Winter doesn’t officially arrive for another 2 weeks across the United States, but in Portland we’ve officially seen cold winter recently - including snow, ice and rain.
If you haven’t gotten your Portland Oregon Rental ready for winter yet, here are 4 winterization tips you should consider for your rental properties starting this week.
Tip 1 – Get Ready For Snow
Instead of scrambling to deal with new snow on the ground, take the time to stock up on supplies like ice melt NOW. You should also contract with snow removal companies locally so you can have snow removed from the parking lots of your rentals on heavy snow days if they occur.
Tip 2 – Check All Heat Sources
It’s important to check the furnaces and other heat sources in your units now before extreme cold weather since most tenants will be using their heaters or furnaces during the cold winter months. Taking the time to anticipate potential problems now before they occur will save you the time and hassle of having to deal with them once cold weather hits. When this happens, local repair companies get swamped and are not able to come out to fix loss of heat issues right away – exposing you to habitability claims if it really takes time to restore heat in one of your properties.
Tip 3 – Clear Out Those Gutters
Another important step to winterizing your Portland Oregon Rentalproperties is to clear out the gutters at all of your properties. Because of the increase in rain and snow during the winter, the gutters on your properties will have to be ready to handle excessive water or snow melt.
Tip 4 – Inspect the Exteriors of Your Buildings
Most important, take the time to fully inspect the exteriors of each of your Portland Oregon Rental properties. You should inspect walls, doors, window frames and roofs to look for damaged areas and to make small repairs to keep the warmth in for your tenants.