If you are starting from scratch, putting together a furnished rental can seem overwhelming and incredibly expensive. We have saved a ton of money by buying all our furniture from Craiglist and Buy Trade pages. This has allowed us to furnish entire houses for less than $2,000 in furniture.
Unfortunately, what I have learned the hard way is that the most under estimated but highly expensive items are not furniture, but all of the other items such as linen, small appliances, etc. That is not including knickknacks, pictures, etc, as we don’t really include those items in a furnished rental.
I know I was overwhelmed when I was scrolling through millions of amazon products trying to put together my first (even second house). After trial and error (which is still happening, so if you have any favorites leave them in the comments), I have compiled my go to list and products. I hope this list helps you on your journey to set up your first furnished rental.
A few notes:
Where to Buy Items
I buy everything I need from amazon prime ( Want to try Amazon? Click here to try it for free for 30 days. ). I love the fact that I can put some background TV show noise on (need some new background noise check out, No Cable Needed: 69 Great TV Series You Need to Watch) and sit on my couch and order everything. While you do need to watch the delivery dates (some things are on back order or can take awhile), as a rule its great because its two day shipping on everything
Maximizing Amazon’s Deals On Sale
While I have put together a list of the products that I use, I do maximize the items that are on sale by checking those first. If I see at least a four-star product and I like the reviews, I will take the on sale product over my normal one for certain products (I don’t do this for linens, dishes, glasses, etc, things that need to match). I have gotten some fantastic deals and much higher than normal product standard. For example, I LOVE bath mats, but there is no way I would pay $75 for a rental bathmat.
Keep It Simple
Remember this is not your house. While I believe in having the house fully furnished and nice, I do not go over the top. I buy midline quality, not junk but not fancy where you are paying for the name (aka Macy’s not Walmart nor Gucci). I also don’t over furnish the house. For example, in my opinion every bedroom does not need a full bedroom set. I don’t buy decor or pictures for the wall.
Only Buy White Sheets
In the beginning I bought colorful sheets and comforters to make the rooms more colorful and inviting. Truthfully, this is a horrible idea. It makes it hard to interchange between rooms. Comforters get dirty and there are no easy ways to wash them in between people as they do not fit in the washer/dryer. The reality is your cleaning crew doesn’t have time to go to the laundromat in between every client, and honestly, even if they did, that is not a bill you want to pay.
Now I buy only white sheets, duvets, towels, etc, all of the same brand. It makes it easy to bleach, and you never have to worry about the colors not matching. I buy comforters with duvets. When the duvets get dirty, I just bleach them and we are good to go. I can interchange everything because it is the same color.
Buy the Same Item for All Unit
We try to buy the same items for all units that could need just some replacements, aka linen, glasses, etc. Unfortunately, things do break and unlike a traditional rental, its harder to charge for this kind of breakage as its considered wear and tear. This way we can just buy a few (for example glasses) and don’t have to replace the entire set or have mismatched which reduces our costs. We also can interchange between units so as we grow we can move supplies around allowing us to save costs.
Now Let’s Get Started!!
To make it easier I have organized everything by room in the house with links to the amazon products that I use. If you want more information about the product, just click on it and it will take you to the amazon listing. Hope this make it easiest for you!
Bathroom
Shower Dispenser
After receiving a complaint on my reviews about not having toiletries, I am installing these in all the showers. This is classier than bottles cluttering up the bathroom, and cheaper than the hotel size items. At the same time it still looks nice.
Bath Towels
I use these because not only are they reasonably priced, they are fluffy and soft. I have had no complaints from either my cleaning team or my tenants.
Hand Towels
We use these towels as they are a great price for the quality.
Bath Mat
This is one of those on sale items that I found and loved. It is plush, high quality and nice. If its still not at the sale price then I would look for another.
Towelette Bowl Brush
I buy one for each bathroom. This makes it easy for the cleaning crew. You don’t need expensive ones since they are just sitting behind the toilet.
Waste Baskets
I love these because they are classy and small. They fit perfectly in bedrooms, bathrooms, wherever you need a small trashcan.
Shower Curtain
There are many different curtain options. I chose this one because it was great priced for the classiness. I put the same curtain in all my houses. It keeps things clean and simple.
Shower Curtain Rings
I love these because they look classy and elegant but are still very economical. I use the same ones in all my bathroom so I can buy one replacement pack to fill in all the houses as needed.
Hair Dryer
Another one of those items you need to have in the bathrooms. Annoying, but needed, and people leave bad reviews if you don’t have one. I just bought an average hair dryer and I haven’t heard any complaints.
