Fully furnished or in storage ?

I'm thinking of moving out of my PPOR and boarding for a couple of years or so as to save some money. I'm looking into the pros and cons of keeping my ppor studio unit fully furnished or whether to store my goods.

Financially it would be cheaper to rent my ppor fully furnished wouldn't it? I would think so but then what about the repairs/maintenance costs of having a fully furnished unit.

Also I'm not sure I would like to use the same furniture again once its been vacated. I guess I could always buy 2nd hand furniture if I need to buy furniture in the future sometime.

I think I could get a reasonable amount in rent as my studio is only 3 km from the cbd. There seem to be a few backpackers/overseas people living in my complex. I'm thinking I could also get interest from students and recently divorced people who dont have furniture or want to buy furniture.


Anyone have any thoughts?
 
Fully furnished is good for the markets you have just talked about. But you need to make sure that your area has those type of clientele who would appreciate a fully furnished place.
 
We rent out our 1 bedroom unit for 8 months of the year..while we come to Australia.
We include all dishes,pots, etc, and we also provide heat, lights,cable, internet, and phone.

When we return we never felt uncomfortable using our furniture again.
Anything that is "personal" is stored away, and not in the way of the tenant.

Our furniture isn't fancy, and nothing can't be replaced.
 
I'll need to make some appointments with some PM's to discuss all this. I'm in Highgate which is close to Perth CBD, Mount Lawley and Northbridge. I think this area i'm in is very well suited for it.
 
We rent out our 1 bedroom unit for 8 months of the year..while we come to Australia.
We include all dishes,pots, etc, and we also provide heat, lights,cable, internet, and phone.

When we return we never felt uncomfortable using our furniture again.
Anything that is "personal" is stored away, and not in the way of the tenant.

Our furniture isn't fancy, and nothing can't be replaced.

hmmm interesting ok
 
Contact a PM or two in the area to gauge the interest for fully furnished.
You'd also need to make sure the furniture is matched to your taget demographic i.e. trendy/modern for young professional or standard furniture for others.
If rented to young professional (try company lease - they're even better), I'd have no problem using the furniture again later. Also consider the depreciation you'll get back on them.. items under $300 are depreciated in the first year :)

On the down side, the leases could be short term with vacancy periods.
 
I'll need to make some appointments with some PM's to discuss all this. I'm in Highgate which is close to Perth CBD, Mount Lawley and Northbridge. I think this area i'm in is very well suited for it.
Being close to the CBD is good. If/when you engage a PM push them to lease to a mining company or similar.. Many advantages for having the lease through a company - longer term leases, more scope for rental increases, much less chance of disputes, less chance of the place getting trashed etc.
 
I have an inner city unit that used to be a boutique hotel. The tenant was there when I bought it and it was fully furnished. Pots, pans, tea towels, linen (everything).
She'd been there for a few years when we bought it and we have owned it for 3 years. She's never asked for anything to be replaced (lucky).
If she moves out we will probably still rent it furnished but not with all the small stuff. Everything will probably be too old anyway.

I think you need to speak to an agent and see how much difference it will make to the rent. Plus it would save you storage costs if you don't need it.
 
I've got a furnished place where I am, and charge double the going rate for a non-furnished place in Orange.
That's a good enough reason to do it! I also get depreciation on furniture.
I only spent 7k on furniture/whitegoods, etc, so that's a pretty good return, 7k for an extra $300 per week.

In your case Alex, you could just about replace your furniture (or better) with the extra rent/write-offs.

As long as there is a demand...
 
I would have no issues moving back in after somebody was using my furniture but I would buy myself a new mattress. When you consider a body can lose up to 1kg of fluid (sweat) through the night, and when you think about how you toss and turn on a hot night, I'd want a new one.

Having said that, I don't think about it when I stay at an hotel :eek:
 
I would never use storage. Waste of money and all your stuff gets covered with dust (cardboard residue?). I involuntarily had my stuff in storage when a removalist stuffed me around. When my friend got her stuff out of storage it was covered in mould as well as the dust. I would try renting furnished for a higher rent return. I'm sure there will be plenty of people relocating from overseas/interstate for FIFO mining jobs.
 
Also I'm not sure I would like to use the same furniture again once its been vacated. I guess I could always buy 2nd hand furniture if I need to buy furniture in the future sometime.

Alex, I have some second hand furniture that you might like to purchase. it's from a rental studio I have in highgate so might do the job.
 
Being close to the CBD is good. If/when you engage a PM push them to lease to a mining company or similar.. Many advantages for having the lease through a company - longer term leases, more scope for rental increases, much less chance of disputes, less chance of the place getting trashed etc.

hi

Do you have any handy links? I'd like to check this out.

thanks
 
I've got a furnished place where I am, and charge double the going rate for a non-furnished place in Orange.
That's a good enough reason to do it! I also get depreciation on furniture.
I only spent 7k on furniture/whitegoods, etc, so that's a pretty good return, 7k for an extra $300 per week.

In your case Alex, you could just about replace your furniture (or better) with the extra rent/write-offs.

As long as there is a demand...

Hmmm well perhaps this is a good time then to upgrade and get a digital tv. If I can depreciate it?!
 
We rent out our 1 bedroom unit for 8 months of the year..while we come to Australia.
We include all dishes,pots, etc, and we also provide heat, lights,cable, internet, and phone.

When we return we never felt uncomfortable using our furniture again.
Anything that is "personal" is stored away, and not in the way of the tenant.

Our furniture isn't fancy, and nothing can't be replaced.

G'day Kathryn. Just wondering how I go about learning about the process involved in providing the heat lights, cable, internet as you are talking about? Could you go into it in more detail please or do you have any links I can read. This could be quite lucrative for me.
 
Right so just off the top of my head

My to do list:

1. Do some homework online
2. Talk to other pi investors about their experiences
3. Start sorting and boxing personal items and move to storage shed.
4. Interview some PM's, get them to visit.
5. Redirect my mail

Can anyone add any more?

What do I do about bills such as Water, Western Power, internet. Do I continue to pay for these and include these charges as part of the rent I'm charging. What other bills would I include in the rent.

I'm thinking I'd be able to get at least $300 plus per week for my studio unit in Highgate but if I'm paying for extra bills perhaps I could charge more. Anway I'll have to find out.
 
G'day Kathryn. Just wondering how I go about learning about the process involved in providing the heat lights, cable, internet as you are talking about? Could you go into it in more detail please or do you have any links I can read. This could be quite lucrative for me.

Remember our rentals are all in Canada.
We just have the bills come to us and we pay them, just like you would at your own home.
 
Make the tenant responsible for at least the electricity otherwise the bills will go sky high.

Remove any furniture of sentimental value or anything else you are not prepared to lose. We once inspected a property for an IP, it was furnished and the price was rather high for what was included. An overseas vendor refused to budge on price and provided an itemised list of $20K worth of included furniture. Trouble was that the list bore no resemblance to what was actually there!! Clearly tenants had substituted over time. This was around 20 years ago, so with digital cameras today it would be easier to keep track.
Marg
 
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