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How to Protect Everything Else in Your Rental Property
Floors and walls take the biggest beating, but that doesn’t mean the rest of your rental property is impervious. Here’s how to protect your rental property in all other areas.
9. Switch Screen Doors & Storm Doors to Plexiglass
Your renters’ kids will put their hands right through the screen door. Or worse, the glass in a storm door.
Nowadays you can buy strong, scratch-resistant plexiglass nearly as clear as glass. Cops use it to lock up violent felons – you can count on it to prevent your tenants’ kids from breaking it.
It’s also one of the cheapest rental property improvements on this list. Win-win.
10. Simple Landscaping Means Less to Mess Up
Ornate landscaping looks great. It also requires work to upkeep. Do you think your tenants are going to break their backs keeping up extensive landscaping?
At best, your renters might water a few plants and mow the yard. And those are more responsible people than the average slacker whose weekend is filled with cheap drinks and reruns of bad sitcoms.
As a general rule of thumb, the less work your tenants have to do to maintain the outside of your property, the more likely it is they’ll do anything at all.
11. Replace Light & Fan Pull Cords with Switches
Pull cords to turn on lights and fans aren’t the “cool,” or “vintage” type of old-fashioned. They’re just annoying, outdated, and fragile.
Besides constantly getting in the way and hitting people in the forehead, your tenants will inevitably yank them too hard one day and pull it out of the socket. Then they’ll call you saying “I don’t know what happened, it just fell out on its own!”
Get ahead of the issue by replacing them with this newfangled technology called a light switch. Spend an extra $5 per switch and install dimmer switches for a more luxurious feel.
And for the fans, you can buy plus/minus button switches to control fan speed. They’re not outrageously expensive either – two simple and affordable rental property updates for a modern vibe and less to break.
12. Install Window Blinds Yourself
I’ve heard a lot of landlords over the years say “If my tenants want blinds, they can install them on their own.”
That’s the wrong attitude. First, you want your unit to show in its best possible light (pun intended). Second, blinds are cheap.
Finally – and most relevantly here – if you install the window blinds, you know it will be done right.
The last thing you want to do is leave rental property improvements in the hands of your tenants. If you do, you can expect four-inch carpenter nails or screws going right into your beautiful window framing.
Take this responsibility on yourself, and if you want to go higher-end, buy wooden slats or even plantation shutters for a classic-elegance feel. And make it clear that damage to them will come out of the tenant’s security deposit.
13. Require Tenants to Replace the Air Filters
One lease clause you should definitely include is a requirement that the tenants replace the air filter every three months. Include the appropriate size, and even the best store nearby to buy them, or a URL where they can order them online.
Most tenants forget to do this, and it leads to exponential greater strain on your air conditioning condenser and furnace. Which, in turn, leads to drastically shorter lifespans for each, plus higher energy bills for your tenants.
Not every rental property improvement is done by you. But even this one requires your attention, as part of your semi-annual property inspection.
Alternative: Switch to Passive Investing
As an expat who spends much of the year overseas, I got sick of landlording a couple years ago. Sick of the tenant excuses, sick of damage to my investment properties, sick of hearing “check’s in the mail” and chasing down delinquent tenants and filing evictions.
But I’ve built an entire career out of real estate investing. Besides, there’s a lot to love about real estate investments, from the ongoing passive income streams to rental property tax deductions to real estate leverage to diversification away from stocks.
So I set out to find a way to get all the benefits of real estate investing without any of the headaches of being a landlord. What I found: real estate syndications. You get all the same tax benefits, the same passive streams of income, and even better returns, typically 15-30%. But real estate syndications are passive investments — you just write a check.
No more 3 AM phone calls. No more investment property damage. And no more hounding miscreant tenants to pay their rent on time.
Best of all, you can invest in syndication deals with less cash than it takes for a down payment on a rental property and closing costs. At least if you invest as part of a real estate investment club, that is. If you aren’t already a member in one, join ours!
Final Word: Inspect the Property Every 6 Months
Some tenants wreak havoc on their homes. Others are respectful and treat your property gently.
If you don’t inspect the property every six months, how can you know which type of tenant they are? That’s important information, which will help guide your decision about how much to raise the rent, whether to renew their lease agreement, or whether to start the eviction process immediately.
Checking on your properties regularly helps you verify that the tenants are complying with the lease agreement terms as well. Are they replacing the air filters? Keeping batteries in the smoke and CO detectors? Did a deadbeat boyfriend move in? Did they sneak in a pet?
It also sends a clear message to your tenants: I’m paying attention, and I care about this property. You should care about it too.
Have any horror stories about what tenants have done to your property? Or success stories of how you’ve protected your investments? Share them below! (And speaking of sharing, please pass this article along to other landlords who’d enjoy it!)
More Ways to Boost Your Rentals’ ROI
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