Sanity Check - House hacking via Travel Nurses

[John Hunt]

TLDR ; Wife and I are considering renting a room out on 1-3 month terms to travel nurses in order to do a partial house hack, good idea? 

My wife and I recently bought a house in the Nashville area. I have been interested in REI for years and my wife has recently started to get really into the idea.

My wife works as a nurse, and has noticed the huge influx of travel nurses lately. Nashville rentals are fairly expensive, especially shorter term. We are considering listing one of our extra rooms for rent, specifically advertised at travel nurses. We figure travel nurses will have stable income and generally be a good housemate. Additionally, many travel nurses return home on their off days so the room would just sit empty on their off days. We could offer a furnished bedroom with it's "own" (it's the 2nd bathroom in the house, so unless we have guests it's rarely used). Some quick research showed that based on our location and distance to downtown Nashville, we could probably rent a room for $700-800.

We figure this could be a great "low-risk" step into REI, and it would be nice to have the extra cashflow. From what I can tell, the city only requires special permits on "short-term" rentals (less than 30 days), so we shouldn't have to jump through too many hoops on that front.

We are in our young 20's, and don't plan on having kids in the near future. We both have stable(as stable as you can in 2020) well paying jobs, so we're not desperate for the cash and have the advantage of being selective with tenants. I've lived with roommates (both friends and strangers) the last 5 years, and really have no issue with the idea, but both our parents think we're nuts. 

What do you think? Good idea or not worth the hassle? Any advice if we decide to move forward with this? 

Thanks,

JH

[Taylor L.]

Why not set up an inlaw suite so you're not sharing space?

What's stopping you from trying it as an experiment? 

Let's say you set it all up, bring in a renter, and you end up hating it. Big deal. They'll be gone in a month or two and you will have an answer as to whether doing a furnished rental is right for you. You tried, learned, and it shouldn't cost you an enormous sum of money. If it goes wrong then sell the furniture, or only buy things you're happy to keep as spare room furnishings.

There will always be people in your life telling you you're crazy for any kind of real estate investment you're going to do. You're crazy for buying a duplex, you're crazy for buying apartments, you're crazy for buying self storage...

Constructive criticism is all well and good, but it's best to learn to tune out naysayers (even though we love them all the same).