Renting out a furnished house for 3-6 months? DC

[Anonymous]

We live in Glover Park DC. Work has told us that we will likely not be returning to the office on a regular basis until after the New Year.

We have a baby and are thinking of going to the west coast to stay with family so we have childcare and they can spend bonding time with our baby.

What’s the appetite in DC for renting a furnished home? We’d love to rent it out for 3-6 months while away.

Does anyone have experience with this? What does the rental market look like for SFHs in DC? It’s a 3BR/2BA with a front yard and less than a 10 min walk to the Wisconsin Ave commercial strip.

[Anonymous]

Try Corporate Housing by Owner. In a normal year, you might get a bite from someone coming to town for work temporarily. But, my guess is that is slower. Some Foreign Service families have had to come back early and might still be looking. Are you really willing to pack up all your personal belongings for Just three months?

[Anonymous]

Or you might find someone who usually lives in an apartment in DC and wants a house during the pandemic. Try it!

[Anonymous]

You rent it to someone who is doing a major renovation and needs a place to live.

You can also rent it to someone looking to get IB for your elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You rent it to someone who is doing a major renovation and needs a place to live.

You can also rent it to someone looking to get IB for your elementary school.[/quote]

sorry that would be a fraud, don't suggest it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You rent it to someone who is doing a major renovation and needs a place to live.

You can also rent it to someone looking to get IB for your elementary school.[/quote]

sorry that would be a fraud, don't suggest it.

It is not fraud. If you have IB residency you are eligible to enroll in the neighborhood school. There is a classic example of a family who moved IB to Janney while their house was being renovated for 3 months. Not only did they enroll their K child, their younger child got sibling preference for the lottery 2 years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You rent it to someone who is doing a major renovation and needs a place to live.

You can also rent it to someone looking to get IB for your elementary school.[/quote]

sorry that would be a fraud, don't suggest it.

It could be their temporary solution until they find something permanent. It only becomes fraud if they move out OOB after the initial
couple of months and don’t inform the school.

[Anonymous]

OP here: does anyone have a specific management company they recommend for this?

We want to rent it fully furnished, but will move out our personal effects (clothing, medications, personal mementos, etc) into storage.

It’s honestly worth a weekend of prepping the house to make $10K-15K in rental payments. We could probably get $3K/month.

[Anonymous]

I know AirBNB has monthly stays now and i just looked into that for the possibility of needing something furnished and short term as well.

If you were interested in long term rental- a lot of area students will need housing soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: does anyone have a specific management company they recommend for this?

We want to rent it fully furnished, but will move out our personal effects (clothing, medications, personal mementos, etc) into storage.

It’s honestly worth a weekend of prepping the house to make $10K-15K in rental payments. We could probably get $3K/month.

I would rent it on AirbnB, Sabbatical Homes, a local listserv or similar. A management company is going to take a huge bite of your profits -- probably the first month's worth, plus a percentage of every month thereafter. I don't think it would be worth it for a one-time short term rental. A local family renovating their own house would be a great bet in terms of needing a place for about 3 mos and being willing to pay more for furnished.

It's a lot of work to prep your place and there's the wear and tear on your stuff -- things will break, you will have to outsource lawn and garden if you don't already, pay for storage for personal things, maybe have to pay for cleaning between short-term tenants if you have multiple tenants. We have a management company (longer term rental) and they handle repairs -- but inevitably in the most expensive way possible. It may still be worth it to you, but be realistic about the likely net.

[Anonymous]

rental market is super tough right now. IB for school population will likely have a place already. will have more ppl looking for that in Dec

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try Corporate Housing by Owner. In a normal year, you might get a bite from someone coming to town for work temporarily. But, my guess is that is slower. Some Foreign Service families have had to come back early and might still be looking. Are you really willing to pack up all your personal belongings for Just three months?

+1 - also see if you can find one of these companies that works with the State Dept or USG. There are a TON of us here right now on evacuation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: does anyone have a specific management company they recommend for this?

We want to rent it fully furnished, but will move out our personal effects (clothing, medications, personal mementos, etc) into storage.

It’s honestly worth a weekend of prepping the house to make $10K-15K in rental payments. We could probably get $3K/month.

Op, do you have pets or so you smoke? If not, I’m looking for a place. Feel free to post an email or if you are interested I can post one. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

We just rent out the basement, and gave the access of The main floor for the basement tenant, so she/he can help to water the plant, sort mails, do garbage and help us keep an eye on the house. Obviously it’s only 40% of the rent I could get to rent out the entire house, but we get to keep all our things without a crazy packing. And even if we need to come back earlier or in between, we don’t have to adjust the lease agreement. OP could consider this.

[Anonymous]

I did something similar in a west coast city a few years ago when I went on a 7 month military deployment. I listed on Craigslist and found a couple moving from the Midwest who were still waiting to sell their house back there and needed a temporary place to live. It worked out great! Go for it- just make sure you remove all of your personal items or anything you would be really upset about losing. Perhaps consider a higher security deposit (if allowed by law) to cover your furnishings. And, of course, run a good credit check. If you want them to help you out with maintenance stuff while you are gone (water plants, look after things, etc.) then maybe try a slightly lower rent to make it worth their while.