One of the most important jobs of a property manager is recommending when to repair and when to replace an owner’s appliances. Although installing a new appliance can have a hefty price tag, depending on the age and repair history replacing the appliance may be the best long-term financial decision and the best solution to meet the tenant’s expectations of functioning appliances.

We are all familiar with this dilemma when we have a car that is getting old and needs an expensive repair. Should I spend $1000 bucks on a repair because I need my car now? Even though I expect there will be another $1000 repair just around the corner? Am I better off cutting my losses and buying a new car? The same decision process exists for appliances such as water heaters, HVAC systems, stoves and ovens or other items.

In the car scenario we usually have an expert mechanic confirming that repeat expensive repairs are necessary to keep the car running.

What about appliances? As an owner of rental property, your property manager should be the expert for you. Through the vendor (plumber, HVAC Tech, etc), the manager will be able to determine the age of the appliance and pull the repair history of the appliance from the property management software.

Here at Crosstown Properties, we have nearly two decades of experience managing just this issue. We also have long term relationships with trusted vendors so that we offer reliable, time-tested advice.

Let’s take the example of a gas water heater:

• A tenant submits a repair request for a gas hot water heater saying, “I’ve relit the pilot light several times but it keeps going out. We don’t have any hot water, help!”
• Before I send the plumber I look up the history of the hot water heater in our property management software to see what repairs have been done. The plumber finds that the pilot light is just fine and the thermocouple looks good. Maybe the plumber cleans the pilot, but as far as he can tell the hot water heater is working properly. That’ll be $200.
• Then two weeks, two months, maybe even six months later the tenant submits another repair request: the pilot light has gone out again. This time the plumber replaces the thermocouple and cleans the burner assembly. Now we have about $500 of repairs into the water heater.
• The next time the pilot light goes out – anywhere from a few weeks to several years later – the plumber may say that the next logical step is to replace the burner assembly. This repair will be around $300-$500 and we could easily have up to $1,000 into repairs on this water heater.

To repair or not to repair? The major variable here is the age of the water heater. The older the hot water heater, the sooner the decision should be made to replace it instead of continuing to pour money into repairing an older water heater that frequently requires repairs.

More recently manufactured hot water heaters generally last 8-12 years. So if the hot water heater is around 5 years old then replacing the burner assembly for $500 (now up to $1000 worth of repairs) may make sense – a new hot water heater will cost $1700 to $2200 depending on its location in the house (garage or attic) and the amount of work needed to bring the water heater up to code. However, if the water heater is about 10 or more years old then it might make better sense to go ahead and replace the hot water heater.

There are no absolutes! The repair on the water heater, like your car, may allow the appliance to function perfectly well for years or it might not last much longer at all! Just like car repairs, you want expert advice to inform your decision.

Let us be that expert for you and your appliances!

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