Renting your Vancouver property furnished can increase your net rental income by more than 50% (Short term furnished rental vs. Long term unfurnished rental). Furnished properties allow us the ability to uniquely position your investment. Your property will be marketed through different channels to different target markets.
With furniture in place, furnished properties usually requires more maintenance and therefore your property is usually promoted with complimentary monthly/quarterly maid/maintenance service. This allows us to clean and inspect the property on monthly basis. This service is provided to you and your tenant for no extra charge.
FURNISHED PROPERTY SERVICES
Our one-time set-up fee includes:
- • Rental value assessment
- • Marketing and positioning of your property
- • Professional cleaning/steam carpet cleaning
- • Set up of the place (inventory)
- • Tenant screening and selection
- • Collection of security deposits
- • Tenancy agreement
- • Move-in and Move-out inspection
Monthly management fee includes:
- • Monthly complimentary cleaning/small maintenance service (properties with monthly rental income of $2,000 and more)
- • Quarterly complimentary cleaning/small maintenance service (properties with monthly rental income of less than $2,000)
- • Collection of the rent and direct deposit to your account
- • Legal enforcement of the Residential Tenancy Act
- • Communication with strata corporation and the tenants
- • At cost maintenance services
- • Monthly/Quarterly inspections
- • Move-out inspection
- • Financial Statements
- • Payments of all property related bills if necessary
- • Maintenance management
- • 24/7Online access to our Management system
The are no other fees other than reimbursement for payment of property related expenses (subject to your approval)
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF RENTING FURNISHED
| AdvantagesHigher incomeFrequent inspectionsComprehensive maintenanceFlexibility of the useHigh profile tenantsPossible additional income for renting of storage/parking | DisadvantagesHigher set up & marketing costsHigher insurance premiumPossibly longer lease up timeHigher vacancy rateHigher maintenance cost & Utility expensesDepreciation of furniture |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What do I need to equip my furnished property with?
There are few things the property needs to be equipped with when rented furnished. Think of it as of your own home and what you need for every day life and comfort. The property needs to have all the every day items: kitchen utensils, dishes, cooking ware, bed sheets, towels, TV.
Do I need to maintain utility accounts?
Yes. BC Hydro, basic cable and high speed internet are a must. The phone is optional, but it might be necessary to attract tourist tenants. Some, especially older buildings do not have the ability to connect the intercom to the cell phone and it is necessary to have a phone device in place. It also depends on the set up of the intercom in the building and the flexibility of the strata in changing the phone number to which the intercom is connected to. If it takes the strata a long time to to switch the intercom from one number to another it might be a good idea to set up the landline for the intercom purposes.
Does the location of the property matter?
Yes, some locations are better for furnished properties then the others. In general it depends on the traffic in the area. The most successful furnished rental properties are located in Downtown Vancouver. Other successful properties are located close to universities (UBC, SFU) and in close proximity to a SkyTrain station. In general the farther the property is from these locations, the lesser difference there will be between the rental income of a furnished and unfurnished property. Like everything else the rental rates depend on the demand in the area. In some cases it might make more financial sense to rent property unfurnished.
Who are the tenants?
People looking for furnished properties for rent are usually people looking for temporary accommodation. It is people coming to work in Vancouver on a contract, students, tourists, guests visiting their families or it can be people relocating from out of town. Regardless of the reason, these tenancies are generally limited to a certain period of time and are usually shorter compared to tenancies at unfurnished properties. On the other hand these tenants usually have higher disposable income and consequently there is lesser chance of any arrears in rent payments.