Apartments for rent and for sale, can be advertized as:
– Bare
– Unfurnished
– Semi-Furnished
– Fully Furnished
We’ll cover what those terms means, specifically for the Real Estate market in the Philippines, in the way they are commonly used by developers and, as a consequence, by brokers and owners.
Bare:
The term “bare” describes an apartments where there’s really nothing in it, aside from the main door.
There will be no tiles (just concrete for the pavement), no paint for walls and ceiling, no internal doors, no electrical wirings. Kitchen and bathrooms will also be at the concrete stage.
This is usually the standard for commercial units, but it will be very rare that a residential apartment will be offered for rent as bare.
Unfurnished:
This is the most common way a developer will deliver the apartment to the buyer.
When renting an unfurnished apartment, you are to get it, exactly as the owner received it from the developer, with no additions.
In the Philippines, the usual unfurnished condo unit, is delivered with:
- Floorings (tiles, wood or laminated)
- Painted walls & ceiling
- Fitted kitchen cabinets & sink
- Bathroom fixtures (sink, shower, wc)
- Internal doors, electrical wirings and outlets
In some unfurnished apartment you might also find air-conditioning units, especially when they are provided and delivered by the developer.
Semi-furnished:
This will be the most puzzling condition, when trying to guess what does the apartment comes with, since this term will be used to describe anything in between an unfurnished unit and a fully furnished one.
There’s not a general rule for it, and an ocular inspection is really necessary to understand what the owner added to the apartment, after having it turned over from the developer.
Be sure you ask or find out which of the following things comes with the unit:
- If and how many Air-conditioning units are already installed
- If there is a water heater for the bathroom/s
- Which appliances you will find (ref, washing machine, stove, range hood, oven)
- Which furniture are already present, between beds, couch, wardrobes and others
- Curtains
- TV
Most of the unit owners, are usually willing to add something that you require, when closing the renting deal.
Fully furnished:
When an apartment is advertized as fully furnished, you are expected to find the unit complete of everything, as in nothing should be needed for you to buy to live in it.
So the following items should be always present (otherwise the apartment is supposed to fall into the semi-furnished category):
- Air-conditioning units
- Water heater for bathrooms
- All appliances in the kitchen (ref, microwave, stove, range hood)
- Beds with complete set of sheets and comforter
- Curtains for all windows
- Cooking utensils, cutlery, glassware, pots and pans
- TV
- Wardrobe, dining set, couch & chairs
A washing machine is surely installed for two+ bedrooms apartments, while it will be quite rare to be found in Studio type and small one bedrooms flats.
For our apartments for rent in Fort Bonifacio, in the description of the unit, you will always find one of this four categories mentioned. This will help you to immediately understand what is the setup of the apartment, so you can choose the one that best fit your needs
