Furnishing apts in Budapest

A non-computing friend of mine has 3 apts in area 9 I think it is, 2 of which are now completed.

From the threads here, I've convinced him that he should up the spec on his furnishings/fit out - to stand out from the crowd & attract good rentals.

However, he was telling me that when he was last there, he thought furniture shops looked very expensive, poor value for money.

I'm going to go over with him for a few days soon to try & tie things up. Can anyone recommend good places to shop for furniture, and are we likely to be able to get things delivered fairly quickly?

Thanks in advance

Try Kika, but be choosy and avoid the out-and-out rubbish. Also Ikea, with the same proviso -- they have a lot of poor quality garbage but also lots of ok stuff. Prices in both stores about the same for equivalent quality as here or maybe a little higher.

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of options for furnishing in Budapest. The design shops, which have good furniture are ridiculously expensive. The best option is to visit Kika and Ikea and buy the main items there - but as auto320 suggests, you'll need to spent a bit of time there and ignore the rubbish. Kika sells a lot of old-fashioned expensive furniture with the odd exception. Ikea sell a lot of lower-quality furniture but if you spend a bit more here, you should get quite good quality pieces. It's also worth spending money on a few smaller items from some of the designer shops. The Material centre in District XIII is particularly good and not too expensive. Be very cautious about management companies furnishing for you. Most will tend to throw in standard products and charge too much.

More than likely, you'll need to use a management company as particularly long waiting times, language barriers and delivery issues can pose problems, so make sure to be involved in choosing the furniture at every stage and ask for receipts for everything from the outset.

jock, I think that unless your friends apartments are located in castrum haz which is a more upscale project I see no sense in spending too much money on furniture which in any case you will have to sell for pennis or get rid of when you sell the apartments. as standard furniture I will recommend ikea and kika, pick up a leather sofa in the living room, few pictures, curtains and a nice dining table and you will get a better appearance to the apartment then the average, contact a management company that will also instruct you which items you need to buy or you can send then a list with exact cat. numbers from ikea and they will charge couple of euros in order to buy, deliver and assemble it

I am in a similar position, but remain uncertain as to how far to go with furnishing the new Apartment that I have. I have been advised by a Property Manager to spend 2m huf on fitting out with furniture from Kika. He keeps 20%.

I do like the sound of just spending a 'couple of euro's on an Ikea fit-out as to me some of the better furniture at Ikea is of a better standard than Kika.

Problem is I cant find a management co that is so reasonable. Lee could you recommend someone ? Or perhaps a team that can deliver and assemble furniture ?

Thank you.

PHARTLEY, 2M seems on the high side. What size is your apartment? The quality of Kika products varies a lot and their style can be rather out-dated. You're right in saying that some of the higher-end Ikea stuff can often be of much better quality.

However, I wouldn't recommend that you just throw some standard Ikea stuff into your property. There are so many apartments available which all look the same. Tenants expect higher standards in Budapest and won't be interested in cheaply-furnished apartments.

Hello Budapest - small 2 bedroom apartment, Marina Part III, 60sqm. Appreciate high standard is required. If only I could provide someone with the universal Ikea codes ! Advised a 2m huf spend would provide possibly an 800 euro rent, which seems optimistic to me, apartment is on the top floor with partial view of Danube and the hills, but I confess nothing special. The more I spend the more the Management Co. get, so I am not fully convinced this is the way to go. Also bit wary of kitting out with Flat Screen TV etc. Am I wrong to assume that the Property Manager has then made his money and the ongoing rental/management becomes of little interest ? Of course understand that some money needs to be made by Manager, but need convincing that an 120k euro new flat with a Kitchen and Bathroom installed needs 2m huf of furniture..........so any further advice is very much appreciated.

It's a tough one. You need your apartment to stand out, particularly as Marina Part is such a huge development with good availability. However, of course you don't want to overspend either. 20% is a high margin for not a huge amount of work, so perhaps you could negotiate that instead of cutting the standard of the furnishing? Another option might be to get in touch with a few other (many Irish) landlords in this development and when any of you are in Budapest, you could order the more expensive basic pieces for the group of apartments in one go.

