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President's Message>
President's Message July 2007
1 Jul 2007
Summer is in full swing and this is a perfect time to do exterior maintenance on your
properties. The fact is even the best tenants don’t usually take care of a home as we
would take care of our own. Have you ever heard anyone say “you can always tell
which homes are rentals”? This is due to the fact that they are usually not as well
kept as the other owner occupant homes in the neighborhood. It is difficult enough
just to get them to cut the grass let alone do anything else. A few simple easy and
inexpensive things you can do will greatly improve the appearance of you rental.
I would recommend fertilizing at least three times per year spring, summer and fall.
Most of my rentals are on small lots and require very little time to accomplish this
task.
Trimming bushes and trees won’t only greatly improve the exterior appearance of a
home but it will also help control bugs and control mold/mildew from forming.
Overgrown tree branches can easily damage a roof and cause mold to form on the shingles.
Painting and caulking the exterior of the home will help prevent mold/mildew from moisture
entering the home.
Gutters clogged with leafs and other foliage become over weighted and can sag or break and cause the fascia boards to rot out do to moisture in the gutters. Cleaning gutters will help prevent costly repairs down the road.
Doing a little bit of exterior maintenance each year will prevent overhauling the exterior of a home prior to selling it. In many cities the housing inspectors pay more attention to homes that have overgrown landscaping and poor exterior maintenance.
Chris Yatooma, President
Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland
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