On the subject of property maintenance, your property management plan should include major appliances. Quality appliances will attract renters to your Kissimmee rental properties while presenting as a substantial future expense. When appliances are not properly maintained, they may fail faster and require replacement more frequently.
There are simple steps that landlords and tenants can take to lengthen the life of the appliances in your rental homes. By practicing a few easy precautionary measures, you can make sure that each appliance lives up to its full potential. Believe it or not, the first step to keeping an appliance running is reading the appliance’s manual. A good landlord will provide a copy of all appliance manuals and encourage their tenants to read them.
Basic maintenance goes a long way toward improving the longevity of individual appliances. To illustrate, refrigerators need their gaskets and coils cleaned on a regular basis. The gaskets are the plastic strip that forms the seal around the refrigerator door. To prevent gapping, wipe down the gaskets a few times a year. Cleaning the coils is also simple; all you have to do is remove the cover and vacuum or use a soft bristle brush. If there are filters in your refrigerator, a smart move would be to create a schedule to have these changed for your renters; this would make sure that the task gets done correctly and regularly.
Dishwashers also need to be looked at from time to time and it’s a simple process to clean the gasket with soap and water. This simple thing helps the appliance stay watertight. Check the filter regularly and remove any debris. You should also make sure your dishwasher is level with the floor. An unbalanced dishwasher would vibrate and those vibrations may harm the appliance as well as your dishes. On top of servicing the mechanical aspects of the appliance, you can also run a hot water cycle using vinegar or a dishwasher cleaner every few months. This will lengthen your dishwasher’s lifespan.
When talking about washers and dryers, proper use by itself already goes a long way toward keeping your units in good condition. Overloading the machines is the most common mistake people make and it leads to breakdowns and poor performance. Loads that exceed the machine’s capacity places extreme strain on the motor, belts, and transmission, leading to rapid wear and tear. Ask your tenants to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations about load size. Together with that, you should look at the dryer vents to see if it needs to be cleaned; you have to do this regularly to avoid buildup. When the external vent starts gathering lint and debris, it can lead to motor or thermostat failure, and make itself a serious fire hazard. We recommend double checking the vents each time you replace the filters.
These maintenance duties may be simple but they still take time and energy to do. Getting renters to lend a hand is the first step, but seeing to it that it actually gets done can be difficult. Why not save time, energy, and money by turning to the professionals at Real Property Management South Orlando? We do regular property evaluations and maintenance services that include large appliance care. Doing this increases the lifespan of all major appliances which, in turn, saves you money. Feel free to contact us online or by phone at 407-982-2000. We’ll be glad to answer any of your questions.
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