Guys
Thanks for all the advice above.
The apts are in Gizella Park, District 9.
I think the way to go is indeed to buy the bulk of stuff from Ikea & pick out a couple of major items like couches, dining tables etc & spend a bit extra on them.
However, it looks like we shouldn't expect stuff to be delivered in a couple of days, so if anyone can recommend a good management/installation company, it'd be well appreciated.
Thanks

phartley, the cost of the furniture in this kind of apartment should be ~1,8M ft agent commission included and 2Mft if you go for a higer standard sounds reasonable. in any case dont agree to pay more then 10% for the agent.

I believe that the best idea is to pick the main items - bedrooms and living room from ikea catalogue, this are the items that stands up when a tenant looks on the apartment.

Phartley, having a second look on your message I believe that the agent is trying to sell you stuff which you dont need.
keep in mind that when you sell the apartment you wont get a lot of money for the used furniture , you wont take it home either.
I always use basic stuff - simple cooker + stove, mid size fridge, 29" TV, simple microwave etc.
it is important to provide the tenant with the small stuff which he needs such as study table with a lamp, curtains and carpets and some other stuff, if you will spend too much on the kitchen equipment and TV you will end up with a request from the tenent to complete additional items.
if you need more data contact me

Theoretically you can get furniture delivered in a couple of days but certain items (leather sofas, etc.) need to be ordered 6-8 weeks in advance. Everything comes flat-packed so you'll also need to factor in the time/expense of assembly. Next day delivery is the most common and if you ask them to, the delivery company can ring you half an hour before they arrive.

I would recommend that you don't skimp on furnishing though. It doesn't make sense to pay €100,000-€150,000 on an apartment and then worry about a €2,000 difference in the price of furniture. There is an oversupply of apartments for rent which all look the same but an undersupply of nicely-furnished properties, which is actually what tenants want and will pay for. Even a couple of months' rent pays for the different in cost. Another factor is how long furniture will last and for example, good quality leather sofas will almost always outlast fabric equivalents.

From my experience Ikea will deliver within 48 hours and they also give a 4 hour window on expected delivery times. They have an assembly service which is very good and saves a lot of time and hassle. The desiger shops are very expensive with prices comparable to Ireland.

Dear Cole - was this your experience in Budapest ?

Thanks to all for your comments so far.

Hi Phartley

Yes this was my experience in Budapest. I furnished 3 apartments, went to Ikea and Media Markt on Tue, Ikea delivered on Thursday morning and they had two guys assembling on Fri morning. MediaMarkt delivered on Wed. I was delighted I chose to get the stuff assembled by Ikea, they charged just over 260 euro for the assembly of 3 wardrobes, 3 beds, 3 nightstands, 3 sofas, and 3 coffee tables and 6 breakfast stools. Well worth it. I also got all the glasses, kitchenware, linen etc in Ikea. For waht it's worth these are all high-end apartments.

And did they let easily?

My family are in shipping - and we specialize in moving stuff like furniture. Thus we have 100s of furniture contacts. We know what manufacturers make what - and how well. We can provide some good quality products.

Over the next few months Im going to put a catelogue together - the best products from each manufacturer.

Obviously the biggest problem is the expense of moving the furniture. Importing from many different sources.

Then you have the problem of man power to unload and furnish the apartments.

So perferrably I will source good quality from local producers (the best that can be found locally perhaps) thus keeping the cost down.

When we speak of good quality - it all depends on your particular definition of good! ....... leather couches can cost £2000 easily.

From my understanding I need to put together from the many products available perhaps 10 apartment designs each costing less than 8000 Euro ... or more?

With option of multiple bedrooms etc.

Do people tend to go with the bathrooms / kitchens available, flooring? ..... or purchase seperately - or is that part of the kit?

I need a list of items that are included in a kit .... and what would be an acceptable price for a good quality complete kit?

Example of quality? Peferred materials? Leather couches? Wood fooring? HDF Kitchens? LCD tvs?

I have to furnish my own apartment soon - and since I have to source this stuff anyway I think this could be a worthwhile project. Also when importing stuff it is always cheaper to do it by full container ........ so the more people who i can get interested, the cheaper it would be for everyone.