[quote=CA renter]
If you own an apartment building or a mall, by maintaining it, you’ll be able to charge higher rents. Also, if you (and other owners/investors) maintain these properties, you’re more likely to realize capital gains as the properties will hold their value better vs. properties that have lots of deferred maintenance and create a bad environment…causing local property values to go down as well.

Now, there is a point at which the benefit of each maintenance dollar diminishes, but to suggest that paying for decent, quality maintenance doesn’t benefit your bottom line…well, that just doesn’t make any sense.[/quote]

Oooooh, swing and a miss.

See, the key word is “choose.” What happens when an investor “chooses” to pay more in maintenance and repair costs?

In this example, you are assuming that the price that I am paying for those maintenance costs is low and that I am somehow getting low quality in return. That is not necessarily the case.

Yes, of course you need to maintain the property but what if you are already maintaining it properly and the service is already at its highest quality? Is it financially responsible for pay more? Paying more doesn’t make any more sense.

See, government “chooses” to pay more in these maintenance and repair costs.

I mean, we’ve seen this happen. There are many capital projects and even maintenance projects that the City of San Diego could not afford because it was paying so much into its debt and its pension. There are parts of San Diego that the City couldn’t fix the potholes on the roads.