Owning a Roseville rental property is often a great investment. Owners have the potential to earn some great ROI, especially those who are willing to hold onto their investment for the long term, while the asset appreciates and your tenants pay down the mortgage.
There are costs to owning a rental investment, however, and you need to be prepared for them. Make sure these unexpected things are included in your budget so you’re not surprised at the expenses that are associated with renting out your property.
Vacancy and Turnover Costs
It’s unlikely that your Roseville rental home will be occupied by tenants 100 percent of the time. There will be periods where you have to make renovations and sometimes the market will just be flooded with rental homes like yours, and it will take a bit more time to find a tenant. You may need to spend a few weeks or even a few months paying the expenses of your property without the benefit of rental income.
Turnover costs include more than just vacancy. When one tenant moves out, you’ll have to invest in cleaning and preparing the property, and then you’ll have to advertise and market it.
Vacancy costs are especially expensive because it’s money that you can’t really recoup. The longer you don’t have a tenant in place, the more your investment costs you. You’re not receiving rental income, and at the same time you’re also required to pay for the utilities and the upkeep.
A strategic marketing program can help you minimize this expense, and so can a good tenant retention plan. However, you have to be prepared for it. Don’t forget to budget for the occasional vacancy and the potential turnovers.
Deferred Maintenance and Emergency Maintenance
In all of our years as Roseville property managers, we have never seen a maintenance problem get cheaper with time. They actually get more expensive, and it’s easy to be blindsided by the cost of those deferred repairs that seem like no big deal.
The lesson here is simple: don’t put off those minor repairs. Make them right away. Take a preventative approach to maintaining your home so emergency repairs are infrequent. Every investment property will have maintenance costs, and you’re probably budgeting for those. Make sure you budget for the unexpected emergencies as well, and do everything you can to prevent deferred and unreported maintenance.
Terrible Roseville Tenants are Expensive
It’s often a surprise to landlords how expensive a bad tenant can be.
A bad tenant will cause property damage and will violate the terms of your lease. You’ll spend more time and money than you want to on tenant evictions, maintenance, and renovations. There may be legal fees, extra cleaning charges, and a lot of frustration.
Unless you want to spend a lot of money on bad tenants, be sure your screening process is consistent and rigorous. You don’t want to lose money on terrible tenants.
These are just a few of the surprise costs that can come with owning a rental home in Roseville. Working with a professional property management team can eliminate the surprises and keep your overall costs down. If you’d like more information on that, please contact us at Sunburst Properties. We’d be happy to serve as your Roseville property management resource.
