Buying Furnished Property vs Buying Unfurnished Property

Are you making comparisons between buying furnished property vs buying unfurnished property in Malaysia? It’s something that you’ll have to decide on if you’re looking at buying a new piece of property. Many developers will often offer you units that are unfurnished, partially furnished or fully furnished. It’s important to know the pros and cons between these choices so you can make an educated decision based on your goals and objectives for your property investment.

Furnished Units

Furnished units can be great because they offer you several advantages over an unfurnished unit. First, you don’t need to spend the time furnishing your unit yourself. Whether you’re working on the interior design yourself or you have the cash to hire a professional, it’s going to save you all the time that it takes to get this done. And in case you’re a reno or ID virgin, let me stress that it takes a lot of time to renovate and design a space, right from planning to going out and getting it all done, it’s hours upon hours of your precious time.

Besides saving you the time, it also often saves you money. When developers buy furnishings, they either buy them in bulk from suppliers or they have their own workshop that makes them. This allows the developer to get premium furnishings at unbeatable prices. So, buying furnished units can save you a ton of cash on doing the furnishings yourself. It might not always be the best choice but it does let you get some very nice furniture for a fraction of the cost.

Another thing that getting a furnished unit does, is that it lets you put your renovation expense into your loan amount that you take out from the bank. The SPA price of your unit will include all the furnishings and basically allows you to get your renovation costs amalgamated with your housing loan. To some, this might not be a good thing because they would rather try their best to keep their monthly repayments low and get the renovation costs out of the way with cash but to others this can be a boon that allows you to save your cash and have your property up and ready to go for rent as soon as you get your keys.

Unfurnished Units

Unfurnished units on the other hand can be the better choice when you want to minimize your total loan. But… didn’t I just mention that we don’t get the best deals if we skip on the premium furnishings that the developer offers this way? I did however, mention that it’s not always the best choice. In certain circumstances, it might be better to reduce the loan repayments to a minimum and source out furniture on the second-hand or DIY market.

Some people are excellent at finding bargains and there is a myriad of awesome places to source out beautiful pieces of near pristine condition second hand goods at excellent prices. Some great places to do this are the Preloved Household Goods Malaysia (you need to get approved to join this group but just message an admin and if you’re from Malaysia you’ll be accepted) or Carousell.com. These places offer some superb second hand gear for your new home that looks almost as good as new. You’ll probably have to do some serious digging and have to arrange transport yourself most of the time or head over to the owner’s property to pick up the goods but it can certainly be worth the time if done smart.

Going the DIY route takes a lot of practice (or trial and error) depending on how good you are with your hands and if you have the time and tools for this sort of work. There are some insanely epic channels on YouTube to follow but my favourites have to be Home Made Modern and Great Home Ideas. Check them out for some great ideas on how to use your space, as well as step by step instructions on how to fashion some magnificent pieces of hand crafted furniture.

Going for an unfurnished unit can also be a good option when deciding to go for the long-term tenant route. It takes away the hassle of furnishing your unit yourself and it’s left up to the property agent to find you a tenant who wants to move into an unfurnished unit. This does however, limit your options as majority of tenants prefer basic furnishings at the very least. It also means that you will have to ask for a lower rental rate since they’ll have to fork out their own cash to furnish the property themselves.

Hopefully understanding the pros and cons to buying furnished property vs buying unfurnished property has been made clear. At the end of the day it’s of prime importance to to remember your objectives and capabilities in every property venture so you can be in the best position to reap the greatest rewards from your property investment.