The Benefits and Downside of Fully Furnished Apartments
Furnished apartments are slowly becoming a norm in major cities in Africa. Most of the furnished apartments in Nairobi are found in areas such as Kilimani, Westlands, Kileleshwa and Lavington among other leafy suburbs. These are mostly serviced apartments.
Emomeri Maryanne
Such apartments mostly benefit students, professionals who travel a lot, business people and tourists or families on vacation. There are also villas and townhouses that are fully furnished, these are mostly found in Karen. In other parts of the city, hostels are furnished, but very few are furnished fully.
So why should you consider moving into a serviced or furnished apartment?
- Convenient for Short Stays
Nowadays, people prefer having their short stays in apartments as opposed to hotels. You could be on your honeymoon, on a business trip or just a vacation. This will save you time and money.
- Moving in and Out is a Simple Process
When moving in or out in such an apartment, you won’t have to hire people to help you move. You will only carry your luggage and maybe a few other valuable items.
- No Worry about Buying Household Items
You will not need to buy goods or stress about where you are going to keep them after your stay. Yes, you will pay more for the rent but if you buy goods and you don’t have somewhere to take them later, you may incur some losses.
The Downside
- Expensive to Rent
The furniture and the rest of the items will make you pay more in rent, a deposit is always made to cater for the damages that may be caused on the items.
- Fewer Alternatives
At the moment, there are few furnished apartments and not many to choose from. You may be forced to put up with what is there rather than what you would have preferred.
- Fear of Incurring Costs of Damaged goods
If you have little children or pets around, you will have to be very careful. Pets can scratch the sofa and the kids may damage appliances, sometimes this can’t be avoided. You just have to be prepared and incur the costs of the damaged goods.
To the Investor
Unfortunately, with the current trend, not everyone can afford to get an affordable furnished apartment. Those that are there are in flashy areas and the household goods in them are of the luxurious type. Investors can leverage on this and provide affordable furnished apartments or at least provide semi-furnished apartments that include the most basic of items.
You will have a lot of work maintaining the apartment and the goods, but you will make good money and satisfy a need in the market.
