Summer is our busiest season of the year, and August is proving to be one of our busiest yet! To get ready for new tenants, we perform a make ready, which is when we do the maintenance and repairs needed to get the home ready. This is part of the service we provide to our clients so they don’t have to worry about their rental units. There are many moving pieces to one tenant moving out and another moving in, so it’s a huge time saver and serious piece of mind to have us take care of all the details.

What has to be done during a make ready? Quite a bit. Our make-ready checklist below gives you an idea of the scope and complexity. We coordinate with existing tenants to do a preliminary walkthrough and get a sense of the condition of the home (and whether it can be listed for rent right away or not).

Once the tenants move out, we do another complete inspection to see the full scope of work needed—this is when we look over the rental with a fine-tooth comb to see if the unit needs new paint or appliances or flooring, schedule any needed yard work and maintenance, and advise on whether updates need to be made to improve curb appeal. Some other standard items we perform in between tenants, to make sure the home is in tip-top shape include: lock rekeying and code compliance check, HVAC check, one-time pest control, fireplace cleaning, roof inspection, and more.

And, believe it or not, all this work is typically done in a week or less! Our goal is always to minimize vacancy and lost rent.

A make-ready on a single-family home or condo typically ranges anywhere from $1000–$5,000. Even a home with great tenants will have normal wear and tear. Make readies are typically our client’s largest expense so we always recommend you have a substantial financial cushion set aside (at least 3 months of rent) to cover these normal, inevitable expenses.

If you have any questions about how we can help you manage your property, so your tenant turnovers are all taken care of, get in touch!