Oakland advice -- furnished lower rent?

[Carrie K.]

Is anyone crushing it in 30+-day furnished professional listings (e.g., travel nurses) especially in the Bay Area, who could give me some advice? Or has anyone seen furnished places go for less than unfurnished before? 

I recently furnished a 3 BR. This is a high cost of living area, and in the neighborhood right now, I see a 3 BR of worse finish quality listed for $3k and a 4 BR that's about equal for $3900, both unfurnished with long term leases. (There are also fancy lofts for much more per bedroom.)

I just heard from someone who is looking at my furnished listing that they'd like to pay $950/bedroom and think that's justified based on the other places they're seeing. I really appreciate this kind of feedback and am likely to cut a deal with them to get it rented. But, it is a bummer because I just spent $$$ on furniture, bedding, and all of the many incidentals. Also, I've added about $250 to my monthly costs to cover utilities.

Looking on Furnished Finder, I do see plenty of places in my approximate price range, so I thought my target (average of $1100/room) was competitive and reasonable. Looking on AirBnB, $1150 for a tiny place was the absolute cheapest comp I could find nearby, and the next was around $1250/month (after Air BnB fees). But looking on Craigslist, I am now actually seeing a couple of small and non-fancy furnished rooms for $950.

In the near term, I'm happy to cut a deal just to get it rented for a couple months. But as I think about my long term plans, between the higher vacancy rate, the added monthly expenses, and all of the correspondence with potential renters, I'm strongly considering UN-furnishing it and going back to a long term rental. Has anyone else run into anything equivalent?

Thanks! I *thought* I'd done my market research, but I clearly have more to learn!

[Carolyn Fuller]

I ran into this situation in Cambridge, MA when the pandemic hit. I rent by the semester to visiting scholars during the academic terms and by the night to vacationers between academic terms. Both visiting scholars and vacationers disappeared in 2020 and there was a glut of furnished listings. Fully furnished apartments were showing up for less monthly rent than long term unfurnished places. By fall of 2021, both the visiting scholars and the vacationers were back in town, a lot of furnished listings had disappeared and I am back to renting at my pre-pandemic rates. 

Visiting scholars don't blink at the rents I charge. Visiting nurses choked on rates that were 20% less! That said, I'd not trust prices I see on Craigslist. It is renowned for fraudulent listings. If it is too low to be true, it is most likely not true.

Since my leases are fixed short term leases with no option to extend with visiting scholars, I'm able to start advertising as much as 9 months before there is a vacancy and get a signed lease with last month's rent paid in advance. That is so not the case with the visiting nurses we targeted in 2020. They seem to not know their schedule more than a few weeks before their contract begins. If you are trying to find an immediate tenant, you might want to lower your rent for a fixed short term and start advertising for a future higher priced rental and target an audience who know their schedule that far in advance and are willing to pay top dollar. If you are near a university, check out SabbaticalHomes or see if the universities have listings targeted toward their visiting scholars.