How often do you inspect?

[Bilgefisher]

Ive been a landlord for a mere 2 months now. I am planning on inspecting quarterly, but may do so monthly. Ive been through each unit once now.

Just curious, how often do you inspect your units and what do you look for?

 

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[msa1]

Rental certs expire every two years around here. I need a furnace cert to go with the rental cert so I go in two weeks before the city inspection with the HVAC guy.

I've been very lucky with tenants taking are of my places, but if I suspected there was a problem I might pop in unexpected once in a while.

I think monthly (other than peeking my head in while picking up rent) would probably drive both you and the tenant crazy after awhile.

 

[MrPink]

I have had landlords that asked if they could repair something in the house (such as paint a wall) and probably took that time to complete an unofficial inspection.

 

[CMCarlin]

I think monthly is a bit excessive. As responsible tenants, it would cause us a lot of stress (my wife is peculiar about her privacy and 'strangers' peeping in on our small children's lives here)

 

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[SteveO]

We have quarterly inspections which should be adequate for a typical renter.

On a standard visit we:

Change the air handler filters
Check for any water leaks (roof, plumbing)
Treat for bugs with powder dusting and bait. (a must in apartment buildings)
Inspect Apartment cleanliness
Smoke detector operation

On some properties we would also do drain maintenance with our designed formula.

 

[SteveO]

Depending on usage and the filter type used, you might want to leave extra air filters to be changed monthly. We have them available in our office for pickup when rent is paid. We do physically change them ourselves every 3 months.

 

[hakrjak]

Our property management companies inspect on average about once a year, but each time we send their handyman out to repair something we always tell him to take a good look around while he is there, just in case. Besides the usual stuff like the furnace, etc -- Tub surrounds need to be inspected atleast every year to make sure you don't have any water leaking into your walls/basement, etc..

Cheers,

- Hakrjak

 

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[Bilgefisher]

Thanks for the input. It sounds like quarterly will work unless I need to do so more often with a particular tenant. For the first six I plan on managing these myself, but I am strongly considering property management after that.