Check Out Our Move-in Inspection Video
We know that setting the relationship off on the right foot will determine how a tenant views you as a landlord for the remainder of the lease. In this move-in inspection video, we will show you how we try and catch any mistakes.
We need to catch these errors before they become a headache to the tenant.
If they move in and there are several items broken or other problems, they will view you through that lens from that point forward.
In this video, we will walk you through our typical move-in process and what we look for just two days before a tenant moves into one of our rental houses.
Transcript
Spencer: All right, everyone. My name is Spencer Sutton with gkhouses. We are at a rental property that has a new tenant soon to move in.
And I’m here with one of our property managers, his name is Wayne McGinnis. And Wayne’s going to be doing a “move-in walk-through.”
So, the lease has been signed, a deposit has been paid, first month’s rent has been paid, but the tenant is not moving in for another two days.
And so what we like to do is we like to walk through the house. We do this to make sure everything is working and everything is the way it’s supposed to be. We want them to have a very good experience.
So, I’m going to get behind the camera and I’m going to follow Wayne through this house.
We’re going to see exactly what he looks for, and he’s going to walk us through that entire process. So here we go.
Initial pass-through of the home
Wayne: Hey, I’m Wayne McGinnis with gkhouses. I manage the eastern side of town, everything east of 65.
We’re going to walk-through and make sure that everything’s ready for the tenant to move in.
All this kind of stuff that’s been left is not good.
Actually should have caught this previously but this why we do these walk-throughs.
We don’t want them to move in and see stuff like this.
Obviously things like tile that are used to replace in case there’s a crack in the kitchen floor. Any paint that we’re using on the home that we want to leave if we can and doesn’t bother the tenant.
Everything else, like this kind of stuff, is garbage, and we’re going to get rid of it today.
Checking doors, water, and toilets
All right, now that we’ve disposed of the garbage and stuff that was in the garage, we’re going to look in here to make sure all the doors open and close properly without sticking.
Make sure all the lights are working. Make sure the fans are working. We also want to make sure that the toilet is secure, that it’s flushing correctly.
We want to make sure the cold and the hot water are working, and we give a minute to make sure the water gets hot.
And here we have the furnace. Everything is clean.
We do have some leftover parts that we’ll leave just in case the condensation line ever has any problems. We’ll have some pieces to work with.
But all in all, we want to make sure this area is clean. There’s no dirt piling up all over the floor.
We just want a clean room even though it’s a furnace room because it’s part of the house.
You always want to make sure that this does not cake up.
We want to check the thermostat and make sure everything is working properly.
And we’re going to check the sink, make sure everything is draining properly.
So when you hate it for the tenant to move in and find that the garbage disposal is not working on day one. So we will make a list of this and have it repaired before the tenant moves in.
We want to check the refrigerator and freezer, make sure it’s clean.
Broken garbage disposal
Spencer: Okay. As Wayne is going through his move-in walk-through, really what we’re trying to do is cut down on any kind of maintenance costs that a tenant would have.
So as you can see, Wayne’s been checking the garbage disposal which we found out is not working. We’re going to get somebody to have a look at that.
But to check the microwave, check in the refrigerator, look at the dishwasher, make sure the garage door is opening, all these things are very important.
We check every little thing that typically a homeowner would not really think about. I know I wouldn’t at my house. But we need to check to make sure everything is working properly.
Or else, we’re going to get a maintenance call that something’s not right and we’ll have to come back out and fix it.
So we’re just trying to cut down on that because when a tenant moves in, if everything’s working, then they’re going to be happy.
They’re going to be excited to be in this nice house and we’re going to be excited to manage it for them.
Checking the carpet
Wayne: When the last tenant moved out, we had to replace the carpet on this area right here. And it shows that we tried to get as close a match as possible to what’s here, all this was clean.
So it still looks a little dark but I think we got a close match, which is really good.
That’s what you don’t want to happen when you’re dealing with electricity.
Apparently, there’s a wiring shortage in the ceiling fan, which I have now shut the power off to. We will make sure that this is taken care of before the tenant moves in.
All right, I’m checking the door on the master bathroom. Coming in, a really nice bathroom here.
And it’s showing signs of water damage. This was not here during our move-out report, nor during our inspection, nor during our final punch list.
So I’m concerned that the shingle or something had blown off. Again, it’s why it’s great that we did move-in inspection video to show you what really happens.
And like the bathroom, usually, if a leak is going to happen, it’s going to be somewhere you can’t see it, nine times out of ten. No real explanation for that but if you don’t look it up in the closet, you’ll never see it.
We want all the doors to latch properly. We want them to open and close without any problems for the tenant.
That’s the end of our move-in inspection video and we hope you learned something new. If you need help, give us a call.
Spencer is the VP of Marketing at Evernest. He wakes up with Google and Facebook on his mind. Having bought and sold over 150 homes in Birmingham, Spencer gets a kick out of helping new and seasoned investors navigate the mistakes he made as an investor. Spencer is also passionate about his love for Michael Jordan and does his best to explain to the Millennials (who never saw him play live) how much better he was than LeBron. He loves to hang out with his wife, kids, and the world’s best black lab, Jett.
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