Part 6 – Property Management – Who takes care of your Vacation Home in your absence? (Part 1)
To have somebody look after and take care of your vacation home while you’re not there requires a lot of trust; even more so if you are renting you home out to vacation guest and have strangers live in it. Managing your property includes organizing all the necessary services to keep the home well maintained, up and running. A home that is not fit to be rented out due to failing equipment or insufficient up-keeping is dead weight and may become a nuisance for the owner. It is important to have your property manager check on the house on a regular schedule to make sure that the mailbox is emptied; papers and advertisement are removed from the driveway (a littered driveway might give the impression that the house is abandoned), toilets need to be flushed, and the garage door needs to be lubricated, and so on to keep everything and all gadgets in working condition. This is even more important if the house is rented or occupied by the owner sporadically.
Your property manager should always and foremost keep your budget in mind; a thorough selection of appropriate service providers helps to avoid unnecessary cost for the owner. An air condition system maintained by a professional company on a regular basis will last longer and save more energy than one that never gets serviced and cleaned.
Repairs can be costly and empty a property owners pockets. A reliable handyman can work miracles and safe money with minor repair and sometimes even when it comes to remodeling. A good property manager will surely have one or two reliable handyman’s in his network of service providers and contractors.
Nice as it is to save money on repairs there are some repairs that require the attention of a licensed professional company. Many jobs involving electricity are off-limits for unlicensed repair staff and are only allowed to be handled by a licensed specialist. If it comes to repairs on the roof for example insurances like to follow up on prior repairs if a claim is made; repairs made by unlicensed people can therefore constitute a problem later on.