Getting Your Home Rent Ready
Do you know the most important items to focus on when it comes to getting your home rent ready? We call this the “Make Ready” process, or the “Punch” (sounds aggressive I know, but no property managers or homeowners are harmed in the completion of the “Punch”). Are you fully versed in FL Law and what landlords are required to provide to tenants when it comes to basic housing requirements? Do you know which updates will help you get the most out of your rent, or help your home reach a wider tenant pool? If not, that is where partnering with or consulting from an experienced and trusted property manager can make a huge difference in the amount of rent you get for your property and the time-frame it’s rented in.
We recommend utilizing the skills of an experienced property manager, but if you do decide to tackle this task on your own, here’s a few tips to help you get started and provide a bit of guidance:
- Don’t Put Band Aids on Major Issues! Roof leaks, plumbing leaks, water damages, and septic issues are all examples of problems that can start small but quickly turn into monstrous problems for homeowners, property managers, and tenants alike. Living in FL, anything that involves water damages should be addressed IMMEDIATELY. Minor water damages in the FL humidity left unresolved can swiftly transfer into a major (and costly) mold remediation. Avoid future major repairs by addressing a minor issue today and nipping it in the bud before it becomes any worse.
- Keep Vacancies Short/Get Home Ready Quickly. Vacancies are a homeowner’s worst nightmare (aside from hurricanes, evictions, and major damages inflicted by angry tenants). Jason Hull, owner, and CEO of DoorGrow (and our trusted business coach) explains how “the cost of one month of vacancy could pay for an entire year’s worth of property management fees,” and he’s not wrong. Mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, and in some circumstances HOA payments can wreak havoc on a landlord’s wallet while they are impatiently anticipating the arrival of their next tenant. We can speed this process up and reduce the amount of time a home sits vacant by getting the right contractors into the home in the right time-frame, utilizing a streamlined process to keep our vacancies down to 15 days between tenants.
- Don’t Be Scared to Call a Pro. Many homeowners are tempted to break out their tool set and their DIY skills whenever a tenant moves out and they are getting the home ready for the next tenant. We generally discourage this route for several reasons. Homeowners (unless they are skilled with years of experience and possibly own their own construction/handyman company), are not going to be as experienced as the professionals who do this type of work daily. Yes, the upfront cost may be more to get a pro into your home, but in the long run it’s less costly to have repairs completed quickly (reducing the time of vacancy) and correctly the first time. There’s also the cost of your time, which you cannot get back. Unless you LOVE this type of work (and hey, we’re not knocking you if you do!) – you could most likely be doing something more enjoyable, or valuable to your life than prepping your home for its next tenant if you hire the right team to tackle this project for you.
- Know FL Law and Requirements for Landlords. Housing is one of the basic needs of humanity – we all require food, water, and shelter. As a landlord, you are providing shelter to a tenant, and they are paying for this shelter. In this type of transaction, the tenant is expected to take care of the home while they are living in it, pay their rent on time, and report maintenance issues so that they may be addressed in a timely manner. Per the FL Bar’s Website: “The landlord is required to rent a dwelling that is fit to be lived in. It must have working plumbing, hot water and heating, be structurally sound and have reasonable security, including working and locking doors and windows, and it must be free of pests.” There are also requirements that a well-versed property manager will be knowledgeable about that the average landlord might not know (for example, FL Law requires landlords to provide tenants with window coverings/blinds of some sort for all windows throughout home).
If you are a landlord in Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, Cape Coral, Alva, Naples, Bradenton, Riverview, Sarasota, or Tampa, click here to schedule a time to learn more about our property management services and see if we might be a good fit for you:
https://rentallinkonline.com/schedule-a-call/
If you’d like to read more about what the responsibilities of tenants and landlords are in FL, click here to view the FL Bar’s Website outlining these requirements:
https://www.floridabar.org/public/consumer/tip014/
If you are a Property Manager wanting to grow your business or looking for ways to improve your current operations process, click here to connect with the amazing team at DoorGrow: