The MOST Difficult Furniture Item to Place in Your Airbnb | Tim Hubbard

Welcome back to the Short Term Rental Riches podcast. This week we're going to break down the most difficult furniture item for your short term rental. Stay tuned. Welcome to Short Term Rental Riches. We'll discuss investing in real estate, but with a specific focus on short term rentals. Quick actionable items to acquire, manage and scale your portfolio. I'm your host, Tim Hubbard. So I'm down here in Brazil and we finished the renovation on my proper that I got earlier this year down here. Very exciting. Well, I would say we finished about 95%. It's those last few details that always seem to take forever. But I'm currently in the process of furnishing it. And now while it's very different furnishing a property down here in Brazil than it is in the US we don't have nearly the options, at least in this city anyways. I'm in a smaller city. It's still somewhat complicated to make sure that we get the right sofa or the right couch for our living area. And so I would say that the couch is the most difficult furniture item and also happens to be one of the most expensive. So this week we're going to break down some things to consider a few tips, and then I'm going to leave you with a few pro tips from one of my favorite interior designers and a reference to her online at the end. So let's just jump right in. Why is this furniture item so difficult? Well, after the bed, it's probably the furniture item where people are going to spend the most time actually on it. Right. So the most wear and tear. And unlike a mattress, we can't put a cover on this couch. Right. I mean, it just wouldn't look right. They do sell covers. I'm going to talk a little bit about those. But mattresses have mattress covers and that makes it really easy to protect against stains and things like that. But we can't really do that with a sofa. So we got to make sure that we keep that in mind when we get one. Because one little stain on your beautiful $10,000 sofa is going to ruin it. Your guests are going to come in, they're going to see the stain immediately. They're going to think this place is dirty. Not just your couch, but as soon as someone sees something dirty in your rental, they think the whole place is dirty and they start looking around. And so we don't want that. No one wants to have a stain on our couch. So we really have to consider that. So I think it's one of the most difficult because it's one of the most expensive. It's where your guests are going to spend the most amount of time, most likely after your bed. And it's also a large item. So in terms of like the logistics and actually putting it in your living area, it can make a big difference if you go too big or you go too small or use the wrong color. So those are some of the reasons why I think it's the most difficult. Now let's talk about size. The larger the area, I think a little more difficult it's going to be because we might need more than one sofa, right? We can't have a tiny little sofa filling a space. So of course it's going to be more expensive if we need more furniture. If it's a smaller area, then we can use a smaller sofa, obviously. And it's going to cost a little less and there's less configurations really, if we have a smaller area. But the best way to determine that we have the right size couch for our space is to use a floor plan. We've talked about floor plans a lot before, think they're super, super valuable, not just for furnishing your apartment, but also for your guests. You can include it in your listing description. They can see the exact layout. So if you're using a floor plan or if you're using a program like Roomsketcher, that's one I use. Or you can use Google SketchUp, if you're doing it yourself, you can plug in the exact dimensions. You can do a 3D walkthrough on these programs so you can feel what it's like in this space before you actually make that big expense and purchase that couch. Now, if you don't want to do that, an easy way is just to find a couch that you like or you think might fit and just put some painters tape on the ground and mark it off and make sure that you, you have enough space between the couch and your walking areas. It's not too big. So do that. If you're not doing the floor plan, but I think the floor plans can really, really help. I think that they're kind of fun after you start doing them a little bit too. So. And again, if you want the floor plan but you don't want to do it, you can use fiverr.com or Upwork, send some photos and some measurements of your space. You can have someone do it for you for a few bucks online. So sizing can