Furnishing an Athens apartment for rental: the three levels, the time, and the budget

By Joseph Kalaydjian, Founder & CEO, Cheez Hospitality

An empty or dated apartment does not earn. Before the first booking, someone has to decide what goes in it, buy it, build it and photograph it. How that is done decides the rent for years.

Furnish once, for every kind of rental

Short-term, mid-term and long-term guests want the same thing: a home that works on the first night. We furnish once, to the higher standard, so the apartment can switch between nightly, monthly and yearly rental without refurnishing.

The three levels

• Rental Ready, 1 to 2 weeks. Furnished and sound: essentials, linen, kitchenware, small appliances, decor, smart locks and compliance. For apartments that are clean and structurally fine.
• Reposition, 3 to 5 weeks. Rental Ready plus a designed scheme for furniture, lighting and windows. No works. For dated apartments that photograph badly.
• Full Conversion, 6 to 10 weeks. Reposition plus works: floors, walls, doors, windows, electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, bathrooms and kitchen. For inherited or long-empty apartments. In Athens, works alone run roughly 600 to 1,200 per square metre.

The timings start once the budget is approved and funded.

How the budget is built

1. Visit. One site visit, laser-measured, photographed. Free.
2. Estimate. A budget band within days, then a priced list of every item and every job.
3. Build. Three quotes on every job. Photographs before anything is removed, and your written approval.
4. Check. Snagging, then the photo shoot, then the listing goes live.

Who pays for what

• Goods and works: you, at cost, against receipts in your name. The receipts archive is yours.
• Our fee: 20% of the budget for execution. Onboarding onto the booking platforms is included.
• Contingency: 10 to 15% of the budget, held by you, not by us.

Nothing is bought until it is funded. For idle apartments, the set-up can be recovered from the first months of rental income.

The three mistakes we see most

1. Buying before measuring. A sofa that does not fit the lift is an expensive lesson.
2. Furnishing for yourself, not for guests. Storage, blackout curtains, a real desk and a second set of linen earn more than a statement chair.
3. Shooting too early. Photos taken before snagging live on the listing for years.

The short answer

Most Athens apartments need between one and ten weeks of work before they earn. See Property Set Up for the packages and published prices, or read it in Greek. The estimate visit is free.

Designed Living. Operated by Cheez.