Why Inspect?

After managing properties for others for years, we have realized that regular inspections are THE MOST important aspect of property management. Often times, after a tenant takes possession of a property, neither the owner or property manager will see the inside of the property until they move out. While we do our very best to place quality tenants in all of our properties by enforcing our strict screening criteria and crosschecking with applicants’ previous landlords, we have no way of knowing how a tenant will treat your property. Some may love their home and take excellent care of it. Other times, that may not be the case. The tenant may pay the rent perfectly on time, never report any maintenance issues, but when they move out and we go in to do our move out inspection, we find problems. Some tenants do not know what to look for in terms of maintenance issues. Or may not notice a problem at all because they have never owned a home and never dealt with any of the upkeep before. Regardless, it can often times result in property damages that you, the landlord, are left having to repair.

A tenant may never look under their bathroom sink to notice a leaking faucet supply line. Or they may never notice the few drops of water behind the toilet due to a failed wax seal. Both issues are quick and easy fixes for a qualified plumber and should cost less than $150. But left unnoticed, can ultimately cause the bathroom floor to rot out. That $150 service call can quickly turn into a total bathroom renovation costing thousands of dollars. A tenant may also never think anything about those lovely pine trees surrounding their home. But all that pine straw sitting on the asphalt shingle roof can quickly reduce the life of the shingles. Again, a quick and simple service call could prolong the life of your roof, saving you thousands of dollars. These are just a couple examples of issues we see repeatedly and that are easily avoidable. As property management professionals, we can easily identify potential maintenance nightmares and help stop the issue before the mole hill becomes a mountain. 

Our inspection process also includes HVAC filter changes. Swapping out your air filter for your central HVAC system is the easiest single thing that can be done to help preserve your HVAC system. (The next is a regularly scheduled cleaning of the system, twice per year.) Unfortunately, most tenants do not ever think about changing the filters in their homes. We have seen homes where the same tenant has lived for years, while never changing the filter. This causes the HVAC system to have to work harder to pull air through a clogged filter and can easily blow a capacitor or make the unit freeze up. This results in a service call where a HVAC tech is easily going to charge upwards of $250, assuming there is no damage to the system. This is yet another case where an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure and again can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.