The financial investment community has been boiling over the last few years for Investment Property and in countries like Australia and New Zealand some property has seen house and unit prices rise by as much as 80% over a 3 to 4 year period. So as people start to enter into the property market there are a few areas of concern you need to consider.

One important area to consider is the type of tiles you install into your property. Most people when they purchase a home or unit for investment purposes simply choose tiles that they like rather than considering the practicability of the tile. The type of tile can have a huge impact on whether you keep your tenants or not. Let me explain from my real life experience.

Issue 1: Be Careful of the Style of Tile You Choose for an Outside Area

In most Gated Communities and Unit High Rises, the common area will be managed by the Body Corporate and most Body Corporates have some pretty strict rules on what you can and can not do on your property and if you have a balcony this can really open some major problems.

At the moment, we live in a rented unit in a multi-story development in Townsville, Australia. The tiles that the owners have put into the property on the balcony are a cause of great concern for us because of the difficulty we have in keeping them clean. The Body Corporate has strict rules that prevent us from washing our decks down using a hose. The challenge for us is that the tiles used are tiles that have little grooves in it. The grooves in the tiles actually capture the dirt and mold really easily.

The problem with this style tile is that the only effective way to clean them is to use the hose and this is the problem. The only way we are allowed under the body corporate rules is to use a mop and because of the type of tile we have, mops are torn up very quickly. The result is that the only other way we have been able to overcome this problem is to use a scrubbing brush and towels and get down on our knees and clean them by hand. Now fortunately for the owner we do not mind doing this but most people would say that is there problem.

To give you an idea of how serious this issue is, this owner has had over nine tenants in a 3 year period. That means they have had a new tenant less than every six months. As you can imagine, the owners have been up for a lot of management work, keeping the placing in working order from people moving in and out.

Now, I have heard many new Investment Property owners say, hey but cleaning of the balcony is between the tenant and body corporate. Well, unfortunately, that is not the case in most Western Societies. In fact you the owner are responsible and what I have learned from my recent stay with this body corporate is that when you purchase your Unit or Home, you automatically agree to the Body Corporate Rules and this is the same in many of the body corporates that we have seen over the last few years. The owners of the property can in fact be billed for any misdemeanours of the tenants.

The bottom line is this, as an investment property owner you are better off installing tiles that are a smooth face tile. By using a smooth face tile, the tenant will be able to easily mop the tile to keep it clean without using a hose or buckets of water. This will reduce the chance of the tenant upsetting other residents or the body corporate.

Issue 2 ? Be Careful of the Type of Tiles You Use in the Bathroom

Bathrooms are another area in which I have seen many owners make huge mistakes. Most bathrooms in Australia and overseas are now using tiles in their bathrooms, but some rental properties that my wife and I have been in, have used similar tiles to the ones we found on our balcony. This is actually a really dangerous thing to do especially if the Bathroom does not have a free air flow.

Once again in one of the units we were in recently, they have installed into the bathrooms tiles with grooves in the face of the tiles. These tiles are incredibly difficult to keep clean and what makes the situation even more difficult is the fact that there is no ventilation within the bathroom except for an exhaust fan.

What happens with these tiles is that unless they are cleaned every few days mold actually starts build within the grooves. This is especially true in humid clients such in the tropics of Australia or in Asia. It can also be a major issue in cold climates as well.

One of the key things I have learned as both an investor in units and houses and also a renter is that you really want to keep the process of keeping the unit or house clean as easy as possible. Remember, tenants do not care about the property the same in which you do.

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