Many rental owners don’t fully appreciate the importance of prompt, courteous, well-performed maintenance services. Besides the obvious physical benefits of well-maintained systems and structures to properties themselves, the intangible benefits and goodwill created by keeping tenants happy go a long way to ensuring owners a profitable return on their residential rental investment properties.
Physical Benefits Of Effective Property Maintenance
Well maintained properties tend to:
- Retain their value.
- Have higher resale values.
- Cost less to maintain in the long-run.
- Command higher rental rates relative to the market.
- Have shorter vacancy cycles.
- Increase owner profits.
Intangible Benefits of Effective Property Maintenance
Prompt, effective, and courteous maintenance service tends to:
- Attract better tenants.
- Cause tenants to stay longer.
- Create more cooperative tenants.
- Promote goodwill among neighbors.
- Create less stress and drama for landlords.
Tenant Maintenance Reviews: Happy Tenants = Happy Landlords
My company, Real Property Management of Sarasota & Manatee, takes property maintenance very, very seriously. We’ve established a 24/7 maintenance hotline that’s answered live, 365-days a year, and is staffed by trained technicians who understand property management and can assess, diagnose, and prioritize issues on the spot.
Next, we vet our field technicians to be sure they meet our high standards of customer service and expertise, and we hold them accountable for maintaining those standards over time. We simply do not tolerate shady practices, sub-par work, or poor communications — they are expected to treat our properties and our tenants well.
Finally, maintenance follow-up is extremely important. We follow up every maintenance work-order with a tenant survey to ensure that service-calls are correctly completed and on time and that tenants are well treated. We also take a proactive approach to maintenance by performing move-in, move-out and semi-annual walk-thru inspections on all of our properties in an effort stay one step ahead of maintenance issues.
The proof, as they say, “Is in the pudding.” Contact our office to discuss more.
About The Author
John Michailidis, JD, is the broker/owner of Real Property Management of Sarasota & Manatee, a Sarasota, FL based residential property management company providing both Full-service and Lease-Only services to local area landlords. If you own residential investment real estate anywhere in Manatee or Sarasota counties, do feel free to reach out to our team at 941-216-0005, or through our website HERE.