be a little difficult. The staining, the material that's on the couch is probably the most important, because like I said, if you have a really expensive couch, but there's a tiny little stain on it, people's imaginations are going to be flying. They're going to think, what the heck were these people doing on this couch before me? What is that? It's just not good. Right. And if you try to cover it up, if you do get a stay on your couch and you put a blanket down and your guest pulls the blanket up, well, that's not going to be a very pleasant surprise. They're going to see something they don't want to see. And again, they're going to start thinking about how clean is your place, actually. So we got to be very cognizant about the materials we choose for our couches. Materials like leather or even faux leather. They're a lot easier to clean. Right. Of course, leather can be really expensive. And you know, there's a difference. If this is our personal living space, we might splurge and get a couch that costs way more because we know that we're going to be taking care of it. But I would urge you to kind of find a middle of the line couch that's not super expensive. Because if you have lots of guests going through there, someone can have an accident and then it's not an easy fix. So I think faux leather can work. Of course, there are different qualities to faux leather, but it's an easy surface to clean so that one can work well. And we're going to talk about a couple places where you can get these couches or a couple places that I've used and also a couple places where I found they're not very good. So another thing you can do in regards to the staining is maybe get a couch that has zip off cushion covers. Right. So if it's not a faux leather or something like that, or even if it is, if you can take that cushion cover off and, and wash it or take it to a professional cleaner. And that's going to be very helpful. It's going to help prolong the life of that couch. And you may be able to buy replacements. I think it's a good idea to have replacement covers on hand if you have a material that stains easily. Because if someone stains it and you have to block your schedule off until you get this little issue fixed, it could take a while. And a lot of times couches take a long time to order or replacement pieces or covers. So if you can get a couch that has a zip off cover and you can wash it or Take it somewhere to be washed and get replacement covers. I think that can be an excellent solution. Let's talk about color. So really I'm sitting in this, in this white space. My apartment's pretty empty here still as I'm furnishing stuff. But you can see in the background here, or if you're listening on the podcast, it's pretty much white. And that's what I've been using with most all my properties now because white just feels clean. But it's also easy to add in color with other furniture items. So you want to be careful when you're adding in color that you don't do it in a huge portion. Right. That you can't. Something that's not neutral and it's not going to be able to blend later. So I do suggest getting couches in a neutral color because it's such a big item. That way, if you decide to change something later on, you can change the paint colors, you can change other furniture items. You still have a couch that's going to work in that space. Space. You can always throw decorative colored pillows over the top and throw blankets and stuff like that. But I think it's best to go with a somewhat neutral color with your couch because it's such a big item. So where do we find these couches? Well, it depends where we are. If we're in the us we have tons and tons of options online. So talk about the big ones first. Amazon, Wayfair. I've tried a lot of these couches and just like any big company, I mean they have better options and they have some that are not good. I will say we've got a lot of couches from Amazon that just didn't hold up. They were not what we were expecting. And so I think the best thing to do if you happen to be in your market, where your rental is, is check one out in person. You can sit on it, you can, you can feel the texture, you can see how it looks. Then you don't have that. That risk of getting something that you didn' and then trying to ship a couch back isn't necessarily easy. So I would say that's the best approach. Now, if you're working with an interior designer, well, then you can put your trust in them and they will know where to find a good couch, a good sofa, a good love seat, any of these large furniture items in the living room. So that's a good option. But if you are ordering online.

