7 Things to Check Before Renting Your Santa Rosa Home

Real estate is a lucrative investment option with lower risk and more scope for diversification. Once you own an investment property, it carries the prospect of reliability and ensures high returns in the long run. However, this steady flow of income comes with its own problems. As the owner, addressing residents’ maintenance requests, tracking bill payments, and managing ongoing expenses can become overwhelming. Therefore, landlords may need to consider a few things to safeguard their rights while renting your Santa Rosa property. 

As an owner, here are seven things you can check before renting your Santa Rosa home.

1. Check The Interior

Before renting your unit, you must ensure that everything is intact and neat inside your property. You can conduct a thorough inspection to ensure the safety of your residents. While it is normal to see tiny holes on the wall, stains on the carpet, or minor scuffs on the hardwood floor, you can look for more apparent damage, such as big holes, soaked carpet, or water damage on the walls. Consider noting down and documenting issues that require immediate attention and fixing them on priority.

2. Examine The Fixtures and Lights 

The unit’s safety depends on the electrical systems’ smooth functioning. Exposed wiring or broken switches can put your residents into life-threatening situations and cause safety hazards. Make sure switches, cabinets, fixtures, and lights are perfectly functional. 

Check whether the windows and door hinges require replacement or if the door knobs are loose. As modern renters get more and more climate-conscious, improving your property’s energy efficiency can also help you get better residents and retain them in the long run. 

3. Inspect The HVAC System

An HVAC system is the fundamental part of your property. It provides your renters with comfort and makes your unit more desirable on the market. Ensure you inspect the HVAC system to ensure all the operating parts are in good condition. Additionally, clean the accumulated dust and debris from the air filters to maintain longevity.

4. Check The Appliances

You will never want your resdients to move in and have to do repairs, as it sets a bad precedent and may lead to a negative landlord-resident relationship. Before the renter moves in, take a little time to do a quick inspection of all the appliances available on the property, such as the oven, dishwasher, microwave, fridge, washing machine, and more. Use the oven thermometer to verify its heating properly, clean the stove vent of grease and ensure the pilot flame in the water heater is steady and blue. If a washer or dryer is available on the property, do a load of washing to ensure there are no leaks. 

5. Check For Pest Infestation

Bed bugs, rodents, and cockroaches can spread disease and make the place inhabitable for your residents. No matter how often you exterminate, these pests tend to reappear in the unit, especially if you keep the area shabby or dirty. Check every nook and cranny for signs of pests, and try to identify the sources from where they may enter the property. If you find signs of pests, consider hiring an exterminator or pest control company to remove them from the property.

6. Examine The Bathroom

The bathroom is one of the most-used areas and is more susceptible to damage due to the constant humidity and wetness. Therefore, it is essential to check the walls in the bathroom for multiple leakages, peeling paint, and cracks in the tub or sink. Also, inspect the faucets, showers, flush, and water heaters to ensure they work properly. Faulty plumbing and drainage systems are other significant issues that occur in the bathroom. Make sure you inspect the condition of the pipes and their decay and get them replaced if required.  

7. Don’t Forget The Property Exterior 

While renting your Santa Rosa property, be sure to maintain the property premises along with its interiors. Since the property exterior is the first thing potential renters will see, it needs to be well-maintained. If left unchecked, the yard can often be overgrown with weeds and grass, resulting in a shabby appearance of the unit. To avoid this, ensure the lawn gets mowed regularly, trees receive thorough trimming, and the walkways get routinely cleaned. Remove unnecessary clutter, old furniture, and dead plants from the yard to make it look well-maintained.

Checking all the above things prior to the renters’ move can help you identify potential issues in the property and fix them on a priority to ensure the safety of your residents. Even though you can inspect the unit yourself, hiring a professional property management company like PURE Property Management can help you compare it with its previous condition and find underlying problems. It can aid in a better-renting process and ensure residents’ safety during a tenancy. 

For more information, contact us at PURE Property Management.