With regards to rental home ownership nationwide, understanding well and being alert to the state of each home’s exterior elements is just as essential as knowing when to replace the carpet or repaint the walls.
Whether you’re renting out an older property or a newly built home, understanding the age of each item and how long it can rationally be expected to last is a hugel part of successful rental property management.
Importance of Maintaining Your Property’s Exterior
A good landlord or property manager perceives the healthy lifespan of common exterior elements of your rental property. A product’s lifespan is the duration it should last according to standard conditions. For instance: a quality cement patio remains good upwards of 50 years, due to the extremely durable nature of cement. By contrast, wooden decks only last about ten years, given their sensitivity to the natural elements.
For your quick guide, we’ve listed some common exterior items and their average lifespan:
- Garage Door: 15 years
- Automatic Garage Door Opener: 5-10 years
- Wood Fence: 10 years
- Stucco Exterior: 20-50+ years
- Vinyl Siding: 25 years
It’s really important to ascertain how long an element is expected to last in your property, particularly if your tenant engenders damage beyond normal wear and tear. For example, if the vinyl siding, which is over 25 years old, gets damaged, the tenant shouldn’t be held responsible for the repair cost. Having said that, if the vinyl siding is less than 25 years old, the renter would most certainly be liable for paying some or all the repair costs.
Stay Ahead of Property Damage
Rather than spend time and money on a fruitless judicial process, the well-advised option to undertake is to be ahead of property damage. With some valuable and helpful information and a proactive system for property management, it’s surely possible to manage and keep every single component of the rental home – both in and out– in an excellent state. Periodically replacing items beyond their functioning lives is one way to avoid bearing the full cost of repairs by reason of tenant negligence. Another is realizing regular property evaluations to conscientiously check on various areas of the rental home.
Real Property Management NW Chicago Suburbs offers a full property management program that includes preparing for the years to come with maintenance plans, property evaluations, and significantly so much more. We have the professional equipment and expertise to tend to your Mundelein real estate investments sustainably and profitbly for the near future. Contact us online or at 847-737-4800 today!
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