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Property Management Blog

Does Rental Property Deferred Maintenance Truly Save Landlords Money?



As you know, your real estate investment in San Ramon will require maintenance. It’s not a matter of if – it’s a matter of when. The work you do on the property can either increase or decrease your ROI. Look at your property maintenance budget and make sure you’re making smart choices when it comes to maintaining your rental property. Advantage Property Management Services manages both single-family and multi-family rental investments in San Francisco's East Bay, serving cities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, including but not limited to San Ramon, Danville, Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, Castro Valley, and San Leandro.


How Maintenance Can Help or Hurt Your ROI

To illustrate what you should and should not do when it comes to preserving the condition of your property and protecting its value, think about dry rot. Painting the property regularly protects it from the elements. The longer you wait to paint it, the more it will cost to repair dry rot and other weather related exterior damage. It rarely makes sense to defer maintenance. For example, it might cost $5,000 to paint the entire property and perhaps that’s not an expense you can take on now. If you wait too long, however, you might end up paying $10,000 or more for dry rot repairs in addition to the $5,000 to paint the structure equaling a total cost of $15,000.


Another Example: Plumbing and Valve Fixtures

Angle stop valves shut off the plumbing at each fixture. If you don’t test them regularly, you’re setting yourself up for major water damage later. If an angle stop won’t turn off or drips when it is off, it is important to replace it right away otherwise it may cause serious water damage later with a big expense to match. The inexpensive angle stop replacement that could have been made could become a repair that costs thousands of dollars. So, what do these examples tell us? Taking care of repairs while they are still minor will save money in the long term and increase the investment ROI; deferring them to a later date is an expensive gamble and will hurt your ROI. Please contact us at Advantage Property Management Services for any questions you may have about your East Bay real estate investment.

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