These airts point out the ways to handle incidents in real estate investments.
The owner sometimes manages Real Estate investment properties, especially when the investor is starting out and only has one or two investment properties. When this is the case tenants call the owner directly rather than calling a management company; the owner typically hires a group of professionals such as electricians, plumbers and carpenter to handle the repairs.
However there are times when incidents happen that require immediate attention even before the technician arrives. The most common incidents in the real estate property are related to gas and electricity. However, they also occur in the clogged drain, which are not urgent but also cause pollution and can be dangerous.
As a preventive measure it is recommended to inspect the stove and gas boiler, air tightness test the to pipes and monitor electrical installations. A repair by inexperienced or accidents can cause serious damage, so it is better to have on hand the telephone number of a real plumber and electrician for any emergency.
Tips to counter act contingencies
* Gas Leaks: Odor of gas alerts the existence of a leak, which usually occurs in the boiler, stove or installation hose, it is best to ventilate the place, avoid sparks of light or heat (not light bulbs, matches or lighters), close the stopcock is in the meter, leave the area to avoid poisoning and immediately call the technician.
*The power failures: These regularly occur in short fuses, in this case is necessary to replace them, but not before unplugging appliances such as refrigerators, computers, televisions, microwave ovens and electrical, among others. If the problem stems from a cable, call a real technical, remember- do not try to fix it yourself because attempts to restore electrical power can originate fires and cause damage. When the problem is in the electrical meter or the transformer installed in the street, it is best to report it to the electrical company. If the property is several years old, it is recommended to inspect the electrical wiring to prevent short circuits that can damage your equipment, preferably handle ground connections to avoid burning your appliances.
* Water Leaks: Although water leaks and broken pipes are not as risky as gas or electricity leaks, you need to know how to act in case of an uncontrollable leaking of fluid. A properties water system usually have a valve to close the flow of water, if there is no such valve, one solution may be to cut a wooden stick, peel and place as the pipe cap as wood swells to cover the drain, then call the technician immediately. Real estate properties require maintenance and repairs, ideally professional technician can handle these situations but there are times when immediate counter measures need to be taken.
In this case the owner needs to take action to stop the problem from creating further damages; preventive inspections and regular maintenance can discover most major problems before they occur. However older real estate properties typically are more difficult to diagnose due to lack of complete repair records and previous owner maintenance work. The ideal situation is to hire a real estate property management company to handle everything related with the property; in this case the owner or investor is never called in case of problems (unless it is a major event such as a fire).
The real value of hiring a real estate management company is that it allow the owner to separate the ownership from the management, which is the only way wealth really be made with real estate investments. If an investor were to personally manage all his/her properties, he/she could not own more than 2 or 3 properties; it would become impossible to allocate time to do so. The priority of an investor should be generate as much passive income as possible, trying to save money by self managing or by delaying inspection and routine maintenance will only end cost more money; plus it is short sited to do so since it not a model that can scale, it is limited by both viability of time and capital.
On the other hand hiring a management company does the opposite, time limitations are removed altogether since one can hire as many management company as one wishes. However other factor need to be considered such as the number of properties owned and the age of the properties; an investor who owns two properties and both are newly build could self manage the properties for the next two years easily. But the minute the inventor buys a third property or the existing one age beyond two years it is wise to setup a remote architecture by letting other do the management. The real investors call this OTP or Other People’s Time; it is the only way a business can grow.
Tags: Airts, electrical meter, emergency tips, Estate, gas boiler, gas leaks, handle, incidents, microwave ovens, Property, Real, real estate investment, real estate investment properties, real estate investments, short fuses, sparks of light