Basics of Property Management: Screening Potential Tenants
How A Homeowners Association Protects Your Property
Jesse Obrien
The benefits of belonging to a homeowners association are well known and include maintenance of a community appearance, provision of recreational amenities and managing disputes, among others. However, did you also know that belonging to an HOA can also protect your property? This can happen via several ways as outlined below:
Damage Prevention
HOAs typically have rules and regulations governing residences behaviors. Some of these rules may prevent damage to your property. For example, there may be rules against cutting down of trees without contacting the association. This ensures that amateurs don't cut down trees and have them fall on your house or car.
Homeowners Insurance
There are several ways in which an HOA membership can help you with insurance issues. For example, if you don't belong to an association, then you may be tempted to forgo coverage or reduce it to the barest minimum. However, you will feel the pinch and may be forced to live with the damage for longer than necessary if something happens. However, your HOA will ensure that you have the coverage you need.
What is more, insurance companies tend to offer attractive packages to homes within HOA zones. This is probably because they perceive such homes as low risk.
Security
Securing your home isn't just about protecting your belongings from burglars; there are other threats to think of. For example, vandals may not steal anything, but they may leave you with broken windows or trashed flower beds. Delinquent graffiti artists who make your walls their playgrounds can leave you with a painting budget that you had not planned for. Since HOAs typically provide good security for their members, they are good at preventing such things.
Maintenance
Although a typical HOA may restrict its maintenance services to common areas, the spillover benefits may reach your home. For example, your association may be responsible for trash removal, lawn care and snow removal. How do these services protect your house?
Well, an accumulation of trash may attract pests and rodents to your neighborhood. Termites are attracted to organic matter, and if they invade your house, they cause expensive damage to your house's structure.
As you can see, there are lots of direct benefits you can enjoy by belonging to a homeowners association. In the long run, a good association may even protect the value of your property. Therefore, you shouldn't just view an HOA as an entity more interested in collecting fees and enforcing rules than providing benefits to its members.
To learn more, contact a company like Cornerstone Properties Inc.
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For the last several years, I've used a property management firm to help with my rental properties. One of the tasks that they handle for me is screening applicants who would like to move into one of my vacant units. Their expertise has helped me lower my tenant turnover and find people who want to stay with me for years. Part of the process is a tenant screening credit check. Before any further contact takes place, my manager orders credit reports from at least two agencies. That is enough to tell us if an applicant is a good financial risk. Assuming the references work out, I meet the candidate and make the final decision. If you own rental properties, let me tell you more about the benefits of having a property manager. I'm betting you'll find this type of arrangement will work for you too.