They focus only on what the property is producing today, which limits their buying pool and prevents them from taking action.With long-term buy-and-hold investing, you have to think differently.

I had a very expensive labor repair in year 3 of a new system and I don't think preventative maintenance would have caught anything since it was a copper coil that went bad.  

Treat inspections like preventive maintenance, not a test.Inspections aren’t surprises.

It will cost a few more dollars in prevention, but it will save many, many dollars in cure.For the record, the tenant should be held responsible for maintenance issues they caused. 

I self-manage a small portfolio and the hardest part of preventative maintenance hasn’t been remembering what to do — it’s coordinating people.Specifically:Vendors operate on schedules, tenants operate on availabilityRoutine servicing (filters, HVAC, inspections) easily slips when no one “owns” the coordinationVendor info, service dates, and unit details end up scatteredCalendars exist, but they don’t reflect what’s actually happening at the unit levelI ended up building a tool for myself that centralizes:Properties and unitsVendors and the services they provideEquipment tied to each unitA shared maintenance calendar that reflects routine servicing, not just repairsIt’s essentially finished, and before rolling it out further I’m looking for a few landlords who already care about preventative maintenance to pressure-test the workflow:Does this actually reduce back-and-forth?

A healthy reserve lets you sleep at night and prevent being forced into bad decisions.2.

Preventive prep keeps rent flowing.6.

This helps prevent any fraudulent activities.

Through Houswit, we support landlords with property maintenance-lite services, helping handle small repairs, vendor coordination, and preventative upkeep so owners can stay hands-off without the overhead of full property management.

If you were to buy with financing now, what is preventing you from paying down the loan over the next three years, while also benefiting from the cash flow, principal paydown, and appreciation in the mean time?