Today, at Independence Realty, we are sharing a few ideas for how to keep your property maintained and attractive for the least amount of money. This isn’t always easy, but there are some things you can do to help keep your maintenance costs low.
Heating and Air Systems
One of the things that pays off is to have the central heating and air conditioning system serviced every year. There are a few things to look for specifically. Most systems in this town are split central systems with outside condensing unit with coils, and an inside air handler. That provides your heat from natural gas/propane or heat strips or a heat pump. There’s an outside component as well, and it’s very important that the outside unit not get clogged with grass or other obstructions. You want to keep it clear, so the shrubbery around that system should be a minimum of six inches away, or even better 12 inches. Have the coil for the evaporator serviced every year. From time to time they need to be cleaned, and this is just as important as cleaning the filter. The filter retains some dirt but not all of it. An annual service to clean these systems out will keep them running efficiently. A poorly functioning system that’s clogged or full of dirt will run harder and longer. Then, it will fail and failure costs you money. It’s our goal to save you money on these costs.
Landscaping
Lately, there has been a trend away from tall bushes. Tall bushes might be pretty to look at, but tenants are now looking for lower types of landscaping where there’s nothing higher than six to 12 inches. The reason for this is security concerns. Most of our tenant decision makers are female and they don’t want to think about anyone having the opportunity to lurk behind a big bush. Even if that doesn’t happen in the neighborhood, your tenant is always thinking about security. Be smart about the landscaping. You don’t want anything overgrown and you want to keep things easy to maintain. There isn’t a need for extensive flower beds, just make sure what you do have looks good from the road. Refresh and renew the mulch and the planting from time to time. Reds and browns seem to work well for us and our tenants. Some people call us just from our marketing photographs and want to rent our properties because they look fantastic.
These are just a couple of ideas that can help you keep your maintenance costs low. If you’d like to hear more, please contact us at Independence Realty.