When you invest in a rental property, one of your main concerns is how a resident maintains it. After all, no one wants an unpleasant surprise during the move-out inspection. That’s why it’s important that your lease contains the proper language regarding your right to conduct regular interior inspections. However, what many investors may not realize is that exterior inspections are equally important. Here’s why…

At Haven Homes, we’ve discovered that regular exterior inspections are usually very indicative of the state of the interior of the home. Just examining a list of things outside the home can give you a sense of whether you need to conduct an interior inspection asap or if you can potentially wait a while longer.

In fact, we think exterior inspections are so telling that we conduct them constantly.

Here are some tips about how to handle exterior inspections:

• Prior documentation – Remember our blog about move-in walk-throughs and photo documentation? Inspections are one reason it’s so important to have records documenting the condition of the property at move-in. If you ask residents to correct a problem, you may get pushback if you can’t prove that they created the issue. If you have thorough walk-through documentation, you’re in a much better place to get the resident to step up and take care of the problem.
• Make efficient use of your time –  If one of our managers is in the neighborhood to take care of another property, we maximize the opportunity by inspecting other homes we manage in the same area. This only makes sense—and it makes even more sense if you’re an owner who is sacrificing free time to manage your investment properties. Why not make the most of a visit to a neighborhood by forestalling other issues that may take up more of your time later?
• Check the landscaping – Are weeds popping up among the plantings? Are hedges maintained? We recommend that leases specify that residents are responsible for maintaining their landscaping, but some residents aren’t always as proactive as they should be. If your property is in an HOA neighborhood, staying on top of yard maintenance is crucial because HOA volunteers are often busy issuing violations. Regular inspections allow you to keep potential problems from escalating.
• Look for debris – This isn’t a common issue, but sometimes trash, yard clippings, and other debris can occur. As you’d guess, HOAs are all over this problem as well (and to give them credit, for good reason). A messy yard not only needs to be resolved very quickly, it’s also a red flag about the potential state of the interior of the home.
• Learn about pets – While most residents follow the rules when it comes to pets, a simple walk around the property can alert you to any unauthorized animals. If you walk around a home and a dog barks or a cat is sitting in a window and the resident hasn’t paid the mandatory pet deposit and/or pet fee, that needs to be resolved immediately.
• Check window treatments – Sometimes there’s other evidence, such as broken or warped blinds, that indicates there could be a pet in the home. Even if an animal isn’t the cause of the damage, broken window treatments are a huge red flag that almost always means that the interior is not being maintained properly. If you see warped blinds, you’ll want to conduct an interior inspection as soon as possible.
• Track violations – It’s important to put a system in place to keep track of violations. If you own multiple properties, this becomes especially crucial because it’s easy to email the resident and then lose track of the status of the problem. If your properties are in an HOA community, you want to be especially sure you are monitoring resolutions in order to avoid potential fines.
• Create a sense of presence – Although it’s the least tangible element, a sense of presence may be the most important aspect of exterior inspections. Residents should know that the owner or manager cares about the property and is keeping an eye on things in the most helpful way possible. For example, if it says in the lease that residents need to maintain the landscaping and they never receive a notification about violations, they’ll think that nobody cares because there’s no presence in the neighborhood.
• Help residents help themselves – The kind of vigilant monitoring we’ve described as an integral part of our management process helps both the owner and the residents. It protects your investment and helps residents avoid situations where they’ll have to pay a cost or fine to resolve a problem in addition to their regular rent. Proper resident management may require some time upfront, but in the long run, it makes your own life easier and can save you a substantial amount of money.

If you found this blog helpful, don’t forget to download our Guide to Comprehensive Property Management for a checklist of everything you should take into account when managing a property.

If you’d like to learn more about Haven Homes “owner mindset” approach, which focuses on maximizing the interests and profit of the property owner, please give us a call or drop us a line. We’d love to chat about how we can help!