Fully Furnished VS Unfurnished

[mykie]

Hi all,

I have been renting out a place in East Melbourne for close to a year now and have had to move in for a little while due to FHB grant. I plan to stay for 6-9 months, after which I will be moving on. My question is, is it worth leaving the unit fully furnished for the next tenet and charging a higher rent? As the place is not the easiest place to move in and out from I thought this would be the simplest option and allow me to claim more depreciation on the goods that I purchased for the unit.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Mykie

 

[ermen]

i think its a great option to boost rental returns - i'm currently doing that for one of my units now. no fancy furnishings just tv, dvd, fridge, washer, sofa, table and beds (this could be tricky as people can get quite picky on that!). cost me less than $2k to furnish all up and i think i should recoup that back in a year as i estimate i get around $50 p.w. for the furnishings.

this apt is innner city city so there's a market

main things is to buy cheap and practical furniture which you can replace at low cost if anything goes wrong

 

[Twitch]

So long as there's a market for it in the area then, sure. Best way to find out is contact a few PMs and ask. Also search domain, RE.com etc to see whether there are other furnished properties for rent and what they're going for.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

i think its a great option to boost rental returns - i'm currently doing that for one of my units now. no fancy furnishings just tv, dvd, fridge, washer, sofa, table and beds (this could be tricky as people can get quite picky on that!). cost me less than $2k to furnish all up and i think i should recoup that back in a year as i estimate i get around $50 p.w. for the furnishings.

this apt is innner city city so there's a market

main things is to buy cheap and practical furniture which you can replace at low cost if anything goes wrong

Any recommendations where to get some cheap stuff?

I'm thinking of doing this too, after I live in my place for 1-2 years. Wont have any problems finding tennants because its only 2 km's from Perth cbd.

 

[mykie]

Any recommendations where to get some cheap stuff?

I'm thinking of doing this too, after I live in my place for 1-2 years. Wont have any problems finding tennants because its only 2 km's from Perth cbd.

Hi Kim,

I purchase some items from IKEA that I have found to be cost effective and of decent quality. Although I am not sure there is one in Perth.

 

[Perchy]

I found ebay pretty good.. got the following for my unit:
3.5hp split reverse cycle air con $600
Blanco stainless steel oven $312
Ceramic Cook Top $79

Please note bought with blind faith and all in working condition

 

[ermen]

yeah i got a lot of stuff from ikea - brand new and very functional...

off the top of my head

Sofa - $299 (Ikea - comes with a $50 cover so if tenants thrash it you hope that you just have to replace the sofa cover)
Dining table - $200 (Ikea)
Washing Machine/Fridge - $570 (second hand shop - had some problems in terms of installation but once done everything works)
Microwave and coffee table - $120 (ex rental shop)
TV/DVD - $100 (eBay - CRT tv 28inc nothing fancy and dvd player)
TV stand - $30 (Ikea)
Double bed & Mattress - $150 (from a friend was who going overseas)
Cutlery $50 - Ikea

That's what I remember... all less than $2000.. and the stuff was by no means shoddy... quite a lot of new stuff as you can see, basic and functional...

 

[ermen]

this rental is not of an executive rental standard obviously - for that you will need LCD tvs and probably better furnishing....

those items will suffice though for normal professionals and/or students

my apartment was a 2 bedder and i had a double mattress and a single mattress... my agent reckons i should put in 4 single mattresses to target students which i am thinking of in future...

 

[geoffw]

That's good advice to check the PMs. What can work in one place may well not work in another.

I had a block of 1BRs which I refurbished and furnished (one by one)- do a search on "flock bats". It worked well there, as it filled a niche. But I had the luxury of furnishing one and trying- then going to furnish more in the same block as they were vacated.

The same woulde not have worked in a house.

I went to Fantastic Furniture to get good looking low cost furniture in a package. They do have stores in Melbourne. That cheapo furniture fitted the bill for a low cost rental.

 

[Peta]

To those of you who are considering renting a place furnished -

I would head caution. I have a 6 bedroom place in Bathurst which I decked out fully funished (including all furniture, electricals down to cuttlery, hangers, bins, laundry baskets etc at a cost of $10k) so the students could literally move in and just bring their undies......the place was vacant for all of this year bar 3 months and 5 days for race week (just passed).

I wanted quality furnishings so they felt comfortable and less home-sick. The feedback I received was - they dont want furtniture.

Oh well, I will give it back to the agents that rent by the room (since students can afford $135/wk/room instead of $550/wk for the house furnished on a single lease) and see how it goes. If still no luck, will have to sell all the furniture (hopefully) and start again.

Hope you manage to decide whats best for you but I am wishing I could predict the future because if I had anticipated these issues I would have bought a simple 3 or 4 bedder and rented it empty, instead of finding the largest house I could, add extra rooms and buy truckloads of furniture thinking that would be desirable.

I know when I was at uni, the last thing I wanted to do was carry my house around on my back....

Cheers,

Peta

 

[Property Meister]

is it really possible to rent out a place furnished for $40 per week more????

I know it would depend on the stuff inside and what was inside but is this what the going rate is??? i would have thought that people would just scream if you said... well the rent is $xxx per week, but add another $40 and you can it fully furnished or partially furnished!

 

[MIZBUF]

I think in Sydney if Ur going to rent it furnished U would be O.K not providing electronics e.g T.V & DVD- tenant can rent it separately from a speciality company and U won't have the hassle of extra maintenance probs.

 

[RumpledElf]

I was going to rent my place out partly furnished next year on two caveats: IF we finish the bathroom before school starts (its half demolished now) and IF we can rent it to a teacher or secretary from the school. There might be a market there for an out-of-towner to rent it for school days and go home on weekends. Otherwise, I'll hold this house vacant indefinitely as it is cheaper to leave the bulk of my furniture here than put it in storage.

We'd be taking some furniture to the other house (which is much smaller than my current house), so if I was to do fully furnished I'd have to buy a dining table, beds and a few other things. I'd get at absolute maximum $100pw for this house furnished, or $20 a night if it is a part-week rental deal.

 

[ethereal]

is it really possible to rent out a place furnished for $40 per week more????

I know it would depend on the stuff inside and what was inside but is this what the going rate is??? i would have thought that people would just scream if you said... well the rent is $xxx per week, but add another $40 and you can it fully furnished or partially furnished!

I have a house rented furnished for $1000/week for 10 weeks. Prior tot hat was $750/wk for 3 months. This includes everything down to cutlery and linen. Unfurnished it would be around $450/week.

Louise

 

[boomtown]

I think fully furnished houses and fully furnished units are quite different markets.

 

[want2bewealthy]

I rent out a unit that's furnished, was already when I purchased it,
The downsides I see are fewer applicants because most people prefer or just have their own belongings. Also, if anything breaks, you pay to fix it (may be covered under landlords protection insurance)

The good thing is that It does make for a higher yielding property if there is good demand for furnished.