Across the sweltering summers, dry winters, and rainstorm-soaked springs, one thing remains true for your McKinney rental properties: seasonal maintenance year-round is a must to keep your investments operating at maximum profitability.
The vastness of Texas and its associated ecological diversity make seasonal property maintenance in North Texas different from the East, West, and South. While lawn care might be rolled into your lease as a tenant responsibility, between tenants, it's beneficial for the health of your investment properties if you maintain your rentals—inside and out.
In today's blog, we'll discuss some of the unique seasonal maintenance needs of rental properties in North Texas, and how investors can address them to protect their real estate portfolio.
Keep in mind that all of these maintenance needs may not apply to you, depending on the wording of your leasing agreements. You can use this as an opportunity instead to outline which responsibilities fall on your tenants when it comes to seasonal property maintenance.
Compared to the entirety of Texas, McKinney is, on average, colder and wetter. We also experience more precipitation on average than in other parts of Texas.
While peak rainfall won't hit until late spring and early summer, the springtime is a great time to start recovering from winter weather before summer heats up and hits your rental properties full force.
Occasionally, McKinney still experiences enough of a temperature drop to merit a freeze watch. This juxtaposition between the extreme heat of summer and the comparative chill of winter is enough to wreak havoc on your seals.
Repairing caulking is a DIY project that can be done over the weekend—especially if your properties are in-between tenants. Use this as an opportunity to repair crucial sealing that helps keep your property cool in the summer and dry in the winter.
The late spring months leading up to summer are prime tornado and hail season in North Texas. After every severe storm involving damaging hail, your roof merits examination. Keep a lookout for raised nails and misplaced shingles: both are signs the roof of your McKinney rental properties has seen better days and may require an expert roofer to take a closer look.
Your investment properties in Texas face the unique challenge of being built on clay-rich soil. The expansion and contraction of this soil mean that if your foundation isn't properly irrigated and drained, serious faulting can develop. Given that winters in North Texas are relatively dry, the spring is the perfect time to check on your foundation.
Before May storms hit North Texas is the best time to make sure your gutters can handle the sporadic—and frequently overwhelming—rainy season. Clear out your gutters and inspect draining mechanisms to ensure your properties are ready.
Your HVAC systems must be functioning in your rental properties prior to summer to ensure the comfort of your tenants—and that your investments remain profitable long-term. As an expert property manager in McKinney, we always recommend leaving this work to the professionals, so you don't risk DIY damage to your units.
While summer storms are less frequent, baking heat can present certain issues for your McKinney rental properties as well. Use your summer inspections as a chance to check up on the continued maintenance of your foundation and HVAC as well as certain yard-care elements that weren't there in the spring—especially if you're between tenants.
With the somewhat cooler temperatures that grace our autumn months here, the post-summer wind-down process for property maintenance gets an extended stretch, generally leading into late November.
It's not unheard of to have a string of warm days extended even into December, but you should have most of your properties' fall maintenance needs taking care of before the first "freeze watch" reaches North Texas.
While winters in North Texas often feel like extended autumn until late December or early January, it's important to prepare your McKinney investment properties for any potential cold snap.
Seasonal maintenance in North Texas also means addressing the needs of any trees on your property. It often slips the minds of investors to have an arborist come and check on any trees surrounding your investment properties.
The best time to consider trimming your trees in Texas is in winter leading to early spring before budding occurs and tree activity renews.
Managing the seasonal maintenance for one property can be daunting—let alone managing it for five, ten, or even more! At some point, successful investors know that turning to a property manager in McKinney is a smart move for their investment portfolio.
A property manager local to your investment properties has the staff and capabilities needed to address everything from seasonal maintenance and inspections to placing tenants in your properties.
When you're an out-of-state investor, this becomes especially crucial to growing your wealth through real estate: when you can't be there, a property manager in McKinney can be your boots on the ground.
At RentHub Property Management, we support landlords and investors of every skill level. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting started, we offer our incredible library of resources to you—at no charge. One of the reasons we do this is because we know that when you succeed at growing long-term wealth through real estate, we're doing something right.
So, if you prefer to get your hands dirty when it comes to working with your investment properties, download our FREE Seasonal Maintenance Checklist! This guide will help you to identify crucial maintenance targets year-round for your real estate holdings—and help you to protect your assets.