About rental home ownership nationwide, ascertaining and keeping watch over the state of each home’s exterior elements is just as essential as reckoning when to replace the carpet or repaint the walls.
Whether you’re renting out an older property or a newly built home, really understanding the age of each item and how long it can decently be expected to last is a focal part of successful rental property management.
Importance of Maintaining Your Property’s Exterior
A good landlord or property manager knows full well the healthy lifespan of common exterior elements of your rental property. A product’s lifespan is the length of time it should last, in accordance with standard conditions. For instance: a quality cement patio can hold up upwards of 50 years, because of the highly durable nature of cement. But, wooden decks only last about ten years, given their sensitivity to the natural elements.
As a 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 necessary to get to know how long an element is expected to last in your property, principally if your tenant contributes to damage beyond normal wear and tear. Such as, 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. But, as a matter of fact, if the vinyl siding is less than 25 years old, the renter would, in all likelihood, be bound for paying some or all the repair costs.
Stay Ahead of Property Damage
Rather than spend time and money on a futile judicial process, the better option to undertake is to be ahead of property damage. With thorough and pertinent information, and a proactive system for property management, it’s assuredly possible to manage and keep every single component of the rental home – both in and out– in great shape. Routinely replacing items beyond their useful lives is one way to avoid bearing the full cost of repairs as a consequence of tenant negligence. Another is acting on regular property evaluations to attentively monitor various areas of the rental home.
Real Property Management Innovation endows a full property management program that takes into consideration preparing for the next few years with maintenance plans, property evaluations, and massively more. We have the equipment and capability to oversee your Rosedale real estate investments, making them exceedingly profitable for the coming future. Contact us online or at 516-570-9275 today!
Originally Published on March 22, 2019
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
