Preventative Maintenance for Landlords

[Peymon Hashimoto]

If you own a rental property with the intention of collecting passive income indefinitely (of course who knows what the future holds) you should send your tenant:

• New air filter (if you have a HVAC) every X months
  • Get the filter with the least amount resistance, meaning buy the “worst” quality one and send the replacement filters more often
  • The worse the filter the easier the fan has to work to circulate the air
  • High priced filters trap more “stuff” but require more power and wear and tear on your HVAC unit.
• Pipe cleaner for the plumbing
• Birthday card + Happy New Year card. You do business with your tenants right? Show that you care. https://www.handwrytten.com/ (hand written cards that are mailed out for you and are very affordable)

Oh and did I mention this will more likely keep your tenants with you long term :)

Tenants are paying you for renting …. so time. But the perceived value of getting new air filters and pipe plumbing cleaner is high. Not to mention this will benefit you in the long term for sure. Instead of hoping everything is going to go well and no major repairs or incidents are going to happen let get ahead of the problem and think about how to keep the property in good shape.
Again this is mainly a strategy for landlord that are going to hold on to their rental unit for the indefinite future

[Nathan Gesner]

Or...provide a year supply of filters at move-in, educate the tenant on how to change them, send a reminder when changing is due, and make it clear they are responsible for the cost of any repairs caused by their failure to change the filter.

As for cards, that's a personal choice. Most businesses do not send cards to their customers. It may buy you some goodwill with a small percentage but for most, they could care less about you. They want a safe, clean, functional home for a fair price, to be treated honestly, responsive maintenance, good communication, and to be left alone.