Today, the rental business is one of the most reliable and safe investments. But how to be successful in a highly competitive environment? The answer is obvious: the payback and income will directly depend on high-quality renovation and thoughtful design. The uniqueness of the interior, the right strategy and understanding of the needs of a potential tenant will make your real estate investment work to the full extent.
“Where to invest?”, – an investor thinks and makes a decision that lies on the surface: buy an apartment, renovate it and rent it out. Real estate investing is a ready-made business that brings a stable income. Besides, its an airbag for all occasions. The profitability of this business depends on several factors: from the area of the city to a competent market analysis conducted by the investor. But one of the most important points is the quality of renovation and thoughtful design. In this article we tell, how to rent an apartment the next day after the end of the renovation and at the price you expect.
Property management: long or short term rental. Features of renovation and design. Practice shows that daily renting via, for example, Airbnb is more profitable than monthly. The truth is the management of such real estate, that is, maintaining cleanliness and order in the apartment, collecting rent, etc., requires a larger resource. Obviously, the renovation of such an apartment will be different from the renovation in an apartment that is rented for a long time. The main difference is the pronounced character of the apartment, better — a unique concept that will allow you to select a photo from a list of identical offers on the Internet and even tell a potential client how to spend those few days he's going to spend in a rented apartment. Along with the catchy design, you need to take into account the functional features of your apartment. Maximum number of beds. In general, the rule also works for long-term rentals, but for daily rent, this is probably the most important point. Folding chairs and sofas will help out a large company, and if there are several folding beds in the pantry, this is a definite advantage. Kitchen. If you come to a city for a few days, you are unlikely to want to spend them at the stove. Therefore, in the kitchen you need only the most necessary. The kitchen itself can take a minimum of space. Where to attach the vacated space, see point 1. Furniture. The most important point is vandal resistance. Not for all the money in the world, but strong, practical, good quality, with standard size modules (so that fronts can be replaced). Cabinets. You can not fool around and put just one. It's good to have a suitcase stand. Removable covers are the right solution for upholstered furniture. The shower is enough for the bathroom. But a bath with an air massage (but not with hydromassage!!!) for two people or a mini-sauna can obviously increase the attractiveness of the apartment for a certain category of clients (if you are ready to work with this audience and the possible consequences). Decor. Less is better. As well as textiles. Daily rent involves frequent cleaning: the environment should be as comfortable as possible for care. Blackout curtains are a must! Guests might sleep during the day. A few important points in renovating an apartment for a long-term lease: The interior must be rather neutral. Residents themselves will “breathe” character into it. But “quite simply and basically” is a sure chance to get lost among the competitors. Therefore, an unobtrusive, but “wow-effect” is a must. A person comes to look, sees an unusual accent, some interesting design technique, and he or she immediately wants to call in the apartment. The basic colors of the interior are chosen in a way to please as many people as possible. Usually it is white and an excellent alternative to it — light gray. Sand scale is possible. People will live in an apartment with all their belongings, so you need to take care of a sufficient (or better, maximum) number of cabinets, shelves, storage spaces. The requirement of “vandal resistance” to finishing materials and furniture remains relevant. For example, PVC floor tiles (although we, as designers, do not really like them because of their relationship with linoleum) can be more expensive than laminate, but they cope well with the load and, if necessary, you can replace a separate die. Porcelain stoneware can also be an excellent solution, due to its phenomenal strength. Furniture upholstery should be durable, with a high Martindale value (which determines the fabric's ability to resist abrasion - the number of planting cycles) and, preferably, with moisture resistant impregnation. Don't skimp on this if you want your investment to pay off It is obvious that an apartment for rent needs a more modest budget than the personal one. An experienced designer knows a thousand and one ways to save money, starting with the choice of style (a loft is cheaper to renovate than a classic) and ending with affordable materials. An important point: cheap materials “behave well” only in the hands of a good craftsman. If the qualifications and professionalism of the masters are insufficient, expect failure. But there are things that are better not to save on: engineering(electricity, water) and plumbing. Water. In rented apartments leaks happen quite often, and the elimination of their consequences can cost a penny. These are additional costs. The right decisions at the design project development stage and the high-quality work of specialists will get rid of them. Therefore, waterproofing and leakage sensors are a worthwhile investment. Electricity. The failure of the wiring is the story of yet another repair. Most likely, you will have to ditch the wall, look for an “accident”, fix it, and then