by Matt Kastner 
Nobody likes handling maintenance calls. Not only are they a pain, but they tend to cost money to fix. And no one likes to pay for unexpected expenses. One of the most frustrating issues a landlord can encounter is trouble with a property’s HVAC system. A downed heater or air conditioner at the wrong time can really put your tenants on edge. If its a holiday or weekend its going to be a pretty expensive fix too. That’s why keeping a backup around is a good idea. The goal is to placate the tenants long enough to get a repair man to the property during normal business hours.
For heating, buy a couple of space heaters at the hardware store and keep them around for emergencies. If you trust your tenants, you might even want to leave these backups in the basement. That way, if a furnace breakdown comes in the middle of the night you won’t have to jump out of bed and drive to the property to offer a temporary solution.
For air conditioning, its good to keep an old window unit somewhere around. Whether you find one on sale at the hardware store at the end of the summer, have an old unit from another apartment or buy a used one, it’s always good to have a backup. If you can offer your tenant some sort of temporary solution while you try to arrange for a repair man to come by it will make the situation much easier. It saves money, it makes the tenants happy and it makes the landlord happy. Gotta love the win-win-win scenario.