How to Manage Maintenance Requests – Property Management Portland

When you’re managing an investment property, maintenance will generally fall into three main categories:

• Routine maintenance
• Emergency maintenance
• Preventative maintenance

Today, we’re talking about how we manage maintenance requests and what you should do to ensure the condition of your home and its value are protected.

Routine maintenance is anything that’s not an emergency but still needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. This might be a slow leak or a broken appliance or cabinets that are coming off their hinges. Garbage disposals that don’t work, locks that get stuck, and outlets that don’t deliver any power are examples of routine maintenance. Most property management companies have an online system where tenants can make a report electronically. This is a valuable tool because not only does it provide a consistent way to report maintenance issues, it also allows you to document every step of the process. You’ll know when your tenants made the request, and you’ll be able to see when you dispatched a vendor and what the results were. You can include photos and invoices all in one place, providing an easy and accurate system for maintenance reporting.

Make sure you take care of these routine requests promptly. Even though they aren’t emergencies, tenants expect to have things fixed right away. Responsiveness will protect the condition of your property, and it will also show your tenants that you care about maintaining it. That will increase tenant retention and decrease the changes that property damage is left behind when they leave.

An emergency is anything that puts your tenants or your property in danger. It could be a fire, a flood, or a loss of heat in the middle of a cold winter. If something breaks and renders your home inhabitable, you need to take care of it immediately. No one wants to receive a phone call at 2:00 a.m. when the water heater explodes or a tree crashes through a window, but it’s bound to happen at some point. Be prepared. You’ll need to have strong vendor relationships in place so you can make a quick phone call and have someone out to the property right away. It won’t be easy to find a plumber over a holiday weekend because the one toilet in the property is backed up. You need to establish these relationships early so these professionals are available when you need them.

Preventative maintenance allows you to keep your property’s systems and functions proactively maintained. If you are willing to invest $200 or $300 in having a heating and cooling tech come out to your property and check your system and your filters on an annual basis, you’re less likely to have a sudden malfunction that could cost you thousands of dollars in repairs and replacements. Having someone clean out your gutters twice a year or trim back your trees will cost a little but save you a lot. We embrace preventative maintenance plans, and we encourage the owners we work with to develop a maintenance schedule and budget that will keep their homes in excellent shape.

If you have any questions about how to handle maintenance at your Portland rental property, please contact us at Burgess Elliot Real Estate.