Hey, everybody, Alex Smith here from Evernest, Chattanooga (What's Normal Wear And Tear And What's A Resident Charge In Chattanooga?). So, we get asked pretty frequently, you know, what's the difference between normal wear and tear and what's a resident charge. So, hopefully, this video will give you some more clarification for that. You know, this video is going to be really helpful for anybody, whether you're just getting started in your investing career or you've been doing it for 100 years or, you know, some significant length of time.
I'm Going To Walk You Through it!
Basically, how this is going to work is I'm going to walk you through one of...you know, the report that we do anytime somebody moves out. I would strongly encourage anybody that's watching this to set up some kind of system like this. So that way, you know, worst-case scenario if, you know, a resident disposition dispute winds up in front of a judge then you've got something in writing that kind of shows, you know what exactly the house looked like, you know, whenever you locked it.
So Yeah, This Is Our Report
It's got a section for every room in the house. So, I'll just kind of walk you through it and show you what we charge to the resident and why. So, just to kind of explain what things mean. Required repairs, exactly what it sounds like. You know, anything that, you know, in our mind is either like a safety, security or habitability issue you're going to want to go ahead and get fixed. And then, you know, painting and that kind of thing it's going to be on there as well.
Our Opinion Is going To Help
Recommended is anything that, you know, in our opinion is going to help the house rent faster but isn't necessarily required for the house to go on the market. And then this next section down here, getting into basically like a general overview of the house. So, utilities on, obviously you need at the very least power on just so you can see what the heck is going on inside the house.
Remove Debris, Exactly What It Sounds Like.
You know, if the resident left anything behind, you know, that obviously needs to be removed. And I've never seen a case where, you know, debris needed to be removed and it wasn't a resident charge. Same thing for cleaning, right below it and then clean the carpets. So, yeah, we require the residents among other things to obviously move all their stuff out, clean the house, and then also clean the carpets basically to return the property in the same condition that it was given to them in. So, yeah. And this is a picture of basically everything that was left by the resident.
I'm Getting Into The Exterior.
We didn't charge them for...the resident for anything on the outside of the house. I wouldn't expect the resident to pressure wash. You know, that's also a recommended repair. So, it's going to help give the house curb appeal, basically, look like a new house. Also had a small tree growing on the side of the house right here. You know, that could have been, that could have been grown there for years.
It's Kind Of Hard To Say. (What's Normal Wear And Tear And What's A Resident Charge In Chattanooga?)
So, you know, this resident had only been there for I think a year, something like that. So, not something I would charge to them. Same thing with the downspouts. Stuff happens to the downspouts that somehow could have been missed by somebody and it had been sitting there like that for a while. All right. Getting into the living room. So, you can see right here some debris needs to be removed. A lot of painting needs to be done.
Looking At The Picture
This, if we're looking...I'm looking at this picture right here by the fuse box. So, there's a lot, obviously, this is not normal. If I remember right, it looked like something was dripping down from this panel. So, I don't know if somebody spilled something and just didn't bother to, you know, try to clean it up or what. But, you know, that's either going to need to be cleaned up or painted over. So, you know, that's a resident charge. Same thing for these four photos down here. These are all pretty large wall spots. So, you know, in my opinion, not necessarily something that you could expect, you know, when a house turns over. So, that was a resident charge as well.
No Fireplace. Kitchen Needed Some Cleaning. I Don't Know
if you can tell from these pictures or not, but there was an attempt to clean. As to the degree of that attempt, I can't say because obviously it needs it, but the counters were pretty oily. You could see right here the microwave had some fingerprints on it and that sort of thing. This bar right here is pretty dirty. The fridge had something spilled on it and then, you know, more stuff in the pantry and then just needed to paint. I think this was the pantry door. So, needed to paint that. So, all of this stuff is a resident charge.
All Right. First Bedroom, This Is The Master Bedroom.
So, you can see right here, the carpets obviously weren't cleaned because, you know, there was a bed or something right here. And that's the cleanest spot in all of the carpet in the room. So, you know, definitely, need to clean the carpets. I didn't see anything that would warrant them needing to be replaced, but regardless, you know, it's laid out pretty simply in our lease that the resident needs to clean the carpet. So, that was a resident charge as well. And then, you know, some other stuff right here just dirty, needs to be cleaned up.
That Was A Resident Charge. (What's Normal Wear And Tear And What's A Resident Charge In Chattanooga?)
And then this picture right here, I'll blow this up so you guys can see it, but, you know, right here is pretty dirty. So, you know, that's...in my estimation, that's a resident charge. This, you could probably go either way on, you know, it might just be from furniture rubbing up against the wall, which is pretty typical no matter, you know, how long somebody is there especially if it's, you know, for like a bed frame or something like that. But, you know, which we wound up charging this to the wall painting to the resident.
You Could Probably Paint Over!
And the reason being is because, you know, sure, you could probably paint over it, but at the very least, you know, you could have at least tried to take a magic eraser and wipe all this, whatever this is off of there. And then try to do the same thing for this wall spot. Magic erasers work pretty well if you've never used them. Bedroom two, not really a whole lot going on in here. You know, the carpets looked okay in here. And then just debris needed to be removed. Some spots on the walls needed to be painted. There was a dent in this doorknob right here.
So, You Know, That Wound Up Being A Resident Charge.
It's... you know, it's pretty easy to not dent a doorknob no matter how long you live somewhere. So, yeah. Bedroom three, same kind of thing as the last bedroom. Just some painting needed, it looks like here. You know, there was something spilled somewhere again and, you know, that could have been tried to be cleaned up, but, you know, it wasn't unfortunately, so that was a resident charge. Got a little crack right here by the doorframe.
And I Don't Think That Was A Resident Charge.
I mean, you could guess you could go either way if you really wanted to, but in my opinion, it's not. But you know, just a quick patch job there, not necessarily a big deal to fix. And then some holes in the door. You know, if you haven't been around the block and you don't know much about these doors, the thing with these doors is that they're hollow. So, you know, anytime you have, you know, the structure of it changed like this where you have holes in it, you can't just patch them up, unfortunately, you got to replace the whole door. So, you know, that was a resident charge.
Another Bedroom Right Here.
A spot on the carpet, so obviously not, you know, not cleaned. And then just some painting. Those were all resident charges. Bathroom, I wrote some notes on here. One wall needs to be painted. Every surface in here was dirty, so you can see right here from the bathtub. The sink. And then, you know, this large spot right here on one of the walls.
So, Second Bathroom, (What's Normal Wear And Tear And What's A Resident Charge In Chattanooga?)
This was the upstairs bathroom. A lot of stuff left here. And I think this was a towel bar that was broken or a towel holder, something like that. I don't remember honestly don't remember if we charged that to the resident or not, but that would be something I would charge to the resident because, you know, you shouldn't be breaking this. You know, it's pretty easy to not break one of those no matter how long you've lived somewhere. So, here's a closeup of the towel holder and then just removing the debris, cleaning was a resident charge, the cleaning charge was for the whole house. So, it's not a per room kind of thing. And then in the garage, just more... resident left, more stuff. And, you know, charging them for that. In the hallway, this was in the stairs going up. You can see right here carpet spots. So that needed to be cleaned, paint the walls, you know, more of the same from what we've seen already. So, that's it. I hope you guys, you know, got some good information out of this. If you have any other questions, definitely feel free to reach out to me. Again, my name is Alex Smith. I run the gkhouse's office here in Chattanooga. You can give me a call, (423) 648-7368 extension 3 or you can shoot me an email [email protected]. Thanks.
