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On The Road With MHIA: The Coast With The Most! Lower North Coast!
4th December 2024
What does it take to maintain your land lease home? House maintenance, both internal and external, isn’t just about keeping a lovely home. The best way to ensure we can honour any potential claim you make is to schedule regular home maintained with a professional tradesperson.
Chances are if you’re reading this, you already know a thing or two about the importance of home maintenance. But as time goes by and we settle in the third act of our lives, the idea of Saturday mornings spent up a ladder removing leaves from gutters or fixing the leaky tap in the laundry, suddenly seem a little less appealing.
However, the reality is we need to keep on top of things before that leaky tap in the laundry becomes water running down the (carpeted) hallway. Here’s a few reasons why home maintenance should be a top priority for every home owner and choosing qualified trades is so important.
Home maintenance is doing all the jobs around your home and property, or outsourcing to skilled and certified tradespeople, to keep your home running effectively and efficiently. It also makes your home look lovely and welcoming, which if you’re looking to sell, adds value - or as they say in the real estate world - street appeal.
Home maintenance responsibilities includes looking after the structure itself, making sure all your fixtures and fittings are working properly and doing all the smaller jobs and chores around the house, like cleaning and gardening.
For most people, their home is the most expensive thing they’ll ever buy. So why wouldn’t you want to protect your biggest asset? Do you think twice about regularly servicing your car, boat or caravan? What happens if your computer or laptop starts running a bit slow or your freezer isn’t keeping things quite as cold as it should? You do something about it before it gets worse.
If your home is starting to look a bit shabby, things are starting to droop that shouldn’t droop or it could do with a few licks of paint, get onto it right away.
When appliances and equipment start to age, they become worn down or start to lose their efficiency. For example, a damaged roof can soon turn into a leaking ceiling.
However, a regularly serviced air conditioner will not only run more efficiently, keeping you toasty warm in winter and cool in summer, it costs less to run because it doesn’t have to work so hard.
By investing money on the little things, you’re saving time and money down the track by stopping that small issue from becoming a big problem. It’s likely to be more expensive to fix or replace something that’s stopped working, than prevent it from happening in the first place.
As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure.
Speaking of prevention, saving time and money isn’t the only reason to keep your home in tip-top shape. Regular home maintenance may also help prevent secondary damage to your home. Damaged guttering should be fixed as soon as possible so it doesn’t overflow during a big downpour resulting in water damage inside your home.
Home maintenance may prevent such things from happening in the first place.
One of the easiest ways to increase the value of your home is to keep it in good condition. Keep it looking fresh and clean on the outside while ensuring all the appliances, fixtures and fittings are in good working order on the inside. If you had to sell your home tomorrow, would someone offer your asking price or would the real estate agent hand you a list of repairs quickly followed by an offer well under your asking price?
A neat and tidy home, no matter how big or small will never go out of fashion.
There’s no denying a well maintained home is lovely. It’s lovely to look at, it’s lovely to visit and, most importantly, it’s lovely to live in. Roofs don’t leak, air conditions run smoothly, floors don’t creak and steps are safe and sound. Not to mention, your neighbours will love you because your lovely home will make their lovely homes look better.
Not everyone wants to (or can) maintain their home in the way they’d like. This is when you outsource and call in the tradies!
When choosing a trade, ensure they’re certified, insured and qualified for the job. We know there’s always the temptation to call the local handyman to address your home needs, but be careful. They may not be up to the job – and in some instances don’t carry the right experience or insurance to properly cover their works. We’ve seen homes suffer from ‘quick fixes’ due to a lack of knowledge, and no insurance covers poor workmanship.
Love your neighbours? Make that community living work for you. Check if your neighbours need some help with their own home maintenance and maybe the local tradie will offer a discount? It never hurts to ask and you’re supporting your friends AND local businesses too!
As a home owner, maintaining your home is your responsibility. Our responsibility is to provide you with the best land lease insurance in the country. And with 30 years’ experience, we know what we’re doing.
For more information on our policies, contact us by phone, email or Facebook.