Is there a demand for furnished rental suites?

[TiffanyS]

Hi there,

I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on whether there's much of a demand for rentals in a fully furnished suite in Calgary. I am open to either short or long term rentals.

My other properties have always been rented out unfurnished and I have been successful filling vacancies, however I wasn't sure if I should pay to put my stuff in storage, or try renting a suite out that is furnished.



Thanks in advance for any advice...including sites that I can post ads on besides Kijiji or RentFaster



Tiffany

 

[bizaro86]

Where in Calgary is your place?



Michael

 

[TiffanyS]

I have a fully suited basement in Inglewood with a separate entrance.

 

[invst4profit]

Furnished units are best suited to higher end properties. Basement tenants are not in this category and unless you are prepared to throw the furniture away when the tenant leaves it's probably not a good idea to rent furnished.

 

[TerryKruse]

You could try to rent it furnished but I am not sure if a basement suite is appropriate. It is good that the area is closer to downtown and has good transportation corridors nearby.



My experience from the last 5 years is that a furnished home tenant is usually someone who has just moved to the city and wants to pay less than hotel prices.They may want to rent until they find a home to buy. The other common scenario is a tenant who has moved here from another province and doesn't want to commit to the city. They might be contractors or immigrants who are just setting up here.



To rent a home in a temporary situation you must replace or make sure items are thoroughly cleaned in between vacancies. I rent longer term furnished homes in Calgary as I find the change over between tenants costly, both in time, money and potential aggravation. I charge less for a longer term tenant but I feel that the price difference is a wash.



I used Kijijji and Rentfaster and they worked well for a recent potential vacancy - tenants left, new ones in right away. Another site I find that worked better in the past was Rentboard.ca. In recent years they got more of the out of town inquiries. This time around the first 2 did. The popular site seems to change periodically for the Calgary furnished markets.



Hope this helps.



Terry

 

[TiffanyS]

Thanks Greg and Terry for your thoughts



Tiffany

 

[TiffanyS]

I had originally planned to just rent it out unfurnished, but now I am renting it out for the Stampede to capitalize on the income I can bring in over those 10 days. It would be a lot of work to move in furniture just for the 10 days and then move it into storage after that...so i was hoping to try to rent it out furnished continuing afterwards. I guess we'll see what kind of response I get and go from there.



Tiffany

 

[ProRealEstateInvest]

Hi Tiffany,

We rented our first place in Copperfield SE as an Executive Rental, full 3 bedroom , 2 1/2 bath home, fully furnished (leather, ready to go etc) Location wise it was initially was a bit of a wait. BUT, I've received about 6 calls from corporate level agencies or tenants and could have leased out again, easily.

My few is simple!. If you can make your basement suite an acceptable executive level. You'll do well, and could simply lease to a corporation who would offer the option of accomodations to clients or new out of city/province employees.

Obviously, a little more care and attention possibly, but highly profitable if offering a better than hotel option for short terms. Our home was a full year lease.

Phil

 

[ProRealEstateInvest]

Tiffany,



Just noticed your Stampede thoughts!!!

That's a good one$$

Horse's can't usually get in basements so that's even better

 

[TiffanyS]

Thanks Phil!

 

[TiffanyS]

Just wanted to give an update on how things are going!



We decided to stick with renting our basement furnished. We did change from our typical longer term rentals that we do to short term rentals however.

I have signed up for Airbnb and found that it has been very successful for what we are looking for. I have charged a nightly rate and/or a discounted monthly rate and have found that our profit has almost doubled by going this route.

I am booked up until mid October right now by 3 different groups coming in from out of town (some traveling, some moving here but looking for a place for a month until they find something on their own)



I also posted on Kijiji and was overwhelmed by the response of people looking for a short term furnished suite, which is great news for us!



Hoping the response is as great going into the winter months!



Thanks again for everyone's advice



Tiffany

 

[arniec]

Hi Tiffany,



We are also contemplating on using Airbnb for short term rentals as well in Toronto. We can see that the monthly rent potential could be twice as much and allows us the flexibility to use the place for family as well. I was wondering how the demand is during the winter months and what your experience has been like.



Thanks,

Arnab