Ben Franklin’s quote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, is familiar to most of us and while we may not think about it as we go about our everyday lives we most likely embrace the concept to some extent. The most common area where we practice an ounce of prevention is in the periodic maintenance that we perform on new vehicles. Oil changes, lubrications, tire rotations and tune-ups are performed to the manufactures specifications in order to maintain the new vehicles warranty. Once the warranty period has passed some of us diligently continue to observe the manufactures specification for service while others through lack of discipline or interest ignore continued preventative maintenance. It has been proven that those who continued to maintain their vehicles experience better gas mileage and fewer costly repairs than those who we less diligent, certainly proving out the theory that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
While preventative measures are cost effective in our personal lives they can also save our businesses money. My boutique real estate firm experiences firsthand the ramifications that differed maintenance has, as we try to help property owners reposition their ailing investment. The cost to the property owner is not only through premature major repairs but also less revenue as it is much hard to obtain and retain tenants in a deteriorating property.
I realize that property owner’s hands are filled with other business obligations and the last thing they want to be focusing on is preventative maintenance. Fortunately there are alternatives to a property owner self-managing their property. Professional property management and maintenance companies offer a wide spectrum of services to help with every aspect of investment property ownership so that a property owner can focus on their key business. While some owners
balk at the idea of investing in professional services because of the costs associated with it others appreciate the freedom that it gives them to pursue other business ventures. As with all business decision there should be a cost benefit analysis performed when considering outsourcing professional services. If an owner considers the opportunity cost of self-managing I believe they will conclude that bringing in a professional property management and maintenance company is
a sound investment. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