plaster, paint or wallpaper. In addition, poor-quality wiring is a safety issue. Plumbing. Experienced rentiers know that a bathroom is the first thing the potential tenants pay attention to when viewing an apartment. Therefore, high-quality, aesthetically pleasing plumbing is important if you plan to rent at a good price and recoup your real estate investment as quickly as possible. Footage, layout and number of rooms. In general, the game with space in a rental apartment is subject to the “more beds” rule already mentioned above (and therefore profits). That is why, for example, the kitchen is cut to the maximum through the use of compact, with a minimum width of household appliances, and a small number of drawers and cabinets. Popular for small apartments, the studio layout adds light, air and looks stylish. It looks good, but sleeping places located in the studio are unlikely to provide privacy. An ordinary partition makes the space heavier, making it cramped. But its “imitation” - a sliding compartment partition, a screen or a thick curtain will solve the issue of privacy and “do not bite off” from the visual square meters. The footage is important, but, as a simple analysis of market prices shows, an apartment with two separate rooms with approximately the same footage will be more expensive to rent than a one-room apartment. This moment is especially important for families with a child. Among those who are looking for an apartment for rent, the request for two-room apartments is 35%, and for one-room apartments - 29%. Therefore, if the area of apartment allows, it is better to re-plan a one-room apartment into a two-room one. Such an investment will pay off faster than you think. Who is your client? Buying a ready-made business (an apartment for rent) does not automatically mean making it work. In order to receive a stable and high rental income, you need to understand how to rent (daily or long-term), in what terms you plan to “recapture the investment” and who your potential tenant is. All this makes up your business strategy, which must be developed even before real estate investments are realized. In our opinion, the most creative moment of the strategy is the portrait of a potential client. Usually these are either young people, just separated from their parents, leading an active lifestyle, or families with small children. The young become your tenants if the apartment is located near universities or in areas with developed entertainment infrastructure. Young people love bright colors, spectacular design features, and non-standard concepts. They are looking for a place that can become an Instagram star and, having found it, they shoot without hesitation. A family with children will give preference to comfort, safe solutions, calm and cozy interior. For them, the number of rooms, an equipped kitchen, and possibly sound insulation are important. They are looking for an apartment in an ecologically clean area, with a park, a kindergarten, and a school nearby. The richer (and therefore more solvent) your client, the more requirements he will impose on design and renovation. This means that a renovation will require more resources. A unique concept as a way to increase profitability and protect against downtime. Real estate experts say that income from daily rent increases many times compared to long-term rentals, and they advise putting in a business plan a figure of 2 or even 4 times more. One “but”: such an apartment should be rented without downtime. Perhaps the most important question arises before the investor: how to ensure continuous renting? The answer is obvious: make your offer unique. How? Through interior design. “A potential client, choosing an apartment in a foreign city, is dealing with thousands of identical offers with a “neat”, but stereotyped renovation, — Andrey Trutnev, architect of Civilly, says, — your apartment should stand out from the general flow, so that a person immediately wants to click on the offer, view the interior, and then by all means end up in this particular apartment, even if it costs more”. Traveling is always a new experience and vivid impressions, and the apartment should become part of these impressions. The task is solved with the help of a unique concept that will “subdue” the design. You will Agree, living among standard furniture and repairs is not as cool as, let's say, in an interior stylized as an apartment of a rich city citizen from the beginning of the last century. Anything can inspire a concept, the main thing is more bright, alluring design tweaks. After all, the apartment is for rent, and you can experiment. Just don’t overdo it with decor and “explosive” ideas, the interior should remain functional and prepared for “vandal” use.” The unique concept will help to rent an apartment for a long time. Here you need to take into account the portrait of the future client (we wrote about it above). The interior of the "youth" apartment - the bolder the better. For families with children, you can make it quieter, but the apartment should stand out. One or two interesting accent details are enough to make the “love at first sight” interior. Invest money and not miscalculate. Among the almost half a thousand projects implemented by Civilly, there were quite a few intended for rent. For 18 years, we have studied the specifics of such renovations to the smallest detail and, starting from the development of a design project, we make sure that we do not go beyond the customer's budget. We develop a unique design, make high-quality renovations, use furniture of our own production, which is designed and manufactured taking into account the request for “vandal resistance”. Trust your investments to reliable hands and get a stable, high income the very next day after the renovation is ready.