Furnished or unfurnished?

immuno

Hi everyone,

My partner and I used to live in a furnished 1-bed flat, but are currently living in a room in a shared house because I'm doing a 6 month internship. Once this finishes, we plan to move out into a flat again, somewhere in London. We're fairly flexible on the area, but we're not sure whether it's wiser to find a furnished or unfurnished flat. We don't have furniture, but we could stay in this room for a couple of extra months and save up for it, or just move sooner into a furnished property. From what I've seen, furnished properties are generally a bit more expensive?
We are hoping to buy our own place in 3-4 years...so I'm not sure if we should buy cheap furniture when we next move, and then get furniture again when we buy our place, or just try to find a decent furnished flat and save up for the furniture we really want to have in 3-4 years?
Maybe this is just a case of personal preference, but I was wondering if it makes sense financially to go unfurnished?

Thanks:j

PasturesNew

Furnished is a bit more expensive, but then you don't have to fork out for things - and the cost of delivery + the cost of removals when you move on.

I'd go for furnished for a year or so, to see how things worked out jobswise. It'd be annoying to buy stuff yourself, then to have to move and pay for removals and find that stuff you bought doesn't fit.

Leave owning furniture until you feel that where you're living is quite settled.

immuno

Thanks. Well ideally, we'd live in the new place for 3 years or so, although this is not always up to the tenants! I'd get a permanent job at the end of the internship, so I'd feel more settled in that respect.

I do want to go furnished, but I'm just wondering why there are so few furnished flats, even in London (not to mention outside of London).

tlc678910

I would be flexible and see if a property comes up that you like at the right price - whether that is fully, part furnished or not furnished.

You would be able to get an awful lot of furniture and white goods for a minimal budget using freecycle, ebay and charity shops if it is required.

Anything you want to keep take with you when you move and donate the rest to a charity furniture shop that will collect.

HappyMJ

immuno wrote: »

Thanks. Well ideally, we'd live in the new place for 3 years or so, although this is not always up to the tenants! I'd get a permanent job at the end of the internship, so I'd feel more settled in that respect.

I do want to go furnished, but I'm just wondering why there are so few furnished flats, even in London (not to mention outside of London).

From the landlords point of view it isn't worth the extra costs having a furnished property. The extra rent that can be requested does not cover the wear and tear to the furniture.

Tenants who bring their own furniture stay longer reducing the need to find a replacement tenant.

I would always rent an unfurnished property and purchase my own furniture. I would never consider a furnished property unless I only planned to be in the property for 6 months or less. If I was planning such a short tenancy I would probably do as you're doing now and rent a room.

3 years though in my opinion is long enough to buy your own furniture.

HouseBuyer77

Bear in mind you can furnish a place very cheaply if you're not too fussed about a particular style/everything matching.

Lots of decent, cheap furniture is available from charity shops/gum tree/family/friends/colleagues. There's also places which sell new furniture cheaply (could be end of line and retailer wants to clear their wearhouse or have some minor flaw).

If you're willing to live a bit bare bones for a while slowly adding furniture you can do well.

elleJay42

I rented furnished flats for 7 or 8 years and it never really felt like my home. We rent unfurnished now, started with a bed and a beanbag and built it up with furniture from family and cheap bits from IKEA over the last 2 years. It feels much more like home knowing it's all my furniture (also takes off the worry of people spilling red wine on the sofa and losing my deposit)

The only problem we have now is the lack of unfurnished flats in Edinburgh, it seriously reduces the flats that are available to us.

dannim12345

I live in a furnished flat, the furniture is quite nice tbh. I live with a friend so we aren't going to buy together or even probably move elsewhere together so it saves the hassle in that sense. If I was living by myself or with a partner I would probably prefer unfurnished if I planned to be there a while.

Cakeguts

You can pick up quite a lot of furnishings on freecycle if you don't mind waiting until they come up. Bed frames can be bought at charity shops. I am sure you would prefer your own mattress? You can also get boxes and bubble wrap for moving on freecycle.

Brightspark87

I rented for years in London. We could only get furnished flats rather than unfurnished - would have been happy to get our own! Also, sometimes 'furnished' isn't everything you need but basics like sofa and bed. I hated the bed (so much so that we bought a new one and left it there) at one house and sofa at another.

It was only when we moved outside London to a rental in Bristol it was unfurnished. We bought mostly second hand (aside from bed) and will now move into our house we are buying with that. We didn't get carried away buying stuff - only things we really loved and needed so if we had to get rid when buying we would. Its all worked out that its all going to fit well in the new house so all is good there.