Furnished v unfurnished?
Question from Ian updated on 20th July 2012:
What do you advise about furnished v unfurnished for an Auckland city fringe apartment? Without spending a whole lot I can see a higher rent can be obtained ? On the other hand renting furnished has a nuisance value if things break down. The apartment already has whiteware - maybe advertise and see how it goes ?
Our expert Ron Hoy Fong responded:
Furnished apartments will receive a higher volume of people wanting to rent in the city market and also higher rents. Students don't want to go out and buy furniture when they may only be around for a year or two. Furnishing is best suited where the apartment is close to where students want to live such as universities, language schools and technical institutes.
Further out from THE CBD, unless you are happy with a higher turnover of tenants and vacancies for the sake of higher rents then I would prefer to rent properties unfurnished.
Should a home owner wish to rent out a room or basement unit of their home, my preference would be to supply the white ware and advertise the accommodation as partly furnished. Mainly for reasons of avoiding the likes of cockroaches being introduced into the home.
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