Best for rental returns; Furnished or Unfurnished Property
Rent an apartment furnished or unfurnished? This is the question that pops up in mind whenever you think about renting your property for better financial gains. There are pros and cons, benefits, and disadvantages of their own when it comes to a debate of furnished vs. unfurnished property for rent. We have dedicated today’s post especially for people who want to rent their property and are keen to know about what is best for rental purposes, a furnished property or a non-furnished one? We will start by discussing the major differences between both, what is included in the furnished apartment and what are the pros and cons of both. So without any further ado, let’s start our main topic.
Fully-furnished, semi-furnished, or unfurnished property
An unfurnished apartment doesn’t mean a completely nude property, just in its gray condition; it means that the property should at least be welcoming. An unfurnished apartment must have,
Painted wall and roof
Tiles or another flooring
Kitchen and bathroom fixtures
Doors, windows, locks, keys
All lights to be in working state
While, on the other hand, the semi-furnished property will have further amenities in addition to the previous ones. A semi-furnished property must have the following amenities.
A bed (without mattress, pillows, and bedding)
A dressing table (maybe)
Small kitchen appliances
A drawer or center-table
For a furnished apartment, everything that can be needed for staying must be present in its place. That means a person can just move in with their luggage and start residing in the property. A fully furnished apartment for rent must have,
A bed with a mattress, pillows, and bedding
Kitchen appliances and utensils
Bathroom accessories including soap, shampoo, and towels
Flooring, carpets, curtains, etc.
Bathroom-Slippers, mats, and other accessories
Fridge, TV, Vacuum cleaners
Tables, bookshelves, etc.
Pros of letting a furnished house
Letting a furnished house is considered one of the most lucrative businesses in the real estate market. Following are the pros of letting a furnished house;
Better rent
The best thing about letting a furnished apartment is you get the best rent for your property. This solely depends upon the quality of furniture that’s used to furnish the property. For a better idea, you can get almost 30-40% more in form of rental yield by letting a furnished house.
In-demand
Usually, houses are rented by the office staff and students. They do not wish to face a lot of hassle and put the effort into furnishing a bare house. That’s why they like renting an apartment that’s furnished so they can save that effort with extra cash that they pay as a recurring cost throughout the year.
Less hassle of shifting
The next thing that comes on the list is you can save a lot of hassle of shifting now and then. Once the tenants vacate the property it is then on you to get it cleaned by some reputable cleaning company and let that property again. This saves a lot of time, effort, and energy.
Can be reused
It is not like if your tenants vacate the property you’ll have to refurbish it every time. The furniture and fixture can be re-used for years unless they’re broken. The little breakage can be dealt with a little repairing work, however, it does need replacements after some time but till then you’ll have earned a lot from it.
Cons of letting a furnished house
While there are many pros of letting an unfurnished apartment, there are also a few cons. Let’s have a look at them;
Extra Space if someone wants an unfurnished apartment
You’ll have to arrange an extra space to shift your furniture if someone wants an empty house. This can cause serious trouble in city centers as space is always an issue here.
The tension of breakage and damage
Although the tenant has to pay any damage or breakage done to the property, there still is a tension that what if it gets broken. That’s another type of worry that you keep when you lend a furnished house or any other property.
Higher deposit that people hate
The furnished apartment has expensive furniture and fixtures and the tenant has to pay a hefty price upfront as a security fee. This thing is not appreciated by most of the tenants thus they abstain sometimes from getting involved in such business.
Pros of letting an unfurnished house
Since we have discussed the pros and cons of letting a furnished property, now we are moving to unfurnished ones. Following are the pros of letting an unfurnished house.
Longer tenancy
People who like to stay for a long time in the property prefer renting an unfurnished one which they can furnish over time. in this way, you can attract tenants who are staying for a long term and you won’t have to get yourself involved in paperwork again and again.
Lesser insurance cost
The insurance cost of properties that are unfurnished is almost 3 folds lesser than the furnished ones. You can save a good recurring payment throughout the year.
No binding on the layout plan
For choosy people the house layout is the most important thing, if you are renting an unfurnished property they won’t ask you much about the layout as they can decide on their own how their home should look.
Cons of letting an unfurnished house
Following are the cons of letting an unfurnished place.
Lesser demand, high supply
There are thousands of properties listed on the internet that are up for rent. You will let yours after time and also you’ll have to attract them through some other means.
Lesser rent
Unfurnished houses have lesser rents; you will not get much of the chunk if you rent an unfurnished apartment.
Lesser chances to let a property fast
Short agreement tenants look for furnished properties and they are more in number. Since yours is unfurnished then there are lesser prospects of closing the deal fast.
Bottom line
There’s no set rule of thumb that which business is the more lucrative among renting a furnished property or an unfurnished one. Something beneficial for someone may not be very good for the other one. That means if you want to leave your house faster then you should have it furnished in a modern contemporary style. But, if you want your house to stay on rent for a longer period and save you from getting into paperwork you can let an unfurnished house. Because we have seen a similar trend in the real estate market that in larger housing societies like Bahria Town, Rude Enclave, or Nova City, the prospects of renting a furnished property are way more than that of unfurnished ones.
