1st STR Need Furniture Sourcing Suggestions

[Eric McClam]

My wife and I just bought our first STR in Powder Horn Mountain neighborhood in Deep Gap, NC outside of Boone, NC. Its a 4 bed / 3 bath 2700 sq. foot home. Looking for suggestions on where to source attractive commercial grade furniture that will stand up to STR turn over rate. Need Help!

Thanks,

Eric

[Paul Sandhu]

Estate auctions. 

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Eric McClam, please do a search as this topic has been covered extensively. There is a ton of good info on the forum.

I will say that commercial furniture looks like you are staying in a Dr. office waiting room. Not the best look IMHO.

Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and OfferUP are great places to buy USA made furniture for pennies on the dollar. Best way to go IMHO and out lake house is the same size and a 4/3.

[John Underwood]

Google local furniture stores that can deliver and setup your new furniture. 

This has worked well for me.

[Bruce Woodruff]

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Don't get commercial furniture, looks bad. High quality, gently used is the way to go....

[Zeona McIntyre]

@Eric McClam Putting together a stylish and photogenic home is the main key to getting booked. We furnish all our places with a combination of wayfair, target, HomeGoods, and amazon. I have a furnishing list if that would be helpful and I can connect you to a service that will design it for you if you prefer. Reach out!

[Raj Sakthi]

@Eric McClam This is a much discussed topic. Personally I feel like STR Guests are really hard on furniture so you are better off getting quality ones.

[Kenneth Woodruff]

Listen to BP Podcast 665, they cover furnishing STR and the mistakes of going cheap. They give some good referral sources as well.

[Matt Mertz]

We went through this. We did two things: ordered some stuff delivered to our primary residence (TVs, kitchen items, etc bought during a Prime Day sale) and transported it to our STR via a Penske truck, and then ordered the majority of furniture from a store near our STR.

I recommend buying local to your STR if they can store your furniture in their warehouse until you're ready to move in. Additionally, ask for a discount because it's a big order. Our furniture store had no problem throwing us a little discount. They delivered and assembled the furniture as well.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Kenneth Woodruff:

Listen to BP Podcast 665, they cover furnishing STR and the mistakes of going cheap. They give some good referral sources as well.

 You can go cheap price, but high quality.

[Kenneth Woodruff]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Kenneth Woodruff:

Listen to BP Podcast 665, they cover furnishing STR and the mistakes of going cheap. They give some good referral sources as well.

 You can go cheap price, but high quality.

 Very true, words matter lol.  Should have said, high quality over discount quality.  We furnished all our kitchens from FB marketplace and the quality is great. 

[Dado Vucak]

@Eric McClam do me a favor, forget about the question you asked for just a second and do the following:

- Go to Airbnb/VRBO

- Select location that you’ve been wanting to go to visit (even if it’s unrealistic at this point)

- Pick your top 3 stays from that list and open them in separate browser tabs

Look through those and take note of the design, decor, and furnishing within each property. My guess is that you ended up with three beautiful properties were they did not skimp on the interior design or furnishings.

The point that I’m trying to make is that most folks that are booking STRs are going to have a similar mindset. Spend the extra money and buy new (if possible) furniture from reputable stores and retailers - you won’t regret it.

If you’re thinking I don’t have the cash for that, well then you can look into getting a new credit card with 0% interest for the first 12-18 months and then just pay it back over that span.

That’s my suggestion. Good luck!

[Dado Vucak]

After all that I forgot to tell you where we actually purchased the furniture…

Most things are purchased from either Article, Target, HomeGoods, or Poly and Bark. We’ll buy used if we can find a good brand for a good price. However, I usually find that it’s not much more expensive to buy new if you’re looking for a good brand and it typically includes a warranty.

We most recently furnished a 4 bed/3 bath for around $17k.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Kenneth Woodruff:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Kenneth Woodruff:

Listen to BP Podcast 665, they cover furnishing STR and the mistakes of going cheap. They give some good referral sources as well.

 You can go cheap price, but high quality.

 Very true, words matter lol.  Should have said, high quality over discount quality.  We furnished all our kitchens from FB marketplace and the quality is great. 

We find good stuff on FB and CL as well. Good solid wood furniture for $50 - $100 (for example). Has character and the looks.

I stayed in a STR in Scottsdale a year ago, and even though it was well laid out, spotlessly clean, with great location and awesome owners...you know what I remember? It looked like a hotel. Generic colors, artwork, knick-knacks and furniture. I probably won't go back just because of that memory, and I'm not a picky kind of guy.

