On the Internet you will find a lot of guides on how to prepare an apartment for rent. We specialize in short-term rental management and we would like to share with you our experience gained from completed projects in this demanding part of the real estate market. We base our knowledge on our own experiences, both the good ones and those that cost us a lot of nerves and did not always lead us to where we assumed. In short, we know what to do (more importantly, what not to do) to make the project a success!
DEEP SAVINGS - THE HIDDEN DREAM OF THE INVESTOR!
In fact, it does not matter whether your investment will be prepared in a "turnkey" system or the apartment comes from the secondary market. Renovation is one of the most important stages of preparation and it is during these works that costly mistakes occur most often.
It is definitely not worth mindlessly following the principle - cheaper is better. Of course, everything is reasonable - investment costs are also important, but it is worth knowing what you can save on and where you need to weigh the ratio between price and quality.
WALLS AND FLOORS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF AN APARTMENT
What is not visible with the naked eye is especially important - all electrical, water, gas or heating installations that are hidden under the floor or in the walls must be made reliably and using the best materials.
Sure, during the initial works, every zloty matters, but remember that the failure of any of these elements may be associated with significant costs in the future, and what is worse, the need to remove it causes the apartment to "fall out of circulation" for a long time, which results in no income.
Another point worth spending a little more money on is painting the walls. We use good quality paints that work in practice, as the manufacturer described on the packaging. Remember that our apartment will be flooded with guests - we have to be sure that in the event of pollution (and such will happen for sure), we can ACTUALLY wash the walls without having to repaint them - there will simply be no time for that.
The floor is just as important - for the same reasons. Every few days, new suitcases will enter our apartment, the old ones will leave. Our guests will bring sand, dust, they will spill, flood, shuffle, move - use all possible tortures, for which the floor must be one hundred percent ready.
It is worth mentioning here about the front door - not only because of the security element, which is extremely important for our visitors. Let's also think about our neighbors and make sure that the gates of our castle are properly soundproofed.
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL!
Now a few words about finishing the apartment. We rather focus on bright, clean and spacious interiors. A statistical visitor, while browsing the apartment offers, spends just a FEW seconds to view the photographs. Therefore, the apartment must look good in the photos.
Our experience shows that people booking apartments very rarely pay attention to extensive descriptions of offers - they are interested in their price and photos - we buy with our eyes.
This is a paradox that is difficult to solve - the finish needs to be planned so that it is as universal as possible and meets the tastes of as many people as possible, on the other hand, you have to somehow stand out from thousands of other offers.
For this purpose, we create imaginative places, small spaces that will give the apartment an individual character - it can be a corner in the living room, a coffee table, a balcony - only our imagination limits us. Such "small islands" will look good in the pictures and at the same time will not narrow down the group of people we want to reach.
There are also several rooms in each apartment that need a little more attention.
BATHROOM
It will not be an exaggeration to say that next to the kitchen it is the heart of every apartment. For short-term rentals, the bathroom should be designed so that it looks clean and sterile. Let's not overdo it with the number of shelves, cabinets and lockers. All you need is a place where you can put basic utensils and hang towels. An element that is not worth saving too much is fittings - it will be used often and we rather recommend using good-quality products.
KITCHEN
Functionality and convenience are the keywords. As in the case of the bathroom, we should not plan the kitchen "as for ourselves" - most of the cabinets will never be used, and the wooden worktop will probably be burnt with a frying pan. It is important that the equipment in this room does not come from the bottom shelf - nothing annoys as much as a broken kettle or a broken dishwasher. We should also remember to use materials that are easy to clean to finish the kitchen - he does not know life, the one who has not tried to clean the dried tomato sauce ????. We focus more on aesthetics - we really don't need to have complete equipment - it is more important that what is "looks" and works. Guests rarely cook anyway, but they will be very happy with accessories such as a microwave or a coffee machine.
ELECTRICAL SOCKETS AND SWITCHES
Are you saying we're exaggerating? Let's say that on average, once a week we go on a special visit to screw on the torn-out socket, because "there are some wires sticking out here". This may not be an important (although important for safety), but extremely sensitive detail. You can be sure that these elements will be constantly "tested" by your guests.
WHAT TO INSERT AND HOW TO SET IT?
And this is the stage where we can look for savings. You have to remember that your guests will spend only a few days in this apartment. Therefore, they do not need fancy cabinets, shelves, massage armchairs and thousands of pillows. It is also an important issue in the context of the photogenic nature of the apartment, which we mentioned earlier.
There are no contraindications to use cheaper furniture, but you must pay special attention to its solidity - if something looks as if it is going to fall apart under your weight, it will surely fall apart under the visitor. When buying furniture, it is worth paying attention to whether individual elements of the sets can be later purchased for pieces (chairs). One of the basic rules is also to strengthen the bed… If you don't, it will need to be replaced quickly.
When choosing and setting up furniture, remember also about their everyday use - let's follow the rule: let the vacuum cleaner reach wherever the eyesight.
It is also worth remembering to provide at least four places to sleep in the apartment - if we want the profitability of our investment.
GOLDEN THOUGHTS AT THE END
Let's not overdo the investment in a rented apartment - rather, let's focus more on identifying places where you should not save. If we make a mistake, we will find out very quickly - usually on the next holiday or a long weekend, when specialists apply double repair rates.
We should also remember that throwing "millions of coins" into the apartment's furnishings will not necessarily attract richer guests (they usually prefer five-star hotels), and the adjustment of the rental price will be very quickly forced by the competition.
The BillBerry Group provides comprehensive services for the rental of short-term apartments in the Tri-City - our specialists will be happy to help you at every stage, from the purchase of the property, through its finishing, to rental management.
We invite you to take advantage of our short-term apartment rental offer: