i bought a duplex (!)

Preparing for the moving marathon

My new tenants will be moving out on May 31st (at noon), and the new ones are moving in on June 1st (at noon). That means that I have precisely twenty four hours to:

1. Clean the apartment thoroughly if the current tenants fail to do so
2. Change the locks and get new keys made
3. Replace the batteries in all of the smoke alarms
4. Replace the outlets and outlet covers that the tenants have (unfortunately) painted over
5. Paint the bathroom walls and ceiling (this is the only room that didn’t get painted during the last turnover)
6. Caulk and paint the old wainscoating in the pantry
7. Stain and varnish the new windowsills in the sunroom
8. Any other miscellaneous fixes and spruce-ups that I discover while I’m up there.
9. If I have extra time (which I doubt that I will) I’d really like to paint the ceilings. We’ll see.

A VERY FULL 24 HOURS
OK, so all of these things aren’t truly necessities, but I see turnover time as a good opportunity to sneak in some improvements — many of which are much easier to do when the apartment is vacant. Some of the tasks on the list could be done now, but with the tenants frantically packing and cleaning this week, I hate to inconvenience them. Right now, all I can do is make lists, mentally prepare myself, and make a trip to Home Depot for supplies tomorrow morning.

Related Articles:

• The cleaning supply arsenal
• Recovering from the turnover marathon
• The twenty-four hour maintenance marathon
• A Moving-Out Checklist

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Entry Filed under: Improvements, Turnovers
Technorati Tags: moving out turnover maintenance improvements landlord tenant duplex rental apartment