Upgrades for Higher Cash Flow through Lower Vacancy and Maintenance

Cash Flow...it is the reason we buy property, I think we can all agree on that.  How much cash flow depends on various different factors, sometimes luck, good or bad.  You may have a model tenant and all is going well, but one day an uninsured driver hits your fence and cost you $2,000.   Not much you can do about that.  However, there are things you can do to increase your cash flow that you do have control.  I am a huge proponent of spend money on the front end to make more money on the back end.  This is especially true if you are utilizing leverage to purchase your home.  In other words, do it right on the front end and don't sacrifice quality to save a few bucks. In the long run, those savings are expensive.  Is this really different then anything else we do in life?  I have come up with the phrase for our philosophy on renovations, "vacancy and maintenance reducing upgrades." While this is not a full proof way to ensure your home will go exactly as you want, but I will say, it does maximize the chances that your home will be successful.  The homes we see the that have longer vacancies, higher maintenance and higher turnover are those homes that were not positioned right on the front end and the owner is reluctant about investing in their home to make it a more desirable place to live.  In this video, we show the before and after a house and talk a little bit about some of these vacancy and maintenance reducing upgrades.  The take away from this blog and video: if you are going to invest in property, do it right, make the home something you and your tenant can be proud of as those are things you can control.  Your bottom line will be better if you do.