subject: Real Estate Investing Tips - Make Your Investment Property Shine [print this page] Real Estate Investing Tips - Make Your Investment Property Shine
Most people wash their outdoor windows in the spring and then maybe again in the late summer or fall. That's assuming they live in the home and take good care of it. When you purchase an investment property, particularly a fixer upper, it's possible that the windows won't have been touched in years.
You will want to clean those up and get them as clear as possible to make the house sparkle and look like it has been cared for. It's not necessarily as easy as spraying on the window cleaner and wiping it off with a paper towel if there are months or even years of accumulation on them.
The first thing you can do to make the job easier is to knock down the bulk of the dirt, grime, and cobwebs from the outside windows. Get out the hose and start with the top most windows. Use a pressure spray nozzle like you would use for washing the car. You're just interested in knocking the dirt off in general here.
Next, invest a bit in a window cleaner squeegee. They have a sponge applicator on one side and a rubber strip squeegee on the other with a short handle. Most of them can be extended with a long pole screwed into the end if necessary so you can reach.
Make a cleaning solution of a few drops of dish soap in warm water. You don't want suds, just soap. This keeps you from scratching the window, too. Apply the solution with the sponge side. Now wipe off the window, soap and all, with the squeegee side. Move in an s-shaped stroke and wipe the blade with a lint free rag (a cloth diaper perhaps). No need to rinse the soap off first.
The edges will still have water and soap so you can wipe that down with a chamois cloth. The trick to the chamois cloth is to soak it in water first, then wring it so it's barely damp. There won't be streaks left if you do it this way. Car detailers have known this trick for decades.
If you have multiple paned windows, cut a squeegee with a hacksaw to the size of the panes. Apply the soap solution with a natural sponge, and then run the squeegee straight down each pane from top to bottom. Then wipe the blade off before doing the next pane.
Real Estate Investing is fun and can be very rewarding! Doing the small things can make a big difference!
