First Thing\u2019s First<\/h2>\n
The frame of mind is everything, or at least the start of everything. I other words, perception is 90% of reality. I\u2019m sure there is some meme out there which contradicts this, but that\u2019s my story, and I\u2019m sticking with it. In fact, some quantum theorists will tell you \u201cthat which you perceive creates reality.\u201d No, I\u2019m not going metaphysical on you, but look it up, it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n
#1: Rental Preparation \u2013 First Impressions Count!<\/h2>\n
I would like to ask you think back, to staying at someone\u2019s house, or better still, staying in a hotel or motel. What is it that good lodging focuses on? However, you likely will not want to go to this extreme, the point being that the impression does indeed count. Hotel rooms which look and smell neat, clean, fresh, will always give a better lasting impression than one with worn carpets, bedding, dirty mirrors and such. This is a no-brainer, you may be thinking to yourself, however, pause to think: you\u2019re offering up a long-term residence for rent. How is it any different? Actually, it isn\u2019t, except you\u2019re asking someone to live there for a year, or five.<\/p>\n We have addressed this in several articles, such as Landscaping Your Rental Property Yard: Why it\u2019s Important<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yes, the landscaping is an important factor, but so is the overall paint, the condition of the driveway, walkways, porch, etc. If your house gives off a negative vibe or makes you feel \u201cmeh,\u201d what sort of resident are you going to attract? And how long will it take to rent? I cannot understate the importance of curb appeal.<\/p>\n Here is a before picture of a troubled property that underwent an extensive transformation.<\/p>\n Here is an after picture of the same property. Of the two, which would you rent? You see? Curb appeal matters!<\/p>\n While it is not a perfect means of determining what may need doing, both inside and out, the length of time a resident has occupied home can determine, to an extent, what may need doing. At a year or less, the home will likely need a good thorough cleaning at the very least, and probably some touch-up paint.<\/p>\n On cleaning, I mean cleaning to make the home to Move-In Ready. Everyone has a different definition of what clean is, so to frame this, think high-end hotel room clean.<\/p>\n And on paint, use only semi-gloss paint, you will thank us later!<\/p>\n At 2 years the home will also likely need a thorough cleaning and is more likely to need a full paint inside. Not always, but as a rule. This would be determined once the resident moves out, and you can clearly see all the walls. There will probably be some blinds that need replacing, and some screens may need attention.<\/p>\n 3 to 10 years, the cleaning usually will be needed, a full paint is almost a sure bet, and at 10 years the ceiling probably needs paint too.<\/p>\n If occupied for 10+ years, there\u2019s a fair bet the home will need updating light fixtures, maybe cabinets.<\/p>\n Proper record-keeping is paramount. Say you have a resident who lived in the house for less than a year, any painting needed is at their expense, IF said areas which were painted prior to the resident moving in. Say you only painted one wall before the resident moved in, if that wall is not being painted this time, you cannot charge the resident for any paint. That\u2019s the law in California, be sure to check your local laws to know what applies.<\/p>\n Was the flooring new when they moved in? Is it damaged now? Then you can charge the outgoing resident a pro-rated amount for that floor replacement. If you have no record of the floor\u2019s age, you cannot charge.<\/p>\n Much of what you will be doing in getting a property ready will depend on not only the current condition of the house upon move out, but that will also be influenced by what was done prior.<\/p>\n Your budget is what you determine it to be, in a laid back, perfect world. With a rental property, however, realistically, it ought to be that which needs to be done in order to get the property in excellent condition.<\/p>\n Remember, if your house looks shoddy, you will almost certainly get a shoddy resident. Funny how that works, no?\u201d<\/p>\n Let me, delicately, move in an odd direction here. I don\u2019t want to scold or anything, but myself, I\u2019d try to put away at least $200 a month as a hedge against unexpected repairs, or unforeseen and expected rehab costs. Do that, and you\u2019ll have the average amount of a rehab sitting in an account ready to go with little to no heartache. However, if you have deferred maintenance on your property for any length of time, you will need more than that. Why? Carpet alone, on an average home, can run $2100+ alone!<\/p>\n Like clothing, items such as fixtures go out of fashion, and back into fashion, all the time. If it works and looks nice, don\u2019t mess with it! That is a good rule of thumb to follow.<\/p>\n On another note, if your kitchen counters are \u201cButcher Block Formica,\u201d you may want to update them. These are not coming back into fashion. Ever. Yet if you to tell me you were going to replace them with granite, I\u2019d tell you to stop right there!<\/p>\n It makes ZERO sense to pop new granite counter on old cabinets! Think about it \u2013 you\u2019re upgrading and downgrading at the same time! If you\u2019re doing one, do the other, it is that simple. Otherwise, consider glazing your counters, even Formica. See, spend $650 on the counters now and get 2 to 5 years of life out of them is more cost effective than slapping $2500 of granite onto 25-year-old cabinets.<\/p>\n Here are some examples \u2013 Before and After, 1st a kitchen, and a bath. The bath sink and counters\u00a0had heavy crazing and were just plain ugly. These are actual examples we have improved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another word on cabinetry: If the wood exteriors are in poor condition, it may be best to simply paint them if they are not being replaced.