I would really recommend to NOT go to Wayfair/Houzz/Overstock/Target/Etc. Just generic looking stuff...you can do better...

[Andrew Kennedy]

Quote from @Eric McClam:

My wife and I just bought our first STR in Powder Horn Mountain neighborhood in Deep Gap, NC outside of Boone, NC. Its a 4 bed / 3 bath 2700 sq. foot home. Looking for suggestions on where to source attractive commercial grade furniture that will stand up to STR turn over rate. Need Help!

Thanks,

Eric

Rob Abasolo (aka Robuilt on YouTube and Co-Host of the Bigger Pockets Podcast) is really experienced in AirBnBs and through his YouTube channel and website, he provides his exact shopping list as well as an entire video on purchasing furniture. 

After I reviewed his shopping list, it is really good. It's what I'm using as a framework for my STR. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post his video link or link to his shopping list but if you look up his YouTube channel, you'll be able to find it pretty easily under his AirBnB start up channel.

[Nicole Heasley Beitenman]

Quote from @Zeona McIntyre:

@Eric McClam Putting together a stylish and photogenic home is the main key to getting booked. We furnish all our places with a combination of wayfair, target, HomeGoods, and amazon. I have a furnishing list if that would be helpful and I can connect you to a service that will design it for you if you prefer. Reach out!

I would also recommend going to a store rather than shopping used. Aesthetics are SO important in the STR space. You're going to have to find things that flow together. It's going to take a LOT longer to do that going the used route than just buying new. When you put a dollar value to your time, you'll spend more money searching for used stuff than you'll save. And since you're new to the STR space and those first reviews are so important, mint-condition furniture matters.

[Dan Maciejewski]

I agree with most of the commenters on this thread.  It's best to value your time and make as few stops as possible.  Spend your decision dollars wisely!

Find a local furniture store that will deliver and set up, preferably free.  And one that has entire room concepts.  That way your room is designed by a designer.  Down here in Tampa Bay and all Florida, really, we have Rooms to Go.  They offer 5 or 6 year interest free financing, too, which helps!

I have had clients that have gone the eclectic and gently used route and it worked out for them but I can tell you they did a lot of work to save money!  Craigslist, FB Marketplace, neighborhood groups. . . I'd rather spend an hour or so and have it magically appear, ready to go.  You'll be doing enough work getting coffee pots and linens and wall art.

[Eric Goldman]

anyone open a business account with wayfair before?

[Molly Thompson]

@Zeona McIntyre I would love a copy of your furnishing list, if you wouldn't mind sharing! I'll send you a BP message. :-)

[Josh Myrick]

A bunch of options. First you can use a designer we have used and lived, Guested Homes. They will help locate and pick furniture as well as set it up.
Another great is HostGpo.com. You get discounts on expensive brands. Many of these brands have their commercial grade furniture. It’s not like many people in the post are talking about as commercial being business and boring. It’s their standard quality furniture line that has been torture tested to ensure it’s reliability. Most of the companies also will deliver and install.

Otherwise and the preferred by most is to pick your own furniture to save a ton money and just replace as necessary. Yes they get extra wear but it’s not like you hve to replace yearly. 

[Brian Barch]

I’m a fan of awning.com. Pricing starts at about 15k for whole house, inclusive of design and quality built to last. You start before closing and they deliver and setup so you can get going immediately. They even include utensils. 

We didn’t end up going with them only because we bought fully furnished

[Michael Baum]

So @Brian Barch, what do you mean by quality built to last? Have you used them before? Is all the stuff truly well made? What are the brands they use?

Truly curious as to what they offer. 

[Brian Barch]

Quote from @Michael Baum:

So @Brian Barch, what do you mean by quality built to last? Have you used them before? Is all the stuff truly well made? What are the brands they use?

Truly curious as to what they offer. 

No, I didn’t end up going with them.

but as a for instance, as opposed to wayfair bunk beds, they might steer you to solid wood post bunk beds. Their whole spiel was about how they shave partnerships with furniture companies built to last, and are against cheap Amazon furniture

[Steven LaClair]

I didn't see this suggested yet, but for our place (somewhat close to yours), we raided the furniture outlets at the Asheville outlet mall.  Our entire property was nearly furnished completely by barely flawed furniture from West Elm at a fraction of the MSRP.

Then we rented a uhaul, filled it up and drove it back (2hr)

Sitting around and waiting for staggered furniture delays wasn't an option for us.

[Christian Longacre]

I would check out TDF Furniture, they have a few locations throughout central NC.  I haven't used them personally, but my friends have and they were very happy with the furniture they purchased.