You’ve done well for yourself and you purchased a vacation home. Now comes the fun part: maintaining that second property.
In order to avoid returning to a costly mishap, there are some steps you can take. Here are some ways to maintain your vacation home:
Property Management Company
While hiring a property management company is definitely the costliest of all vacation home maintenance options, it is also the one with the most options and will give you the most peace of mind.
If a full-service property management company would even be available depends upon the type of vacation property you own and where it is located. For example, you’ll have more success finding a property management firm if you own a condo in the heart of a tourist area than you would if you owned a detached home in a more remote area.
There are many advantages to hiring a property management firm. They can help you screen and select the right individuals to clean and maintain your home. Property managers can also open and close your home along with advertising and handling check-ins and payments if you plan to rent out the property while you are away.
Perhaps the biggest downside to contracting a property management company is clearly the cost. Property managers can command up to anywhere from 10 to 60 percent of rents brought in from your vacation home, depending upon the range of services the provide for you. So, if your beachfront condo would bring in $1,000 per month, expect to give up anywhere from $100 to $600.
Local Alternatives
If you’re not looking to fork over that much cash or there isn’t a reputable property management firm in the area that can manage your property while you’re away, there are some alternative solutions available.
If you don’t plan on renting out your property, call on local housecleaners or handymen to keep an eye on your vacation home while you’re away.
Cleaning services average out to be around $20 multiplied by the total number of bedrooms and bathrooms to be cleaned.
Looking for a fee-free choice or a a solution you can trust, try to look for a neighbor in the area of your vacation home that you’ve come to know and can rely upon to occasionally turn on faucets and to check for signs of issues that need to be addressed.
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Sure, maintaining a second property can be a lot of work. But with a few preventative maintenance tasks, you can be sure that smaller issues won’t turn into a full-blown disaster while you are gone.