Investor · Sugar Land, TX · Member since 2017 · 97 posts · 71 votes
I've got a question about appliances.
I'm getting my first property ready for rental in the Houston area, and a contractor who works with a lot of investors told me that I didn't need to put in a refrigerator. He said tenants just trash them, and he said all I needed were an oven-range combo and a dishwasher.
I assumed that tenants would supply their own clothes washer and dryer, but I've never heard of tenants supplying their own refrigerator. This is a SFR, rather than an apartment. Are the expectations different?
I'd appreciate some appliance suggestions from seasoned landlords with SFRs. What appliances do you supply?
In NYC, its common to supply refrigerators. Not having one is a turnoff and tenants rather rent elsewhere rather than spend money on the refrigerator, especially newly weds or someone just leaving home having also to buy furniture.
I know in some areas, landlords don't supply them. Tenants moving in with their own from these areas have the choice of using mine, find somewhere to store theirs, or sell theirs. One tenant wind up using both, placing his own in the living room. In another case, I stored mine in the garage when the tenant used his own.
As to dishwashers, I always add them when I update kitchens. And my SFR has washer/dryers because tenant buy them, when they leave ask if I want to buy them, usually at a bargain. But my deal for the next tenant is, you repair it at your expense, and you can dispose it when it's too expensive to repair, but I won't replace.
You don't need to provide fridge, washer or dryer. If other rentals in your area are providing them you may need to price yourself a bit lower to make your rental attractive. I would maybe provide a fridge, used one, you can get for cheap. Check Facebook marketplace for example. I would not provide a washer and dryer because those appliances are more likely to get mistreated and get damaged