Happy Saturday Housing Heroes,

I know maintenance isn't anyone's favorite part of owning a rental. Here are two habits that can help when it starts to feel more like a chore.

1. When something breaks, don't just fix what you can see.

For example, a tenant reports a stain on the kitchen ceiling. Someone patches it, paints it, moves on. Then a month later it's back, and now the floor upstairs feels soft. It was never the ceiling, it was a slow leak from the bathroom above. The stain was just the part you could see.

A lot of repairs are like that. What you're looking at usually isn't the actual problem. Before you spend money on the obvious thing, take a second to diagnose the root of it. Find the real cause once, and you'll likely stop paying for the same fix over and over.

1. Get ahead of it.

Most owners only deal with maintenance after something's already broken. The ones who spend the least are the ones who plan ahead. Some advice:

• Every month: walk the property, check the outdoor lights, keep an eye out for anything that looks off.
• Every so often: swap the HVAC filters, do a pest treatment, test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
• Twice a year: look over the roof and gutters, clean out the dryer vent, flush the water heater.
• Once a year: a full safety check, a walk through the whole place, and a look at the paint and caulking outside.

Most of this is cheap and takes a few minutes. It might seem insignificant, but the small stuff has a way of becoming the big stuff. A clogged gutter can become a roof leak, or an old water heater can flood a garage.

If you own multi-family, keep in mind that what happens in one place can show up in another. A leak in one unit might mean problems in the one above it. Regardless: if you have one unit or several, start getting into these two habits.

If you've got a maintenance story, a close call, or a question you've been sitting on, hit reply.

If you want the full walkthrough, building-wide versus unit-by-unit, a seasonal checklist, and the emergency plan I think every owner should have ready, the team put it all in one place: Multi-Family Maintenance: Best Practices for Rental Property Owners​

Talk soon, Steve

Have questions about managing your property? Our team proudly serves San Diego, Orange, and Riverside Counties. Schedule a call with us today, and let’s chat about how we can guide you through every step of your property management journey. Schedule a call

Steve Welty CEO @ Good Life Property Management DRE #01744610 ​​​​

5252 Balboa Ave #704, San Diego, California 92117
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