Furnished / Unfurnished

spida

We are soon going to be renting out our apartment as we move to a house but cannot sell. We've been around IKEA looking for furniture and bits but then I was thinking just today, I wonder is there a market for unfurnished apartments?

It wouldn't save us much money as we could write off the value of anything we buy for the tenants but would be very much simpler to get going.

Any thoughts if there is a market for unfurnished apartments? There are a couple on daft.ie but are they there out of necessity? Thoughts?

blindside88

Really depends on the area you live in. Unfurnished property's are harder to rent but if there is high demand in your area it should still be possible. Bear in mind the rental income on an unfurnished property will also be less so if this is a long term plan it might make more financial sense to furnish it.

athtrasna

A search on here will reveal that there is a demand for unfurnished houses..apartments are different as people don't view them as long term stay properties so may not be too interested in having their own furniture.

On the tax right off, you can't claim for pre-rental expenses but the value of the furniture is a permissable deduction, over 8 years...so you can claim 12.5% of the value as a deduction per year over the 8 years.

hfallada

I have never heard of an unfurnished property for rent in Ireland(Im sure they do exist) but its just not common. You might get some wanting to rent in between selling their home and buying a new one. But I cant see you getting a long term tenant. It might become common to rent unfurnished since more and more people are renting longer term and want their own furniture. Unfurnished is the norm in Germany and its not uncommon to not even have a kitchen in a house when you rent it

Thraxen

hfallada wrote: »

I have never heard of an unfurnished property for rent in Ireland(Im sure they do exist) but its just not common. You might get some wanting to rent in between selling their home and buying a new one. But I cant see you getting a long term tenant. It might become common to rent unfurnished since more and more people are renting longer term and want their own furniture. Unfurnished is the norm in Germany and its not uncommon to not even have a kitchen in a house when you rent it

Sorry but I just have to say there are many places up for rent which are unfurnished.

I would honestly say furnish the home however do NOT over furnish. Bare in mind people may have their own tables, chairs etc they wish to use.
In regards to beds if you provide them try going for something which can be disassembled easily and stored away. This will help if it is two bedroom and the renter may want only one and a study. ((We have box beds here and it severely limited what we could do with the house.

whiteandlight

Try it unfurnished. There is a growing market of people who don't want to get on the property ladder yet but want to start picking up their own stuff. We have semifurnished. Spare bedroom had a bed, odd press and storage stuff. We own the couch, our own bed, office furniture, kitchen table etc which is brilliant. I would also say you are more likely to get reliable tenants as it would be pointless to ruin your own stuff!

MouseTail

blindside88 wrote: »

Bear in mind the rental income on an unfurnished property will also be less so if this is a long term plan it might make more financial sense to furnish it.

That's not true. There is generally no price differential between furnished and unfurnished.
I would advertise it unfurnished to scope the market.

jester77

MouseTail wrote: »

That's not true. There is generally no price differential between furnished and unfurnished.
I would advertise it unfurnished to scope the market.

Here in Germany it is very much true, don't know how it is in Ireland but I can't imagine it would be any different. You will pay an extra 200-300 a month for having furniture in an apartment here. It's an extra feature, costs the landlord money to buy, service, repair and replace.

OP, I would never rent a furnished apartment, and I am sure there are plenty of people like me. Lots of people want to sleep in their own bed and sit on their own couch and not some cheap version that the landlord put in with little thought.

djimi

jester77 wrote: »

Here in Germany it is very much true, don't know how it is in Ireland but I can't imagine it would be any different. You will pay an extra 200-300 a month for having furniture in an apartment here. It's an extra feature, costs the landlord money to buy, service, repair and replace.

I suspect the fact that unfurnished is still a relatively niche market would mean that they can command a bit more than they would in other countries perhaps. Ireland isnt Germany; people on here love to make comparisons but we have vastly different rental cultures.

McDook

maybe 1% of people looking to rent are looking for unfurnished in Ireland.
Do a quick poll of anyone you know who is renting and see what they say.
While I think unfurnished is best there just isnt the market in Ireland.
I think you would be limiting your market and thats why you might get less rent.

K.Flyer

O.P. the answer to your question will be found in your local estate agents.
Call into a few of them in the area and they will tell you very quickly if they have enquires for un-furnished properties in your area and the expected rent as compared to furnished units.
There is a limited call for unfurnished, so you might be lucky depending on your location.

murphym7

Trying to find an unfurnished house in Cork is a nightmare. My wife and I were looking last year and were very lucky to land on the house we did. There were a few estate places after an elderly relative passed away type of place, but very few, if any, nice unfurnished places. I look from time to time out of interest and the situation remains the same. The EA told us that unfurnished places are more in demand now, but LL attitudes don’t seem to have grasped that fact yet. Now that is me talking about Cork city not Dublin and not apartments, but I would advise throwing it up unfurnished and see do you get any bites.

Tzardine

+1 for unfurnished.

Myself and the OH are moving to a new place this month. We are a young(ish) couple and wanted unfurnished. A lot of my friends are the same.

We have built up our own furniture over the past 2 years as we are planning to buy our own place hopefully in a year or so.

There are not a lot of places that we could find unfurnished. Most had the usual cheap, crappy Ikea stuff that you see landlords kit the place out with.

Renting the place out unfurnished also means you dont have the risk of having to replace it due to damage or wear and tear.

Agree with previous poster who said go to the local agency and get them to advertise it. They will look after the hassle of vetting applicants etc.

beauf

I'd try it unfurnished.

Dealing with furniture in a rental is a nightmare.

Mimikyu

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Thraxen

Why not simply advertise that it is unfurnished however furnishings can be provided on request. I know a lil more work but if they only want a few extra things it definitly saves you money!

ADNetti

I have looking for unfurnished places to rent around Cork and everything is furnished! It's driving me insane. We are moving there for two/three years and don't want to buy our own house but are planning to ship most of our stuff. So now what? As Thraxen says, advertise it as unfurnished or partially furnished but don't overdo it.