Site of the Month: www.rental-housing.com
Ameriland Realty has extensive experience in property maintenance for residential
and commercial properties. We have five personnel on pagers and five on cell
phones for routine as well as emergency calls, seven
days per week, 24 hours per day. Rates are most affordable including painting, carpentry,
plumbing, light electrical, emergency board ups, flooding, landscape maintenance and
sprinklers, janitorial, roof repairs, slurry sealing, etc. etc.
General Contractor on Staff. Call
714-744-5711. Email:
pkashinsky@gmail.com
1. Tenants prefer lighter carpets in units today. Dark brown is out!!! Avocado,,,,never.
2. Strip out all ugly wallpaper prior to renting a unit. Wallpaper is dead in rentals.
3. Slurry seal your asphalt driveways when it is quite sunny around noon time. Fresh and clean driveways help you to increase rents. Slurry seal at least every third year. Crack sealing and repairs may be in order too as well as petromat to seal larger cracking areas. Watch out for daily temperature which affects drying time.....
4. Never let tenants do the yard work. Tenants hate yard work!! Hire a gardener. Fertilize twice yearly. Trim everything at least once per year. Place your sprinklers on automatics to insure proper watering of your landscaping. Have weekly yard maintenance. Spend a couple bucks to make the place nice. I know it hurts..... Remember that "mow and blow" gardeners come and go...hire a professional..
5. Change your HVAC filters at least twice per year. Have a professional check your air-conditioning at least annually. There is no free lunch in HVAC maintenance... if he is cheap watch out!!!
6. Check our vendor page for some referrals to maintenance professionals.
7. Check you smoke detectors at least semi-annually. Test them to insure they operate properly. Install new batteries.
8. You are required to have one working telephone outlet in each of your rental units.
9. Satellite dishes are not much of a hassle; however, home installers usually botch the job. Professional installation is advised to insure maximum pleasure from your system. Mobile satellite units are popular with campers and affordable.
10. Window air-conditioners need maintenance too! Review your instruction booklet. Repairs are costly on older units, if at all possible. On older units.....replace them is usually the cost/effective alternative. Remember newer units may be too big for openings in your existing building wall.
11. Check www.doityourself.com & www.hometime.com for maintenance tips. Also, www.remodelormove.com.
12. Check your window screens. Warm weather brings tenant calls for window screen repairs.
13. Garages are for cars not for storage. Cluttered rental neighborhoods are caused by tenants who use garages for storage. Also, check your garages for electrical code violations. Many fires are caused by tenants who install illegal electrical fixtures, extensions, etc.
14. Before installing DSL, wireless, entertainment centers and home offices, check with a qualified communication technician to install your systems professionally. A communication plan would be most beneficial to eliminate wiring clutter, redundancy and safety violations as well as provide users with adequate communication security. Also, consider growth of your overall communication system. Note: Wireless equipment is inexpensive for home use.....see your computer store representative. In a few short years, wireless will be available in major metropolitan areas for internet in public as well as at home. No need for "ikie" wires and cables anymore....
15. Many people are buying the new water saving toilets....they generally do not have the flush capacity and many users are dissatisfied with these water saving toilets. Rebuild your old toilets and consider keeping them for efficiency and satisfaction purposes.
16. Placing stacked washer and dryers in upstairs closets or bathrooms is becoming popular. Most soiled clothing is discarded to hampers upstairs....makes sense to wash clothes upstairs. Insure you have a plastic water tray under your washer in case you have some plumbing overflows. Also, these units do a great job and tend to be very energy efficient.
17. Larger kitchen pantries are in style. Outside barbecues are becoming the rage and are quite pricey. Watch for after season sales....Men cooking as a hobby is growing...new kitchen sales are going through the roof. High ceilings in new homes are highly preferred. Darker colored walls with white crown molding,. neoclassical style and shabby sheik are in vogue as well as "monochrome". Even some of that Mediterranean look is back from years past....wrought iron etc. etc. Saw some long shag carpeting recently too!
18. There are many inexperienced contractors trying to sell you new vinyl windows to cut noise and dust and provide energy savings. I suggest you contact a professional glass company for a price too, for we find they have better installers, know more quality suppliers and give you better prices and guarantees.
19. In sure you clean out all gutters and drain pipes on your roofs. Caulk around all air conditioning vents and other flashings on your roofs. Fix broken or crimped drain pipes. Most major roof collapses are caused by clogged up roof drains on commercial buildings.
20. Vinyl double pane windows cut noise from street and freeway traffic and cut the amount of street dust and traffic soot entering your home. Worthwhile investment to replace old aluminum windows. Energy savings are considerable.
21. New water heaters may be taller or larger in girth than your old water heater. Take proper measurements of your old water heater before buying a new one unless you want to do lots of repiping of fittings in and around your new water heater......
22. Before you do your own pest control on your income properties, check with your insurance carrier to see if you are covered for potential liability claims by tenants who may be seriously allergic to pesticide chemicals. Also, their pets may be injured and you could be held liable.
23. Your are advised to have a professional pool maintenance company service the pool at your income property. If you improperly service or do not provide the proper chemicals, your insurance company may not cover you for negligence. Check with your insurance carrier, if you can maintain pools in rental properties under your liability policy.
24. Environmentally friendly sites: www.energystar.gov www.solarliving.org www.greenseal.org
25. Remove excess fluorescent lamps(8% savings possible), save 2% per degree higher on a/c temps., replace incandescent bulbs with Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulbs(up to 10% savings).
26. A society's standard of living is measured by the amount of TV's, phone hookups, electric hookups, protein and sugar consumption and recently Newport Beach saw a 2 percent drop in waste collections portending a cooling off of the local economy. Yes....waste generation can potentially measure a region's economic condition.......
27. Many communities are not allowing new wood fired barbecues, ovens and fireplaces. Most new homes do not have wood burning fireplaces. Check with your city before installing wood fired items outlined above.
