What's the demand for furnished, SFH rentals in close-in suburbs?

[Anonymous]

We are considering putting our house up for rent (2200 sq ft SFH in City of Alexandria) as a furnished rental because we are needing to severely downsize for our next duty station. Curious to know
1) Is there demand for this type of property/rental? If so, how much of a premium for fully furnished would we get (let's assume it's worth $5,000/mo unfurnished)
2) What lease length is most desirable? 3 months? 6 months? Would anyone want a year-long lease?
Thanks for any insights.

[Anonymous]

Hard for me to imagine that furnished would be a plus or command a premium unless you’re talking about AirBnB.

[Anonymous]

Maybe diplomats from dc who are staying here for a year and don’t want to deal with furniture. I know when I used to live in Ashburn, Redskins players would often inquire about having a furnished rental home. Mine was unfurnished at the time.

[Anonymous]

Most people want a year long lease, or longer with a locked in rate for at least 2 years. That said if you're advertising a furnished rental then you're likely going to get only short term renters, less than a year. I think there's less of a demand for this kind of rental, one that's furnished. As a matter of fact you'll likely have to pay to get the furniture removed for the future tenant. unless you get lucky and find a renter who's renovating their home and has moved all their furniture into storage.

[Anonymous]

OP I’m not sure I see the point of this. Short term renters of a furnished house are probably going to be hard on furniture. Do you want to keep it? Or just not get rid of it? Maybe list it with the option and pick the best tenant, then get rid of the furniture if they don’t want it.