Hey, Spencer Sutton here with Evernest (Formerly gkhouses) and today I'm going to answer the question, How Often Should You Have Your Rental Property Inspected in Nashville? So, I think that's a great question. You know, there are really two main things you need to consider. Number one is your resident's privacy and then probably number two is going to be just your need, like your desire to find out what's going on inside the home. And so, I think that's kind of the fine line. And it's something we talk about here at evernest, because we actually do offer quarterly inspections.
Getting Inside Houses!
So, once every three months we're getting inside houses, we're changing air filters, we're checking batteries in smoke detectors. And then we're walking throughout the house, taking pictures, and sending a report back to the owner just to say, you know, "Hey, here's how the resident is taken care of your house." But I will say, like being very honest and transparent, residents don't necessarily like quarterly inspections.
It's Very Difficult To Schedule Them With A Resident. (How Often Should You Have Your Rental Property In Nashville Inspected?)
They want their privacy, they don't want, you know, the rental...the property management company coming inside the house and taking pictures and things like that. So, let's talk about...so what I wanna do is just kind of help you consider when do...you know, when would you go in a house, what's the appropriate number of times to get inside of a house? And so, I would say there are a few times that we're going to be in a house, that a property manager is going to be in your Nashville rental house.
Number One Is Just On The Any Kind Of Initial Inspection.
So, that initial inspection before a resident moves in, before it gets marketed, absolutely, they're going to...they should be walking through the house, looking at everything, making sure it's rent-ready in perfect condition. And then they're also going to be...your management company is going to be in that house when they're showing the property, right? Walking In The Property So, they're going to be walking in the property, looking at it and see if anything, you know, see if there's anything that needs to be taken care of and then just showing prospective residents. Then after that, once a resident signs a lease, that really is the question, because what we found is that owners, a lot of times, really want to know what's going on in the house.
So, When Else Would We Be In A House? Well, One Time Is During The Maintenance Call. (How Often Should You Have Your Rental Property In Nashville Inspected?)
So, the resident calls us and says, "Hey, there's something wrong with this doorknob is broken," or, you know, "This toilet is leaking water in the bathroom floor." We're going to send somebody out there to take a look at that and fix it. And so, we're going inside the house at that time. Now, our technicians are going to also see if there's anything else that they should be bringing to our attention that we should be...that we should know about, or that you should know about.
They'll Put It In The Report!
And they'll note that to us, they'll call us, they'll let us know and they'll put it in the report. Now, they're not going to walk throughout the house and take pictures like on an inspection but we still will have people that actually go in the house. And then like I mentioned, there can be scheduled quarterly inspections and then the other time that we're going to be in the house is really during move out.
We're Going To Go Back Into The Property!
Once the resident moves out, we're going to go back into the property and look at everything and then make a decision. Is this resident-related damage or is this normal wear and tear? And then we're going to put together a disposition letter, send it to you, send it to the resident so that you can see this is what the resident is responsible for from their security deposit. If anything and this is what is it going to take for the owner for you to have the house rent-ready and back on the market.
So, Now You Really Need To Decide, Is That Gonna Be Enough?
Like, not the quarterly inspections but is the initial walkthrough, the move out a walkthrough, and then anytime we, you know, if there's any kind of maintenance call, maybe once, maybe twice during the year, is that going to be enough to get inside the house? Or do you require a more thorough checking of the property? And again, you really got to decide, do you want to always be bothering the resident?
Privacy Is Being Invaded!
Because if a resident feels like that their privacy is being invaded and they give pushback, they don't like it, well, chances are I mean, they could move and find somewhere else to live once that lease was up. So, I would say you don't want to have a resident just for 12 months, like, turning a resident every 12 months is expensive.
It's Not How You Handle A Really Good Investment.
You know, you have a really nice house in Nashville, you want to keep a resident in there, you want to keep this rent coming in for multiple years if possible. So, I would say just make that call, make that decision. If you've hired us at evernest, talk to us about, you know, what's an appropriate amount of time to get in the house.
Once A Year Is Enough!
We may guide you and say, you know, we really think once a year is enough to do a full inspection, take all the pictures, change the air filters, check batteries, or twice a year is a good amount of time to do that. And so, along with any other kind of maintenance requests. So, think about that, I think I would like, personally, I would say, for an inspection, other than routine maintenance or move in and move out, I would say maybe twice a year is probably a really good number.
Once Every Six Months!
It's not going to be enough to...so once every six months, it's not going to be enough to really disturb the resident if you're coming in there once every six months. But then again, some residents are okay with four times a year. Not always, but some of them are. So, just some food for thought, just be thinking about that and then if you decide to go with Evernest, go with us, then that's absolutely something we can set up for you. It's an additional service that we can add on to your management agreement and then we can determine how many times that needs to happen. And if you do want to talk to us, reach out to us, you can email us at [email protected], or you can give us a call at 615-925-3880 extension three. We'd love to hear from you.
