Owner Portal
Our topic today is the importance of doing property inspections. An important thing to remember is that when you are in real estate and you have rental properties, you want those homes to not look like rental properties. You want them to fit into the community and blend in with the other houses in the neighborhood. This means keeping the place well maintained and looking good, not standing out as something different than the other houses in the area. To make sure this goal is achieved, you have to take a look at your property every once in a while.
Regular annual inspections are extremely important. We recommend that your inspections be very detailed. When we complete an annual inspection of a property, that inspection report is usually at least 15 pages with a lot of notes. We check everything, starting with curb appeal. We want to make sure that house looks like the other homes in the neighborhood. We look for grass and shrubs that are healthy and neat. We take a look at the paint to determine when we think we will need a new coat. We inspect the gutters and schedule our annual gutter services. There are a lot of things to look at when you are maintaining the condition of your property.
Real estate investments need attention. I have heard people say that if you take care of your investment, it will take care of you. I believe that’s true. When you have a tenant moving out, you will need to inspect the place again so you can prepare it for the market. This is the time to put a fresh coat of paint on the doors and the shutters to make your marketing a little easier. At the move out time, walk through the house and check everything out. Every inspection should include a look at the big things, such as the air conditioning unit and the smaller things, such as checking to make sure your tenants are changing the air filters. Look under the cabinets to make sure nothing is leaking or moldy. Stay on top of all these things because hidden damages will only create bigger problems.
When we complete inspections, we always keep our property owners involved. Whether they live in town or out of the country, we want our owners to know that our eyes are on the property and everything is being taken care of. If you need help with your property, or you have questions about how to conduct inspections, please contact us at Property Services of Atlanta.