Traveling Nurse Agencies

[Monty McLamb]

Does anyone have any experience renting to traveling nurses? I have an SFR lease ending in June that is located 2 miles from a major University hospital. Looking at options and looking for recommended booking agencies.

[Kuriakos Mellos]

Monty! I JUST began my journey with travel nurses and have become obsessed with it. It's as if LTR and STR had a baby and you have this great middle tier rental potential. I tried it out with my primary home first and found a great tenant (90 days) in a traveling nurse couple. I was able to cover my mortgage, expenses and still cash flow about $1300 a month. (This is a SFH and was testing the waters to see how it would work.) Just got my second payment from them this week.

I then took a duplex that I recently bought, in which I was going to do a LTR rental for a market rate of about $1400 for the first floor (had active applicants in place) but put up an ad on FurnishedFinder, had a nice steady stream of requests and am now getting $3200 a month in rent. (For a 2/1!) In this strategy I rented out each bedroom for $1600. After taking half of the mortgage of the duplex, insurance, and expenses (again you cover ALL expenses similar to an AirBnb) I am still profiting about $1700 for just this unit. Breakdown below:

Expenses: Mortgage, Taxes Insurance   $940

Electricity and Gas:                            $200

Internet:                                            $60

Water:                                               $60

Reserves:                                            $240

Total costs:     $1500

Now, I did have to buy furniture and rush to get it ready, but after this initial 3 month visit is over, the majority of those costs will have been paid for, and any new bookings after May will just need to cover the $1500 a month or so in recurring expenses. (Again that includes about $240 a month in reserves as well.)

Per your comments on agencies, I attempted to reach out to a few myself. (And spoken to nurses as well to get feedback) A lot of the agencies will usually just guide them over to FurnishedFinder to avoid any liability.  Also, the few that seem to do it charge more to get housing.

Things I have learned in my 45 days of doing this:

- Communication is key - even if it is not a match or you (or the nurses) be respectful as they are trying to find housing quickely.

- Provide a comfortable home like setting.  They want to go somewhere to unwind.

- Have comfortable beds. (All the nurses I have housed texted me saying that their sleep has been great. It is worth investing a little bit more in good mattresses)

- Safety. Sometimes they want to come and see the property and neighborhood before committing.

- Many of the nurses get weekly stipends for housing. I was given an example that in Kansas City, KS for example, the per diem per day was about $107.00 a day. (Sometimes they count weekend days, sometimes they don 't)

- Dont overcharge, I would say you could get anywhere from 1.5 to 1.7 your market rent in traveling nurses but do not get greedy.

- You don't need to do cleanings like you would an Airbnb! it's great. I charge a $150 cleaning fee per nurse on their lease on the last payment - none have said a thing.

- Make sure to dish out any maintenance for yard work / shoveling. (I live in the Midwest and snow is a thing..)

- Still write up a contract to be protected. 

- Shop around for furniture and items, again I was in a rush to get mine ready but go to clearance sections of furniture stores and get accessories from like a Goodwill. You would be surprised how cozy you could make a spot with a little time on your hands.

If anyone has questions on my experience please reach out! I am trying to close on another duplex that I will be using ONLY as FurnishedHousing after my initial excitment and success with traveling nurses.