Thinking about Renting out a Fully Furnished Apartment? Think Twice, It Is Not That Easy

Are you an owner of a small flat or a condo? It may be a perfect idea to rent it out as a fully furnished place. People who usually rent such places mostly need a home ready to be moved into, without the need to purchase anything - depending on their lifestyle. But before you will get any extra cash from renting your fully furnished property, first you will have to make a lot of decisions and think about many details.

How much will it cost you?

Preparing your place and setting everything up will certainly cost you something, and finding out how much is the first step. Examine the listings of other fully furnished properties available in your area. Try to find some properties that are close to yours - in size, location and furnishing. Once you have a pretty good idea of the rent that is commonly charged for a fully furnished place such as yours, list everything that you would have to purchase in order to fall into the category of 'fully furnished'. Not only all furniture, but also utilities such as gas, electricity, water, phone, cable, wireless Internet or security services, and all kitchen ware, plus towels, bed linen and cleaning supplies - all of this is expected from you to take care of nowadays, if you are renting out your flat as fully furnished.

The next step is to make up your mind if you can afford to fully furnish your apartment to the extent described above. Make a list of all the things you will have to purchase so that your place is fully furnished. Also think about the fact that there may be multiple tenants over a number of years, with times of unoccupation between them. If you decide that making your flat fully furnished would be too difficult for you now, there is a possibility to list it as "part-furnished". That would mean a bit less attractive possibility than fully furnished, but at the same time less hassle and an easier life for you.

List all the equipment, set up a deposit

In case you have lived in the flat for some time, start with removing all your personal private things, such as photographs. The next thing to do is to prepare an inventory of all items in the flat. You should go through the inventory together with the tenant, walking through the flat and seeing everything provided by you together. That should include counting individual items such as the amount of spoons, forks, knives towels or linen. As part of good practice, there should also be your rental agent present when doing the inventory, and then when all sides agree on the list, they sign it. When the contract expires, it is time to go through the flat with the list again, noting down all facilities. Anything that has been damaged or lost will have to be replaced and paid for from the deposit which was agreed at the start of the contract.

Now with the winter Olympic games coming soon, the opportunity of renting out a fully furnished place seems like a gold mine for more and more people in Vancouver. But if you don't already own a suitable unit and would have to start from scratch, the whole idea might turn into a nightmare. The return on investment for rental properties should be planned over the long term and not just seen as a 'get-rich-quick' plan.