58 articles on property maintenance, written by the team that manages 700+ rental units across the Columbus metro. Page 2 of 3.
Spoiler alert, it snows in Columbus. While it may not amount to the same level of snow other areas of the U.S. get, it still can be significant, and it can still significantly affect a property owner’s budget. Per data we’ve collected on multifamily rental property expenses, landscaping and snow re
Read the article →Just as your tenants sign a lease agreement before they begin living in your rental property, so too must you as a property owner sign an agreement with the property management company you’ve selected to work with. This agreement, like all business contracts, should be thorough and specify the terms
Read the article →The owner/tenant relationship is a business relationship by nature, and both parties stand to benefit when the relationship is positive. Tenants who feel valued and appreciated are more likely to take good care of the rental unit. They may also be more likely to extend their lease year after year, w
Read the article →Anyone who owns real estate knows maintenance is just part of the gig. When you own rental property, however, the responsibilities for some of those maintenance tasks can become a little more ambiguous. Is it the tenant who should be tasked with fixing an issue in their rental unit, or will you or y
Read the article →Managing costs is a huge part of being successful with your rental property investment. Expenses can quickly eat into your profit margins, and if you’re not prepared, they can empty out your reserves in a hurry. With rising costs across the board, record inflation, and discerning tenants who expect
Read the article →Being self-reliant is a good quality. In fact, our cultural ideals are based on the very idea of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. But sometimes the best way to become a “self-made” real estate investor is to ask for help. To be clear, help comes in many forms. Sometimes all we need is informa
Read the article →Maintaining accurate accounting records is sometimes thought of as a secondary responsibility of owning rental properties but understanding the accounting process is essential to your success (even if you have an accountant to help you out). Not only does it enable you to take advantage of tax benef
Read the article →Rising inflation has had us all on the edge of our seats this year. Turn on any news station and you’ll hear reporter after reporter telling you we’re riding a wave of some of the highest inflation rates the U.S. has seen in several decades. But what about for you as a real estate investor?
Read the article →Your investment properties should be income generators, not a drain on your time, money, and, yes, we’ll say it, sanity. If your property isn’t working for you, it’s past time to make some changes. The question is, should that change be selling off your properties for a quick payday, or turning to
Read the article →Newer real estate investors love depreciation…until they get their first broken water heater or roof leak. Despite knowing how commonplace maintenance issues can be, they’re still never the first thing any of us wake up excited to tackle. Sometimes that’s because it’s those issues themselves that li
Read the article →In all businesses, and especially in service-oriented industries like property management where we’re interacting with clients and tenants on a daily basis, having a full staff of skilled and talented employees is a huge asset to any organization. But this process, like all areas of owning a busines
Read the article →When it comes to hiring a property management company, you need to trust them. If you don’t trust that they have your best interests at heart, there’s no value in hiring them in the first place. Because it’s central to our business to build trust that we want you to be successful with your
Read the article →Real estate is an investment niche that’s not for everyone, if we’re perfectly honest. You have to be comfortable tolerating an at times uncomfortable level of risk and be willing to become a master of many trades. But for those who have some guts, gumption and yes, cash on hand, it can bring lucrat
Read the article →Investing in rental properties can be a good way to earn passive income (though “passive” is certainly a relative term). What gets in the way of any given unit’s earning potential, however, are the inevitable expenses that come with property maintenance and repairs. From the routine upkeep to the mo
Read the article →We’ll be the first to admit that as a business and as individual employees of the company we’re always learning. Certain mistakes, while we’d rather not make them, give us moments of pause and create opportunities for us to continually refine our processes so we are best able to deliver great serv
Read the article →In Part 1 on the economics of owning and managing small multifamily units, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of adding multifamily properties to your investment portfolio. On the whole, we believe this type of rental property generally adds value in terms of ROI and is a smart choice, pr
Read the article →As a business, we’re always learning new ways to refine our processes to best accommodate our clients and their needs, but we’ll admit that working in property management can be a humbling experience, especially during periods of growth. Truth be told, we’ve made our share of mistakes during our com
Read the article →When property owners hear the term “property management,” they conjure up a variety of definitions, most of which are not accurate. The challenge is that without a standardized scope of services provided by property managers, it’s easy for confusion and frustration to take hold, because most client
Read the article →While mistakes are an inevitable part of life, no business owner likes to admit to making them. But, in the spirit of transparency and sharing what we’ve learned, we’re going to do something a little differently in this post than what we usually do on our blog. We’re going to discuss a recent mistak
Read the article →Securing good tenants is one of the most important components of being a property owner and real estate investor, and it’s something we spend a lot of time thinking about here at RL Property Management. Throughout our years as a property management company based in Franklin County, we’ve studied the
Read the article →Self-managing rental properties can consume a lot of time, energy and resources. Regardless if you’re choosing to expand your rental portfolio or maintain the same level of services you currently provide, keeping up with the responsibilities of property ownership, in addition to your full-time job a
Read the article →It’s the classic nightmare scenario. Your phone starts ringing in the middle of the night or on a long holiday weekend. Before you even tap accept on the phone, you can feel the frantic energy coming from the resident on the other end. So, what to do? If a tenant calls you in a
Read the article →Handling maintenance and repairs can be one of the most time-consuming parts of property ownership. Not only is there the actual work of fixing the unit itself, there is also the logistics of contracting the maintenance person and coordinating schedules with the resident and other affected individua
Read the article →One important part of being a landlord or property owner is dealing with utilities. When lease terms are not clearly spelled out, utility payments, and who’s responsible for what, can become a point of contention between tenants and landlords. Ensuring that tenants are paying the utility bills the
Read the article →A free, data-backed rent evaluation using our own portfolio numbers and current market comps.
