New to landlording, question about corporate rentals

[greenbanana]

My husband and I are looking to rent out our (furnished) condo for 10-12 months while we're away for the year (one-year internship for me to finish up my degree), and we were contacted yesterday by a broker who has a corporate relocation client who's interested in our place, but only for 6 months. We're completely new to landlording, and we don't know what to look out for in a situation like this. Does anyone have any advice for how to vet a potential tenant like this, how hard it would be to rent it out for the remaining 4-6 months after this tenant leaves, what the pros and cons of corporate rentals are, and any resources we should be looking at?

[waltworks]

It will be a huge pain, probably, to fill in the other 6 months. So unless they are offering you a *fortune* I'd turn them down and look for a full year tenant.

-W

[escolegrove]

Corporate tenants are hard. I use to run that aspect for my last company. They were based on a nightly hotel rate. Since they were an upscale apartment complex they had the staff to run it.

That being said, I have looked into it for my whole house.  While the convince is there, leaving all your stuff. The financial is usually break even at best, depending on if you cover utilities. For example my house empty without stuff is $1600. Most people don't want to pay a lot more than that with stuff. Utiltiies out here can be expensive during the month. So I wasn't really looking at a good deal.

Have you looked at just moving all your stuff out and charging market for your house empty?

If you post better numbers we could give you better thoughts.
Mortgage
Utilities
Rent Empty on a Normal Lease
6 Month Deal Price- What you are expected to cover?
The area that you live in. Ie San Diego or a large city will be less of an issue than a house in the boon dogs.

[greenbanana]

Have you looked at just moving all your stuff out and charging market for your house empty?

If you post better numbers we could give you better thoughts.
Mortgage
Utilities
Rent Empty on a Normal Lease
6 Month Deal Price- What you are expected to cover?
The area that you live in. Ie San Diego or a large city will be less of an issue than a house in the boon dogs.

We have looked at storing our stuff for the year (we actually took most of our stuff with us, just left the big furniture) and are open to that idea, but would rather not have to deal with the hassle of moving everything out if possible. We'll do it if we have to, though.

Our numbers:
Mortgage: $2470
Utilities: electric/gas usually runs us $50/month, not sure what it will be with non-Mustachians in the place but we weren't planning on covering this; condo association fees are $360, which we are covering (condo association pays water, garbage).
Rent: comparable places around us are renting empty for $3000 so that's what we're asking
6 month deal: we don't have a firm price, but the broker said $3100-$3200 depending on the furniture
Area: NYC-adjacent, so not a problem :)

Obviously with the mortgage plus condo fees plus taxes we're not seeing this place as a money-maker, but we don't want to be paying the full amount for two residences while we're away for the year.

[escolegrove]

I would NOT recommend offering it as all inclusive utility wise. You are gone long enough to make them pay their utilities. They will not up the rent enough to cover this in my experience Everyone's utility usage is so dependent on the individual. I have never heard a happy story from an landlord that offers all-inclusive.

Personally in the case you listed. I would NOT go with that deal because it is not a deal. Yes you don't have to move your stuff but what happens if someone ruins it. Plus your rental is going to come up during the winter. I am going to guess that New York City is like many other areas there are definite moving seasons. When it is cold, snowing and not pleasant outside people aren't going to want to move. You unit is going to be empty. So the money you saved  for the extra $200 is nothing. Most places for a short term lease charge a $300 premium and that is with NO furniture. To furnish a full house with court furniture it is between $300-$500.

I would only go with a one year lease or charge a $1000 premium to the people who want to rent it fully furnished for 6 months. I am starting a blog/website on my experience/how to rent out a personal property. Another resource is bigger pockets. You really want to make as much money as possible with great tenants so when something breaks you are not coming out of pocket!