Should we rent furnished or unfurnished?

You want to rent furnished.  The cost of furnishing a house for the first time really really adds up very quickly. Then when you move you've got to pay for all the furniture to be moved, and probably find that some of it doesn't fit in the new space.  Most rented houses come furnished, so you will vastly reduce your choice of places available to you.  I would only suggest an unfurnished place if you are, for instance, renting while breaking a chain or in the midst of a divorce, and already have the furniture.  I've never had the impression that unfurnished places are much cheaper than furnished. I would suggest getting your partner to identify suitable properties of each type. Then go and add up how much it's going to cost to buy each item of furniture; as you don't drive, buying from Facebook marketplace is going to be tricky, so don't let him base it on that. Then work out how many years it's going to be until you break even on the cost of buying furniture.