You know, we've got some couches off Sofa Mania lately And of course we can, we can check the reviews. So if there's a ton of reviews and it says it shows, you know people, it met people's expectations, has great reviews, and you have the measurements online, so make sure you double check those and check the height. Actually, when we're, while we're on the subject, height can be really impactful too. If you have a low ceiling area, for example, and you put a high couch in there, it's going to make the space look smaller. So I'm going to share with you one of my favorite interior designers on YouTube in the end and actually give you a few of her just top tips because she's a pro. I'm not a pro, but I have furnished dozens and dozens of my own properties with the help of my team. And we've experimented with all kinds of couches and we've had a lot of bad ones and we've done it wrong a lot. So hopefully some of these tips will save you from that. One other note on couches is that as a short term rental host, we're trying to accommodate as many people as we can oftentimes because the more people we accommodate, the more money we can make, right? Oftentimes. And so I used to squash in these sofa couches in a lot of my apartments. And first of all, it wasn't a big enough space, a lot of these apartments, to add the extra sleeping space in there. There's not as many good sofa bed options. The ones that fold out a lot of times are really heavy. Maybe they're not put together well. And so if you're trying to get a sofa bed to accommodate more people, just keep that in mind. You're probably going to have a fewer options and you also have that additional housekeeping operational piece. Right. If you get a reservation and they want to use a sofa bed, well, then you got to make sure you communicate that with your housekeepers. Make sure it's made up, you have the extra linens there or that they're there on hand. So that adds one other little operational piece. If you only have one property or a couple properties, it's not a big deal. But if you start doing that with dozens of properties, it can be another piece that you got to consider. So little note on sofa beds. So we can buy from really nice places online too. You know, I mean, couches are one of those furniture items where you, you could spend $500 and you can spend $20,000. I mean, it's really, really a big range. But you want to get something that's going to hold up. So I personally, I like Ikea. I think they have a lot of good furniture, but they also have a lot of not good furniture. And you can see that in the prices. They have not, I wouldn't say expensive couches at Ikea, but they have some that definitely are on the higher end. And those couches can hold up really well. They have couches with real leather and materials that are easier to clean. So consider spending a little more to get something that's going to hold up. Because if you have to replace a couch, it's not an easy item. Your schedule is going to be blocked. And if you're charging $150 a night and you block your calendar for five nights to try to find a new couch, well, there's potentially $750, and it's likely going to take you much longer than five days. Get a new couch in. So get a good one from the beginning. But you don't need to go extreme. Make sure you consider the size. Consider the color. I think neutral will be best. And consider the fabric. Leather or faux leather can be really good. Or a couch that sells replaceable covers. Or you can take the cushion covers off and wash them. So those are a few suggestions around couches. Now I want to talk about one of my favorite interior designers on YouTube that I follow at the moment. You know, these things are always changing. But, but she is really good. And she's, she's a pro. Her name is Lisa Holt, and she has her own channel, Lisa Holt Design. She's got tons of videos on there. I want to give you just a few tips I pulled out of one of her recent videos on this subject of couches. First of all, don't push the couches all the way up against the wall. It'll make things look smaller. That's just, just how it is. I know this is like our natural instinct to just push, push everything against the wall, but really we want to pull it away from the wall a little bit. You can see some examples on her channel. Or if you Google images of living areas, one that has couches against the wall and one that doesn't. You'll see. You'll see what I'm talking about. It doesn't seem intuitive at first, but it really is pulled away from the wall, it's going to seem a little bigger. Consider using sectional sofas. If you have a really big space. Those can be, you know, you can move them and put them in different combinations. If you decide to change something later on. So that could be an option. If you have a really big space, don't put too much seating in your living area. So if you have a really big space, don't cram it in with, you know, you want to leave. Her suggestion, Lisa Holt's suggestion, 30 to 36 inches of space for your main walking points. So if you have to walk through the living area to get to a bedroom or whatever it is around a coffee table, you want to have like 30 to 36 inches of space. So keep that in mind when you're shopping for your couch and doing your floor plan or putting your tape on the, on the ground to get your measurements right. And then lastly, she talks about height, that it really does matter and not everything has to be the exact same height. Like, it's nice to have variation in heights. It's nice to have variation in tones and colors. And all these things add to our interior design on a whole and make our space better. Because it really is the space that we're living in changes everything. It's going to change the way our guests feel. And if we make them feel better with a really well designed space, then we're going to get better reviews. So hopefully some of those suggestions help you if you're in the process of searching for a couch or you're looking for a new one, or if you're about to start your first rental. Of course, all this is easier if we have better guests coming in that take better care of our property. So if you haven't yet, we have all of our house rules in the show notes, or if you're watching the YouTube channel, you can click on the link in the show notes there and get our house rules, the ones I use with all my properties. Those are going to help you get a little better guess. But until next time, if you're out there shopping around, consider these tips. Check out Lisa Holt's channel. She's got some really good info and there's a lot of other good ones on there. Until next time, I hope you guys all have a wonderful, wonderful week. Cheers.

Sam.