We have a client with a beautiful property that was completely renovated several years ago. The designer did a fantastic job, but she chose ultra-high-end appliances to complete the look. Out of prudence, the owner also purchased extended warranties on those appliances.

Here’s how that works out in the real world.

The ovens started having problems, and guests began complaining. Normally, we would send our handyman over, get the problem fixed, and move on. But because these ovens were under an extended warranty, the owner understandably wanted to take advantage of it.

And that’s when a relatively simple appliance problem turned into a revenue problem.

Someone had to come inspect the ovens. Then, days later, someone else had to come inspect them. Then a different contractor was assigned. Then that contractor was on vacation. Then the contractor “had to order a part.” Then the part was on backorder.

Meanwhile, we’re canceling reservations and taking a money-producing property offline while we work through the extended-warranty process.

I’m not going to tell you exactly how much revenue this series of events cost everyone, other than to say we could have bought MANY brand-new ovens for what we lost waiting for the warranty company to fix the old ones.

The lesson?

Just don’t do this.

For an investment property, buy decent, mid-grade appliances from Lowe’s or Home Depot that look good and are easy to replace. Skip the extended warranty. When something breaks, let a handyman fix it quickly and preserve your revenue. If the repair is too expensive or takes too long, replace the appliance and move on.

An investment property is a business. The cost of the appliance isn't necessarily the expensive part. The expensive part is having a revenue-producing property sitting empty while you wait for someone to fix it.

A lot of owning investment property is learning not to trip over $100 bills trying to pick up a nickel.