Author Topic: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished  (Read 2486 times)

Octotat

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Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« on: March 23, 2017, 12:32:12 PM »
Hey Mustachians!

I'm scheming my early retirement, to head to the Caribbean to help a business partner run a small hotel and taco bar.  Once I do this, the only reliable source of income I may have is the rental of my current house.  I'm pretty sure that I can get approx 2k per month out of it.   My question, is should I rent as furnished or unfurnished?  If I pull all the furniture out, I'll need to sell or discard or store.  I would love your thoughts.

Octotat

etselec

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2017, 12:44:03 PM »
At least in my part of the world, furnished = short-to-medium term. Any premium you may be able to get for providing furniture would be erased by increased turnover/vacancy (which I doubt you want to deal with, as an absentee landlord).

If you'll be using a property manager, they will probably know more about your local market, and be able to tell you which is the stronger option.

JoJo

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2017, 06:09:02 PM »
How nice is your furniture?  If it's crappy it might detract from the value. 

Do you think you'll want to use your furniture again someday?  Think about all of the stuff your renters will be doing on it!

MsPeacock

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2017, 08:26:46 PM »
Unfurnished.

People looking for whole house rentals, in general, have a house full of furniture already, and want a longer term rental.

Also - you have the issue of maintaining the furniture, dealing with damage, etc. Easier to do w/o it and it won't really change what you can get for rent I think.

frugaliknowit

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2017, 07:31:30 AM »
Maybe if you are targeting very short term renters such as transferees and transients.  If you want a traditional long term lease, probably not. 

If you honestly don't care about the furniture, you could try renting it out at a premium once on a long term lease with the furniture, but don't count on the furniture making it to another lease (most likely trashed or otherwise not presentable).

Octotat

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2017, 08:29:08 AM »
Excellent advice, thank you all.  I think I'll plan to sell off the nicer stuff, medium stuff to Habitat, junk to the dump!

Dicey

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2017, 09:26:07 AM »
Excellent advice, thank you all.  I think I'll plan to sell off the nicer stuff, medium stuff to Habitat, junk to the dump!
Good plan, but try Freecycle and NextDoor to keep the "junk" out of the landfill. Bonus, they come to you + no dumping fees.

At the end, try a "Take Whatever You Want Free" Sale and watch the detritus  treasures disappear!

BTW, I like your escape plan.

tralfamadorian

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2017, 09:42:01 AM »
...a small hotel and taco bar...

It seems you have things squared away with the rental so my burning question is- what island is the hotel/taco bar going to be on?

Octotat

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Re: Rent House Out Furnished or Unfurnished
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2017, 02:04:11 PM »
Not an island, the Caribbean shore of northern Colombia