THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407150456
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: By Heidi Glick, Special to Real Estate Weekly
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
When Jami and Dale Frank got married last year, they didn't have much money for new furniture. And with Dale in the Navy, they knew they'd be moving several times before settling down.
So rather than invest in a bed, sofa, dresser, table - and risk damaging them while moving - the Norfolk couple decided to pay $15 extra in rent each month for a furnished apartment.
Jami, 20, and Dale, 21, rent a one-bedroom Ocean View apartment, on a monthly lease, for $350 a month. Similar units in the complex go for $335 unfurnished.
For the extra rent, the Franks get, among other items, a brand-new love seat and matching chair in their living room, along with a Victorian-style bedroom set, with a bureau, dresser and mirror.
``It's better than carrying all of our furniture around and taking the risk of getting it ruined,'' says Jami, who moved seven months ago from Alabama.
And when it's time to move again, she says, they won't have to worry about lugging a truckload of belongings across the country.
Like the Franks, many young military couples find furnished apartments a big convenience. But area landlords and property managers say they rent to a variety of tenants, from young civilians to retirees.
One landlord recently leased a furnished unit to a man who works out of his car and just needed a place to sleep. Other tenants have lost their own furniture through a divorce; a few are sampling the area for a few months to see if they want to live in Hampton Roads permanently.
Generally, furnished units rent from $10 to $35 more a month than similarly sized unfurnished units.
``We have a wide range of people who rent them,'' says Shelly Cole, property manager for Judy Boone Realty in Norfolk. ``We don't have any one certain type of person who looks for a furnished apartment.''
Judy Boone Realty owns or manages about 1,100 properties in Hampton Roads, including houses, condos, townhouses, apartments and duplexes. About 100 of its properties are furnished apartments, mainly in Ocean View.
Judy Boone's average furnished apartment rents for $350 a month, about $25 more than its average unfurnished unit.
Most tenants, Cole says, don't stay in furnished apartments long - one or two years maximum. Still, she's has had some renters for five years or more.
Because tenants in furnished units are generally more transient than those in unfurnished ones, Cole requires them to sign only a six-month lease, she says, vs. the typical one-year agreement.
``People who rent unfurnished tend to stay longer,'' says Joe Downs, a landlord with about 20 furnished units, mostly in Norfolk's Willoughby section. ``In a furnished (unit), they can just pack their bags and move out.''
Landlords and housing experts are divided over the popularity of furnished apartments. Some say demand is strong; others say the traditional furnished unit, where the landlord buys and maintains the sofas and tables, is growing rare.
Tenants looking for two- and three-bedroom units usually want them unfurnished, says Edward Belgiovine, property manager with Virginia Realty Co. in Norfolk. But his one-bedroom furnished units are just as popular as their unfurnished counterparts.
Belgiovine manages about 900 apartments. About a fourth of them, mainly in Willoughby, are furnished. His furnished flats typically rent for $350, about $50 more than his average unfurnished unit.
A basic furnished apartment, Belgiovine says, usually includes:
A couch, chair, end tables and lamps for the living room.
A full bed, dresser, bureau, night stand and lamps for the bedroom.
A table and four chairs for the kitchen.
Tenants supply their own television, linens and kitchen utensils.
If furniture is stolen or damaged, property managers say, the landlord can sometimes recoup part of the cost from the tenant's security deposit. Many landlords heavily screen prospective tenants to reduce the chances of theft or damage.
Still, such headaches are making landlords think twice about keeping furnished units, says C.C. Taylor, chairman of the Tidewater Multi-Family Housing Council.
These days, furnished apartments are limited mainly to older neighborhoods in Hampton Roads, such as Ocean View. In the last decade, Taylor said, more and more landlords have dropped the concept, turning instead to a leasing company when they need to accommodate tenants without furniture.
By leasing items, a landlord keeps a unit furnished only as long as it's needed. Leasing also frees the landlord from having to own a supply of beds and sofas.
``It's a nightmare with an inventory of furniture all the time,'' Taylor said. ``It's a lot cleaner for apartment owners and managers not to worry about furniture. They don't have to worry about taking furniture out of a unit when it's empty and worry about places to store it.''
Area retailers can attest to the trend toward landlords leasing furniture. At Edward Legum Furniture Rental in Hampton, contracts with apartment owners and managers accounted for less than 10 percent of the business 18 years ago, manager Bob Schofield says. Today, that percentage has more than tripled.
The reason, Schofield says, is that many landlords can't afford to buy whole sets of furniture - or they don't want the hassles of storage and upkeep.
Edward Legum charges about $80 a month to furnish a one-bedroom apartment.
``We deliver it, we set it up and we maintain it,'' Schofield says. ``If they get a complaint from a tenant, they call us.''
But whether they're furniture owners or leasers, most landlords don't expect the extra $10 to $35 in rent to pay for the furniture's cost. Instead, property owners and managers consider a furnished apartment an investment - if it keeps a unit occupied, it has done its job.
With older, less desirable properties, Taylor says, furniture can be a key drawing card.
``Sometimes, you need a little inducement to get people to go into them at all.''
For Belgiovine, it takes about $1,400 to furnish one of his one-bedroom units. But for him, the investment has paid off. His furnished apartments, he says, are almost always in demand.
One of his tenants, Paola Lessa, 31, moved from Brazil a year ago. She rents a one-bedroom furnished apartment for $325 a month.
``I was moving in town and I had to look for an apartment very quick and, well, I didn't have furniture,'' Lessa says. ``I didn't have anything.
``It was convenient for me to rent this,'' she says. ``The rental, including everything, was really affordable. I didn't worry about renting or buying furniture.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Edward Belgiovine, property manager with Virginia Realty Co.,
oversees about 225 furnished apartments, including this one-bedroom
unit in the Bay View area of Norfolk. His furnished flats typically
rent for $350, about $50 more than his average unfurnished
apartment.
Photo by Ian Martin
Jami Frank at her one-bedroom furnished apartment in Ocean View.
``It's better than carrying all of our furniture around and taking
the risk of getting it ruined.''
by CNB