John Casmon

Corporate Housing and Furnished Rentals with Tim Touchette, Episode 26

Before the days of AirBnB, Tim Touchette recognized a demand for short term housing as an alternative to hotels in the Washington D.C. market. After buying a furnished rental, he experimented with finding his audience until he found his niche with corporate housing. Tim is the founder of Attache Property Management and Attache Corporate Housing, managing 280 furnished rentals in the Downtown DC area. He shares his best tips on investing in corporate housing, where this strategy works best and some of the key differences between AirBnB.

Key Market Insights

Purchased a furnished rental based on a realtor suggestion
Found renters through classified ads in the newspaper, talking to friends, and Yahoo Groups
Renters were not typical renters, usually owned real estate as well, and were expensing their rent
Founded Attache Property Management and Attache Corporate Housing, currently managing 280 furnished rentals
Best Areas in DC for Furnished Rentals: Downtown DC and 1-2 areas removed from downtown, Dupont Circle, Capital Hill, Georgetown, Logan Circle, Penn Quarter, Foggy Bottom
90-95% corporate renters, handful of empty nesters or people renovating their home
Avg length of stay for Attache is typically 3-4 months
30 days minimum, usually associated with the federal government in some capacity, also see many visiting professors, lawyers
HR departments of many organizations are familiar and will refer Attache
Need to have amenities: washer/dryer in each unit and/or on demand laundry service, high-speed internet, cable/TV and clean linens
Biggest difference from AirBnB is length of stay & 24 hour customer service
Consistency in guest experience is key for property management success
On Government Regulation: believes short term rental stakeholders need to come together to manage and mitigate concerns
Working on the conversion of a single family into an 8-unit property, all furnished units