May 11th, 2012
Do It Yourself Property Improvements
A Globe and Mail story this week illustrated how instead of hiring expensive contractors, more and more landlords are doing repairs on their own.
Doing your own repairs, or “DIYing” is more popular than ever.
Why are People DIYing?
Cost is always the number one factor. Good contractors are expensive.
We are also living in very volatile economic times. Many economics are predicting a recession that is a “double-dip”. These means cutting costs is important.
Competition for finding great tenants or buyers for your properties is as heated as ever before. Lost rent or damages can eat up your annual cash-flow fast!
No one wants to put up with unreasonable tenants or being taken to the Landlord and Tenant Board and face a “trial by ambush”
Even worse, Bad tenants aka “tenants from Hell” can destroy your rental business fast.
In 2013, Ontario landlords will only be allowed to raise rents by a maximum of 2.5% (no matter what inflation is) if a new law gets enacted.
This is a far cry from Landlords in B.C. who can raise their rents by 4.3% in 2012 or landlords in Alberta, who have a lot of freedom in how they raise their rents.
OLA Members Explain Their Strategies
Several OLA members were invited to give their comments on how to do successful DIY projects.
OLA members gave people important tips, such as ” “Doing your own repairs and renovations is really a key point of landlords these days; the days of slumlords are over if you want to get good, qualified tenants.”
Other OLA member tips included:
“When you are renovating a rental, your goal is to maximize return on investment and to attract quality tenants. Your personal tastes are not as important; the goals are different.”
Other commentators included Scott McGillivray of HGTV’s “Income Property”.
To read the original story go to Canada’s National Newspaper, the Globe and Mail
To discuss this in Ontario Landlords Advice forums click here.
