One of the biggest problems for many rental property investors can be failing to plan for maintenance issues in their budgets. While it can certainly be quite tempting to see all income over and above the mortgage payment as profit, this can be dangerous when something breaks and you realize you do not have a budget to cover the cost of repairing it. The simple fact is that regardless of how well maintained your property might be, things can and will break from time to time so the best course of action is to plan ahead and budget for it so you do not struggle later on.

Ideally, the best time to begin thinking about your repair and maintenance budget is before you actually purchase the property. When you are looking at the numbers associated with the potential investment you will need to make in the property, it is essential that you take repairs and maintenance into consideration. Unfortunately, many investors completely forget to allocate funds they will need for repairs of the property and instead only take costs associated with taxes, fees and mortgages payments into consideration. Read the rest of this entry »