Renting out a Fully Furnished Place? More Difficult Than It Seems
Are you an owner of a small apartment or a condo? It can be a great idea to rent it out as a fully furnished property. People who mostly rent such places mostly need a home ready to be moved into, without the need to purchase anything – depending on their lifestyle. But before you will get any extra money from renting your fully furnished place, first you will have to make a lot of decisions and consider many details.
How much will it cost you?
Preparing your apartment and setting everything up will of course cost you something, and determining how much is the first step. Check the listings of other fully furnished places available in your region. Compare a few places of a similar size, location and furnishing as the one you are going to rent. Once you have a pretty good idea of the rent that is commonly charged for a fully furnished property such as yours, list everything that you would have to buy in order to fall into the category of ‘fully furnished’. Nowadays, offering a fully furnished apartment means that not only all the necessary furniture is provided, but also all utilities (gas, electricity, water, phone, cable, wireless Internet connection or security services), and also all kitchen ware and appliances, towels, bed linen or cleaning supplies.
The next step is to determine if you can afford to fully furnish your apartment to the extent described above. Note down everything you will have to purchase to furnish your property to the extent described above. Also consider the possibility that there may be multiple renters over a number of years, with periods of unoccupation between them. If you decide that making your flat fully furnished would be too complicated for you now, there is a possibility to offer it as “part-furnished”. That would mean a bit less attractive possibility than fully furnished, but at the same time less hassle and an easier life for you.
Document all the equipment, set up a deposit
First remove all your private things, e.g. family pictures and so on, just everything that you consider as only yours – mainly if you have lived in the flat yourself. Then make a list of every single item present in the apartment. You should go from room to room with the tenant and agree on everything that is offered by you. Even individual objects like spoons, forks, knives, towels or linen should be counted and the numbers noted down. As part of good manners, there should also be your rental agent present when doing the inventory, and then when all parties agree on the list, they sign it. After the expiration of the contract, go through the apartment again and list everything that is there. All things that the tenant has destroyed or lost will have to be replaced and paid for from the deposit that you agreed on at the beginning.
With the winter Olympic games closing in, more and more people in Vancouver are considering renting out a fully furnished property to take advantage of this year’s oncoming gold mine. But if you don’t already own a suitable place and would have to start from scratch, the whole idea might turn into a nightmare. It is always better to plan the return on investment for rental properties over the long term and not only as a quick way to get rich.
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