This post originally appeared on LOFT Interiors.
Maximise your return – Furnish your property!
Many first time buyers are now being faced with having to find unrealistic deposits to get onto the property ladder, this is forcing many of them to rent. Consequently, the UK lettings market is buoyant as demand begins to outstrip supply.
This, coupled with many major property developers “moth balling” their plans to build until the market picks up, further fuels the lack of new property stock coming onto the market.
High demand for rental property is music to property investor and landlord’s ears, as many reap both the benefits of the low interest rates and the lack of rental stock helping to push up rents.
Landlords should be looking to take advantage of the current situation and maximise their return on investment.
Furnishing your property is one way to help maximise your rental income.
First impressions count for everything, it’s vital your property looks its best for prospective tenants. Maximising your property’s potential before viewings begin will give you the best chance of a quick tenancy and help to achieve maximum rent.
A recent survey by letting agency, Leaders, found that 38% of tenants felt the quality of fixtures and fittings in a property was the most important feature to them when choosing a property to rent.
More significantly, the survey also found that this was the second most important factor to tenants behind location!
Landlords cannot afford to ignore interior design when confronted with the tenant driven market of today.
Target Audience
Knowing your target audience is essential. There are a number of key factors which can help you to decide:
What area is your property in? The area your property is in can be a key factor when thinking about whether to furnish your investment property. Properties marketed to families in the countryside or leafy suburbs are often left unfurnished as these markets often have their own furniture and the tenancy period lasts longer. However, if the property is in a city, or is close to a university, the area is naturally much more transient and the likely hood of furniture being required dramatically increases. Properties in student areas nearly always need furniture in order for them to rent out quickly.
Avoid a void period
Many cities in the UK are predominantly furnished markets meaning that most people looking to rent are looking for furnished properties. The installed furniture in these properties should reflect the area and standard of the build. For example, expensive, designer furniture shouldn’t be installed in a low rent apartment and on the flip side, cheap, unattractive furniture shouldn’t be installed in a penthouse in a prestigious development. If the installed furniture reflects the standard of the property and the area it is in, empty void periods are kept to a minimum as prospective tenant’s expectations are being met.
Maximise your rental income
If your property is in a transient area where furnished accommodation is expected, spending a little extra on a furniture package will not only help in quickly securing good tenants, it will also maximise your rental income. A correctly furnished property can generate up to 15-20% more rent than its unfurnished or poorly furnished counterpart. Most landlords look at writing the cost of the furniture off over 12 months from the positive cash flow generated by the property.
You may be wondering – how do I know if the property is correctly furnished? Especially if you don’t have much experience in this field or any interior design flair. Well help is at hand. Why not try a specialist furniture package provider? The best furniture providers for the property industry will have both expert property and interior design knowledge and can help to give any property the wow factor and a unique selling/letting point.
Buy To Let – Furnishing providers often have a stigma attached to them for being expensive. In reality, they are often far cheaper that if you were to buy the individual items of furniture from a retail store. Once you build in the cost of the time saved, collecting, delivering, assembling, installing and staging the furniture you will have saved an absolute fortune!
To conclude, depending on the location of the property and your target audience, furnishing a property for rent can offer a landlord huge benefits, and by using a buy to let furnishing specialist a landlord can save time, avoid costly void periods and maximise the return on investment by securing high calibre tenants.
