Weather Proofing Rental Units

[homealone]

As we all know winter will be showing its cold, dreary, ugly head soon. Now if your a home owner and you rent it out now is the time to contact the tenants to make sure that the home is ready for winter.

Checking things over and making sure that the windows aren't leaking cold air, make sure that the furnance filter has been changed, checking the doors for air leaks as well.

There are a few things like this that can make a huge difference in the warmth of the home, and the tenants will appreciate you taking the time to make sure that the home is winter ready.

I know it seems that most landlords don't want to take the time to do these kinds of things and leave it to the tenants to deal with all of this.

Which of course is something that you can do if you speak to the tenants prior to winter about making these kinds of plans. Though if you haven't talked to the tenant about this then take it upon yourself to make sure that the house is winter ready because winter weather can cause a lot of damage to a home and that is something that a landlord/home owner doesn't want to deal with.

[House on the Prairie]

It might also be a time to consider a programmable thermostat, if the home doesn't have one already.

Not only that, but if the owner knows the home well enough, he or she can give cost-saving tips to the renters in order to help them save money on their heating bills. Things like taking advantage of sun soaked windows, redirecting the vents in the house (like shutting down or lessening the airflow on vents on the upper floors so that heat can be naturally circulated), etc--all great little tips that can take money away from the heating bill and ensure there's plenty of cash left to pay the rent.

We haven't had to turn the heat on here yet (we had yet another 80 degree day), but I know that day is coming. Around here we could be wearing shorts and flip-flops one day and mittens the next!