A rental property is a great way you can provide affordable and quality housing to your community and also gain benefits from its cash flow and capital gains when you later sell. But handling the day-to-day tasks with a rental property may stretch your ability and knowledge past that which you can handle on your own. In many situations as a rental property owner, you will need to seek the appropriate service from a local professional. Here are some services that you may benefit from as a rental property owner.

Locksmith Services

As a rental property owner, your property will see a great number of tenants who move in and out of your property. The average rental lease length for a tenant staying in your rental is three years, but a standard rental contract can start at a six-month length and increase from there, so you could easily have tenants moving in and out twice a year. And with all this tenant traffic, each one will want their home to be safe and secure with proper locks.

As a rental property owner, it is your responsibility to make sure the locks are changed out between tenants. If you have more than one rental property, you can keep several different locks for your properties and rotate them around as you move in new tenants. This way each property gets a new lock for each new tenant. You don't want an old tenant to still have a key to the property and have the ability to gain entry.

When you have a locksmith, they can help you with this service in preparing your rental. For example, when a tenant moves out, your locksmith can re-key the lock's tumblers to fit a completely new key. This service allows you the convenience of keeping the same doorknob and deadbolt within the entry doors of the property. But once the locksmith re-keys the lock, you will have a new set of keys for the property. They can even make you extra copies of your new keys so you and your new tenant have access.

A locksmith is also a handy professional to have on your team in the event you ever need to evict a tenant. In some instances as a landlord, you may need to hire a local constable to physically remove a tenant from the property and change the property's locks so the tenant cannot illegally move back in when you and the local law enforcement leave. Make a quick call to your locksmith, who can meet you at the property to complete this service, which can cost $40 and up on average.

Property Maintenance

A good property maintenance professional is essential when you own a rental property. Unless you have the skills, knowledge, tools, and extra time to handle all your property's maintenance, you will need a professional you can rely upon to handle this.

There is a great deal of maintenance that your property will need while it is vacant and while it is occupied. For example, your tenant may call you about their dishwasher that has been leaking water onto the kitchen floor. Your maintenance person can handle the repair or recommend a replacement for the dishwasher.

Also, when your tenants move out, there may be dings and holes in the walls that need patching, which your maintenance person can handle. Or the sprinkler system might not be fully working in one section. Your maintenance person will know how to diagnose and repair the sprinklers so your lawn does not suffer from it.

Be sure to look for and hire a maintenance professional who is trained in many aspects, such as anything from HVAC to drywall. Then, as your property needs various repairs and maintenance, they can handle the work for you.