Renting a room at my place.

[MrWizzard]

I am going to try to rent a room at my place due to the financial suckyness I am in. Is it considered a plus or negative thing if I have it pre-furnished. I am not expecting to make any extra money off of it. Just wondering if people who look to rent a room look down on it being pre-furnished.

It will have a bed, dresser. Curtains. Nightstands.

 

[Gibson486]

It really depends....people who want short term (less than 3 months) tend to want furnished. People who want long term tend to want unfirunished...however, I have also seen long term people want furnished. It all depnds on why they want to rent a room.

 

[ggnl]

I'm pretty ignorant on the subject, but I think single rooms come furnished more often than not.

 

[Atheus]

Keep in mind you'll have to clean all that stuff when they leave...

 

[dakels]

If its just a small room with no independent bath or kitchen, I tend to see them offered as furnished. Now if you are advertising looking for a roommate, that's usually different.

 

[esun]

Furnished is generally a plus. You could always list it as optional, though.

 

[Geekbabe]

If you offer the room as furnished you're more likely to get very short term renters... if your place is nice and in an upscale neighborhood you could probably advertise looking for professionals who need short term housing. The danger in renting a furnished room though is that you might also attract less than stable drug/alcohol addicted persons.

 

[dmw16]

I just started renting a room short term (3-5 months) and I only wanted furnished rooms. Moving your furniture for 3 or even 6 months is a pain.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
If you offer the room as furnished you're more likely to get very short term renters... if your place is nice and in an upscale neighborhood you could probably advertise looking for professionals who need short term housing. The danger in renting a furnished room though is that you might also attract less than stable drug/alcohol addicted persons.

I was going to add something like this. Although it is a generalization, I'd say its very accurate that a the type of crowd you attract with a cheap furnished room may be not as reliable as one with an unfurnished room. If people need to furnish something, they are more obviously invested in the space. From personal experience, I rented several furnished rooms when I was younger and a large portion of the other tenants were people with drug, money, job problems. It often depends on the area too. In this area (NYC -manhattan) it's a bit more common as a small cheap studio apartment may start at about $700-900 and in some crappy areas. $1200+ in nicer/safer areas. You may be able to rent a room for $400-600. I know several people who still rent rooms but usually with people they know or are connected with friends. Like they may be renting a furnished bedroom of a 3BR apartment.

Of course lengthy screening your tenants is the best way to help filter through good and bad tenants (not 100% accurate of course). Especially if these people have access to the rest of your house/apartment.

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: dakels

Originally posted by: Geekbabe
If you offer the room as furnished you're more likely to get very short term renters... if your place is nice and in an upscale neighborhood you could probably advertise looking for professionals who need short term housing. The danger in renting a furnished room though is that you might also attract less than stable drug/alcohol addicted persons.

I was going to add something like this. Although it is a generalization, I'd say its very accurate that a the type of crowd you attract with a cheap furnished room may be not as reliable as one with an unfurnished room. If people need to furnish something, they are more obviously invested in the space. From personal experience, I rented several furnished rooms when I was younger and a large portion of the other tenants were people with drug, money, job problems. It often depends on the area too. In this area (NYC -manhattan) it's a bit more common as a small cheap studio apartment may start at about $700-900 and in some crappy areas. $1200+ in nicer/safer areas. You may be able to rent a room for $400-600. I know several people who still rent rooms but usually with people they know or are connected with friends. Like they may be renting a furnished bedroom of a 3BR apartment.

Of course lengthy screening your tenants is the best way to help filter through good and bad tenants (not 100% accurate of course). Especially if these people have access to the rest of your house/apartment.

Thanks, everyone for the advice. Lot's to think about and decide on.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

One thing that also may make a difference is if you're in a college town or not. Renting to students isn't always a bad deal, you know they're going to leave and such.