Renting out a fully furnished property is a perfect idea, especially if you own a small apartment or condo. Due to the type of life styles of people who usually rent these types of properties, they often look for places ready to be occupied without needing to buy anything. Nevertheless, first there are a lot of things to think about and decide, before you will be able to make some extra money by renting your place.
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. Go through the listings of available fully furnished places in your area. Compare a few places of a similar size, location and furnishing as the one you are going to rent. The goal for you is to find out what the common rent for a fully furnished apartment such as yours would be. Once you know that, the next step is to prepare a list of everything you would need to buy so that your apartment would really be “fully furnished”. Nowadays, offering a fully furnished property 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 equipment and appliances, towels, bed linen or cleaning supplies.
Secondly, you have to work out whether fully furnishing your flat to the extent described above is financially accessible for you. There are of course some items you would have to buy to fully furnish your place – make a list of all of them. Also consider the possibility that there may be multiple renters over a number of years, with times of unoccupation between them. You might come to the conclusion that making your place fully furnished would mean too much hassle and costs for you at the moment, then you might try to list it as “part-furnished”. This option may not be as lucrative as fully furnished, but if you want an easier life, then part-furnished is maybe the way to go.
Next step – equipment documentation, deposit set-up
In case you have lived in the property for some time, start with taking away all your personal private belongings, such as photographs. The next step is to prepare an inventory of every single item that is in the flat. Go through all the rooms together with the tenant and agree on everything that is provided in the flat as yours. That should include counting individual objects such as the number of spoons, forks, knives towels or linen. Have also your rental agent to be there when you are going through the inventory. Once you all agree on the list, it should be signed by all the sides involved. As soon as the contract expires, you will need to go through the flat again and make a note of everything that is there. In case you find out anything has been damaged or lost, it will have to be replaced. This is where you would use the deposit agreed on at the beginning of the contract.
Now with the winter Olympics coming soon, the idea of renting out a fully furnished place looks like a gold mine for more and more people in Vancouver. 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. The return on investment for rental properties should be considered over the long term and not just regarded as a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme.