<\/p>\n Bear this in mind as well: up to 40% of your rehab costs can be written off. 30% Federal, 10% State. Also, should you throw $20k in your kitchen, you will likely see about a $25k or more increase in the property value. Sure, that goes unrealized until you sell the property, however, YOU know it\u2019s there, and your resident does as well.<\/p>\n If so, just lose them if they need any work. Follow the cost-effective route and leave them be, or maybe paint them if they are in pretty good condition. However, if enough of the ceilings are damaged, it may be best to remove the popcorn. Water damage, nicotine, heavy dust, none of which are good, and ought to be taken care of on a case by case basis.<\/p>\n #6 - Surrounding Properties and Bad Actors<\/p>\n This is a very subjective a topic, yet you will know it when you see it: the slob neighbor with the pickup truck hood on your property, yeah, that guy dumping motor oil in the gutter, while wearing nothing but his dago t-shirt, red heart imprinted white boxers and cowboy boots. Him, the guy with the free-range Pitbull dogs. That guy with the garage band, yeah, him. You know, the one that parks on the lawn? But what can you do? Palm trees with lots of dead fronds hanging on his property? You do know those house rats, right?<\/p>\n Dead yard? Guess what that breeds? More dead yards. People behave as their neighbors do.<\/p>\n Overgrown yard? Not only is that dangerous, but it is an eyesore.<\/p>\n In other words, take a picture, and call it in! You may not live at the property, but you certainly do pay the property taxes.<\/p>\n Getting you, a quality resident is what we work on for you daily, but care does not really end there. Day to day, month to month, anything can happen. Once the property is rented there is still always room for improvement, and things will need attention. Just in general maintenance plan on spending about 800 to 2200+ a year. Zillow states \u201cPlan on spending 1% of the property value a year in maintenance.\u201d That means a house valued at $300,000 ought to have $3,000 thrown at it a year. I think that number, just on maintenance, is a little high, however, if you include rehab costs, this is probably a good solid number to work with. This is a late addendum. Refrigerators, washers, dryers. Don\u2019t do them! In other words, while it may feel nice, like the right thing to, but we advise you, very strongly, to not do this. You are far and away better off NOT supplying these items, trust me.<\/p>\n Final words: Take care of your rental property, and it will take care of you.<\/p>\n If you are struggling to get your property rented for top dollar and keep long-term residents, just fill out the form to the right. A dedicated member of our team will be happy to help you.<\/p>\n \u201cOh My Goodness, I\u2019m about to have a vacancy in my rental. What to do, what to do?!\u201d Well, you\u2019re in the right spot, right now, as we\u2019re about to tell you the seven most effective ways to prepare your house for rental. You can look at a pending vacancy as a bad thing, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landlord-education","category-property-ownership"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFirst impressions. You only have the first few seconds of ANY encounter with which to indelibly imprint a good impression. A top-flight inn will pull out all the stops right off the bat, the cleanliness, the \u201cFung Shui,\u201d if you will, that is, the way lobby furnishings are set up. Also, the background music is no mistake, but did you know that many establishments also use odor emitters? Even Disneyland!
\nSee this article:\u00a0Disney\u2019s 5 Coolest Park Secrets<\/a><\/p>\n#2: Curb appeal<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Curb-before-300x168-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Curb-after-300x225-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n#3: Interior Paint- How long has the leaving resident lived there?<\/h2>\n
#4: What was done to the property before the current residents moved in?<\/h2>\n
\u201cWhat is my budget?\u201d<\/h3>\n
#5: Fixtures and cabinets, are they dated?<\/h2>\n
![\"shot](\"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Kitchen-Sink-before-150x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"shot](\"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Kitchen-Sink-after-150x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"shot](\"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Bathroom-before-150x150.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t#6: Popcorn ceilings, does the rental have them?<\/h2>\n
\nLots.
\nCode enforcement is your friend. And that guy, he is not. He is costing you property value, and he is quite possibly costing you a good resident. Hobos tend to stay with other hobos, the way bad residents tend to live among their own.<\/p>\nIt rented, now what?<\/h2>\n
\nZillow<\/a>:\u00a0https:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/investing-101-estimating-rental-property-expenses-94824\/<\/a><\/p>\n#7 - Appliances<\/h2>\n
\nA refrigerator, a washer, and a dryer are three independent items which will, given enough time, WILL cost you service calls. It is inevitable. You absolutely may have it in the rental agreement that, while you are supplying said items, but the resident will have to service them, when that time comes you will have a resident who feels slighted, even if they knew going in that these items would be their responsibility to fix should they break. It is renter think. \u201cIt isn\u2019t mine, why should I go out of pocket o\\n this thing that I will not be taking with me?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Find](\"https:\/\/www.managementone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/find-out-what-your-property-is-worth.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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