month , The bill was like $ 250 , so I told him  " I am thinking of raising the rent  $ 200. a month "    He decided he didnt want to be paid for the fans , funny thing he is still there today 16 years later great tenant .

Account Closed · Answer

Darren,

You must be new to the rental business. Lets say that 2 dollar fridge you put in the rental went out you expect the tenant to fix the fridge that is yours.

Joe Gore

George Paiva · Answer

Perform the repairs yourself and spend the few extra $$$ on quality items.  I'd rather spend the time and money upfront to harden a rental then having to deal with $30 faucets after 6months use etc...

Lynn McGeein · Answer

We do yearly inspections and take care of all small things at that time.  If we lived closer (out of state rentals), then quarterly would be better, but once a year is a good goal when you're traveling.  It saves us a lot of money in individual visits from the property manager's people, and we usually catch many things the tenants don't care about, drainage issues, moisture damage, etc., before they become major issues.  We do not have any sort of deductible as we agree tenants would let too much slide, but if it is their fault, we charge it to them.  We also let them know that small things like light bulbs and filters are their responsibility, but we check filters at inspections and replace them if they haven't.  Apartment renters are used to management changing light bulbs and filters, so we found it necessary to explain that we weren't coming out just to replace a bulb.

Daren H. · Answer

@David A. I am a fan of the quarterly inspections, drive-bys (non gang related, ha ha ha), and if you break it you fix it. If it is normal wear and tear, I authorize my PM to take care of it.

Ramon Jenkins · Answer

I been there before “eventually lead to the tenant not reporting issues “

Heck my was anything over $50 dollars

I totally agree @Bryan H.

Ali Boone · Answer

I agree fully with @Bryan H.. I've never gone that route of having tenants be responsible for the first $x of maintenance. For one I don't want them just not reporting something because they don't want to pay for it, and two I don't want them doing their own fixes. Not everyone does good work and I don't want to risk having a more expensive fix later or more damage because of their shotty work.

I always use property managers and I've found the best way to keep costs minimum is to have an awesome manager with killer connections for good work for low prices.

How do you keep youre repair cost low on rental properties?

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