Landlord 101 - How to Furnish Rental Condo

Landlord 101

How to Furnish Rental Condo

You buy a place, rent it out, and the money comes rolling in, it sounds simple right? Buying a condo and letting it out for income is a plan many expats, retirees, and passive-income seekers have when they come to Thailand.  The truth is, that failing to plan is planning to fail in the super-competitive buy-to-let game.  Here are some tips to help you get the most from your investment properties.

Targeting a Pool of Renters

The first step of any buy-to-let plan should be deciding on what kind of tenants you desire. The condo doesn’t pay you money, the tenant does, so it is important to target a group that does that in a way that meets your needs. You may want to buy a small condo and rent it out with high turnover and short leases. This model can work well in high-volume tourist areas like Pattaya.
Or perhaps you would prefer a larger one or two bedroom aimed at longer rental contracts of at least one year. With one of the larger expat populations in Thailand, this plan can work as well. Larger units with three or more bedrooms are a rarity and tend to attract long-standing tenants with multiyear contracts. They take longer to get rented but are more profitable in the long run.
Once you have targeted a good pool of renters, focus on what is important to them. Your personal tastes and lifestyle have no bearing on how you configure or furnish your investment unit. Don’t make the mistake of assuming everyone likes what you like. And remember, décor isn’t as important as utility. Nobody renews a lease because they like the curtains.

Build Out Stage

If you acquire a “bare shell” or a unit in the build-out stages, there are some moves you can make that help your place attract and keep tenants right from the start.  Installing plenty of built-in storage capacity is a great idea.  Nothing could lose a tenant faster than advertising your place as “ready to move in” and “just bring your suitcase” only to have tenants find out there’s no place to store their luggage.

Especially for long-term tenants, “easy to keep clean” places are attractive.
Avoid hard-to-keep-clean features like glass shower doors. Design walk-in showers that don’t need them. Ceramic tiles on the floor are lower maintenance than wood … granite countertops are durable and easy to clean … ceramic hobs as well.
Use high-quality water heaters that work and check them often.
A built-in water filtration system is a nice touch in larger family-style units. Dimmable LED lights are a feature tenants will remember as well. At this stage, you can build in some real competitive advantages.

Choose Appliances Carefully

Furnishing the kitchen with essential appliances, cookware, and eating utensils is an area many new landlords overlook or attempt to shortcut. For short-term tenants, you’ll need to supply everything right down to the teaspoons. Longer-term tenants tend to buy their own stuff. Choose cooking appliances like hobs, microwaves, and ovens carefully. Ceramic hobs are easy to maintain, but knobs rather than digital controls are recommended. A shocking amount of people are technically challenged by even the simplest digital appliances so stick with what they know. 


If you install a proper oven or supply a microwave oven, get a reputable brand with a warranty serviced in Thailand as they are the most common item that breaks down in a rental unit.
Buy a refrigerator that is the right size for the unit. A studio apartment doesn’t need a double-door refrigerator freezer and one of those little Samsung fridges that’s only a meter tall isn’t sufficient for a three-bedroom. Avoid all the bells-and-whistles models with icemakers, water dispensers, etc. Those features are just more devices to break down and more for your renters to destroy or complain about. Models with the freezer on the bottom are another modern improvement that can make your place more memorable for tenants.
Cookware is also very cheap in Thailand and I recommend going to one of the home furnishing mega-stores like Index, HomePro, or IKEA and buying a matched set. Make sure you see the whole set out of the box as sometimes certain items may be undersized.
Who needs a skillet that can only cook one egg at a time? Dishes, glasses, and silverware can also be purchased at these outlets very inexpensively. Make sure to buy simple designs with no fancy colors. In this way, you can easily replace items that get broken or stolen.
If you want a cheat sheet for what to furnish a kitchen with, go to Airbnb's website and look at their requirements for landlords who want to use them for bookings. They tell you what and how many to buy according to unit size.

Less is More, Quality Counts

Electronic entertainment appliances like TVs, CD players, etc. is an area that can help you and hurt you. By all means, have a nice TV in the living room and possibly one in the bedroom(s), but don’t overdo it. A 35-square-meter studio with a 65-inch curved screen may appeal to a twenty-something bachelor with a box full of video games, but is that your target audience?  
Get a TV that fits the room, mount it on the wall so tenants can’t move it, and attach a simple and inexpensive DVD player. Complicated and expensive surround sound units will not pay off in higher rents and are among the items most likely to break down or get damaged. Keep it simple. Nowadays having some kind of internet-ready TV or Smart TV can eliminate the need for clumsy and unreliable cable TV access. Make sure you have operating manuals for all electronics available in the unit to avoid those late-night phone calls.

Durable Furniture

The most important feature of any furniture in a buy-to-let unit is durability. Less pieces and higher quality are the key. Big leather sofas are popular but require maintenance and look old after only a few years. Sofas and chairs covered with quality fabric and treated to resist stains will wear longer and can be cleaned. If you get a good solid frame, it is inexpensive to have furniture like this recovered here in Thailand. Get one solid sofa rather than a cheap set of sofas and chairs just to fill up the room.
Glass tables can be fragile and seem to always be dirty. The same goes for glass shelving. Try to avoid furniture with breakable or stainable surfaces. Simple designs with fewer doors, hinges, and drawers are preferred as they have less to break.

The most important furniture in any condo is the bed(s). Whatever you do, do not get cheap on the beds. If you’ve ever watched prospective tenants inspect a house, some will look in the kitchen … Some will fiddle with the electronics a bit or check out the view … but every one of them will go to the bed and either sit down or push on the mattress to see how soft or firm it is. You should always buy a good mattress with a 10-year warranty, protect it with a quality mattress cover, and have it professionally cleaned once every two years. No one item will endear a tenant to your place more than a quality mattress.

Unclutter

Don’t feel the need to populate your place with all kinds of knick-knacks and artwork. Some simple and unobtrusive artwork is good. Mirrors make a room look bigger and take up blank wall space. A place that is turned out like a showroom model is intimidating to a prospective tenant and leaves them no room to add their own touches. Once again, less is more, quality counts.
An uncluttered condo also photographs better for profiles on real estate websites. Most reputable agencies will send someone skilled at photographing properties and making them look their best. Make sure to take advantage of this service as you want every competitive edge you can get. When they arrive, be prepared by having the place clean and looking its best.  
Winning at the buy-to-let game requires taking your emotions out of furnishing a unit. The important thing to remember is that each element you add to your rental should improve the living experience for the tenant. If it doesn’t, then leave it out; you’ll never get that money back.

Happy land-lording!