Bedrooms
Comforter
I love comforters because they are warm and elegant. These are great because you put a Duvet on them so its easy to clean between tenants. I had comforters and switched to these because comforters were impossible to clean on quick turn arounds.
Duvet
These are the best because they are easy to clean. I choose white because they are simple and elegant. Most importantly they can be bleached.
Sheets
Having nice soft, and cheap cheats are important. I chose these after the recommendation of another furnished landlord and its been awesome. I keep with the same sheets for everyone because I can switch between beds, without worrying they won’t match.
Pillows
I have gone through many pillows but I like these because they ship quickly, and are reasonably priced. I buy two pillows for full, queen and king. One pillow per twin. Don’t forget about pull out sofas, and blow up beds.
Zipper Mattress Protectors
I have zippered mattress protectors around all of my mattress with a zip tie. The idea is that this is the mattress out lawyer to protect it.
Non Zippered Mattress Protector
I put these over the zippered mattress protectors. While it might feel like overkill to have two mattress protectors, the goal is that this is the mattress protector that will be changed if anything is spilled, someone wets the bed, etc. This way if it has to be removed, it doesn’t get forgotten to be replaced.
Kitchen
Things disappear, get used up, or break quite easily. In our first month, we lost dishes and glasses. So I buy nice things, but things that I won’t be upset if about replacing.
Kitchen Towels
I just went with standard easy hand towels. I chose red but they have tons of options. 
Oven Mits
I like these because they are reasonable, full covering, and cheap to replace when they get burned.
Drinking Glasses
I bought these during my second round. These were alot cheaper and we had already lost a few of the below glasses. So these are my replacement for now on at all my houses. I do recommend you have one glass so you can easily replace them as needed.
or
I love these an they are my first choice but it got expensive to keep replacing them after I saw how quickly they were getting replaced. So that’s why I started to buy the pub glasses.
Utensil Tray
Love these because they are cheap yet keep everything nice and tidy!
Toaster
I just picked a well rated, cheap standard toaster. No complaints other than people want them to be there.
Kitchen Trashcan
I am a huge fan of lidded trash cans. I use these in all of my houses because they look nice, yet are cheap and work great.
Coffee Pot
I honestly chose this coffee pot because of its reasonable price and large size. My houses host groups up to 14 people. So a large coffee pot is important.
Kitchen Gadgets
Love that this has everything we need. Our tenants want an complete kitchen set, so this gives us everything for cheap, including the crazier things like a pizza cutter and whisk.
EZ Baker Twelve Piece Bakeware
These are totally worth there price. While we have tried other sets because these are pricy, they are so much nicer that these are our go to pans even at a more expensive price.
Cookware
I like these because they are reasonably priced, have extra utensils, and so far have held up very well. I have found that it doesn’t need to be fancy, just enough to make a few nice meals.
Hand Mixer
This doesn’t take up tons of space and still is a great mixer. It’s also cheap and easy to clean.
Knife Set
These are cheap, easy and get no complaints.
Dishes
I picked these dishes because they were plain, simple, cheap, and look great.
Utensil Set
I chose these for the same reason I chose the dishes and love them. They are plain, simple, cheap and look great.
Cleaning Supplies
Vacuum
While this vacuum is not my $450 Dyson that I LOVE, it is a great rental vacuum. I have had no complaints over its cleaning power. Its reasonably priced and has fit its five star ratings.
Family Room
TV
The TV’s I choose based on which is the best deal at the time 
with the best ratings. This was my best deal at the time when I was furnishing my rental.
Laundry Room
Ironing Board
I bought a simple ironing board as I didn’t want my tenants burning my bed, carpets, etc when they tried to use alternate areas to iron.
Iron
I bought just a plain and simple iron. In my experience, it didn’t need to be fancy, there just needed to be one at the house.
Cleaning Supplies
I made the mistake of buying Costco brand supplies. Unfortunately, they didn’t clean things as well as I needed, so after trial and error, these are the supplies that I have found work best.
I buy pods and small bottle quantities as I find that large quantities disappear. I buy larger bottles to fill up these smaller bottles and keep them in a locked closet.
This is the only thing that I have found that removes odor, especially pet, instantly. It allows the laundry to smell clean and fresh. I LOVE this stuff.
I use this to refill the smaller bottles of dawn.
I love this because it encourages the tenants to clean the dishes.
I hope this list gave you a head start and cut out some of the learning curve! While we have had many moments figuring out what products work best, we have found that it definitely matters on what you use.
Did I miss anything? What are you favorite products.
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