Real estate is hot in Asheville, NC, and the rental market is no different! With access to outdoor experiences, an incredible craft beer and wine scene, funky music venues, and beautiful art galleries, there is no question that Asheville is a desirable place to live.
As a landlord in Asheville, NC, you may be asking what you can do to maximize ROI (return on investment) on your rental properties while maintaining a healthy relationship with your tenants. One great way to do this is by making sure that you are checking up on your property by performing a mid-lease inspection.
What Is a Mid-Lease Inspection?
There are many types of inspections that you may undertake during the length of any lease term. Typically, you would perform a move-in inspection to have a baseline to build tenant expectations around.
It is important to do this so you know the exact condition of the property before a tenant moves in. Having data like this makes it easier to assign fault or take responsibility when something breaks and helps mitigate maintenance costs due to knowledge of things that may need extra care.
Another type of inspection is the move-out inspection. Move-out inspections are a way to measure up your tenant's care of the property against the baseline that you built at the beginning of the lease term.
This will help when making decisions about whether or not to return the entire security deposit or not. It is also helpful in assigning whether or not the landlord or tenant is responsible for repairs on the property.
One way to ensure that there are not many problems throughout the lease is to perform a mid-lease inspection, which is a formal check-in of your property during a lease term. A mid-lease inspection's main purpose is to confirm that the property is being well taken care of.
It is a great idea to be carried out earlier on in the lease term (typically 3-6 months in) so that you can ensure your tenant has been able to settle in well.
How Mid-Lease Inspections Can Help Property Owners.
Mid-lease inspections following a solid checklist alongside a professional management team’s expertise on the matter will ensure that your property is well taken care of. If mid-lease inspections are thorough and frequent, they could help stop potential issues before they become big problems.
This could help cut down on the frequency of costly repairs and replacements, helping you save money and keeping your ROI high.
Regular check-ins also have the potential to help build a good rapport with your tenants. Having an open and honest renter-tenant relationship is a great way to reduce turnover. When you regularly check in with your tenants, you can have the opportunity to build that relationship and ensure that your tenants are fulfilling their end of the deal.
Record keeping throughout your regularly scheduled inspections could also help assign responsibility for who must make repairs. Sometimes tenants may cause damages, but if you do not take down accurate information regularly, you could potentially lose profits due to having to take care of things that your tenant should be responsible for.
The only way that you could ever know about these damages is by checking in regularly with your tenant.
Mid-Lease Inspection Checklist
No inspection should be without a thorough list of items to check up on in your rented-out property. A typical checklist should include:
- The details of the overall cleanliness and condition of the property. This should include everything that you can see, such as walls, windows, doors, etc.
- Check for any maintenance needs or repairs such as filters, leaks, window/door seals, appliances, and anything else that may need preventative maintenance so that you can nip expensive problems in the bud.
- Look for breaches of the rules of your lease. Is your property Pet Friendly? Are they refraining from smoking in your non-smoking rental home? This is a good time to see if they are following the rules that should be laid out in your lease.
If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is. If you own multiple properties, then you know that sometimes it is not always possible to regularly check in on your tenants to make sure that they are holding up to their lease.
That is why hiring a professional property management company is key when thinking in terms of what is best for your rentals. Asheville Phoenix Properties is the premier property management company in the Asheville area.
When you work with Asheville Phoenix Properties, you have access to decades of professional property management expertise that have your back. Asheville Phoenix Properties take great pride in their history of serving both property owners and tenants by managing single-family and multi-family residences across Buncombe, Henderson, and Haywood counties. Contact Asheville Phoenix Properties today!