Here’s why I don’t recommend furnishing your rental property.
If you’re debating whether to rent out your home as furnished or unfurnished, I recommend the latter option, and today I’ll tell you why.
For one thing, it’s a much easier option. I’m not talking about VRBO, either. You might be looking at that niche, but that’s rent in a different manner and for a different type of investor. This is more along the lines of, “Should I keep furniture in the property or not?”
The main reason I don’t recommend keeping furniture in the property is that furnished properties don’t keep residents or tenets for long periods. As an owner, you make the most money by keeping tenants in your property for very long periods. Once a tenant moves, you don’t get any rent payments because the home is vacant.
If you insist on keeping your property furnished, I insist on renting it out as a VRBO.
If you keep your home furnished, you’ll also have to make a lot of repairs. Even a good tenant will scuff the paint or soil the carpet while they live there. Just moving out is sometimes hard for residents, which means you may have to clean and make upgrades after they’re out. This also means you’ll have to incur a lot of expenses. All of these factors put together are of greater importance than potentially being able to rent out your home for a little bit more by furnishing it.
In some situations, I’ve seen tenants rent out a home’s furniture for a long time, but those same tenants can occasionally have sticky fingers and take some of the furniture. At that point, it can be hard to tell what’s your furniture and what’s not. My property management company can keep tabs on this type of thing, but that can get challenging. If you insist on keeping your property furnished, I insist on renting it out as a VRBO.
As always, if you have questions about this or any real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m happy to help.