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Updated almost 4 years ago, 02/11/2021
Traveling Nurse Agencies
Hey there @Kevin Bevillard; not sure if you ever got your answer, but while there are agencies that will do what you are asking, not all will. You may or may not have better luck marketing to nurses and traveling professionals directly. There are tons of agencies out there and tons of FB groups for nurses, try "furnished finders".
But if you are not familiar with the options travel nurses have for housing, they can 1) have the agency pay for their housing, or 2) receive a tax free housing stipend and find their own.
Most of the time nurses will take the tax free money and find their own for cheaper. Just to give you an idea, my housing allowance for here in Dallas right now is around $1.2k/week, so around $4800/month which is way more than needed to find decent housing here and you get to pocket the difference tax free.
What I would recommend is furnishing a house, rent by the room, and market it over different travel nurse sites, Air BNB, etc... Nurses will be down to room together so they can cut down on living expenses so they can make more money.
@Chris Allen, is it okay if the place you are renting out is a 2 bed 1 bath? Are nurses okay to share a unit/bathroom or do they want the entire unit to themselves? Should there be an option to rent 1 room or the entire side of my duplex? I am just looking at setting my property up for traveling nurses since I am, literally, walking distance to one of the largest hospitals in town. Just starting to do some deep research into this. There are two other places close to town that are for traveling nurses and they are about 15-35 minutes away from each hospital.
Thanks,
JJ
Obviously ideally the more private the better, but at least for me, im perfectly fine sharing space for a short amount of time if that means i can potentially pocket upwards of a thousand extra dollars a month; but not all nurses will have that same view.
I'm not sure which way would work better in your area. I would think that doing it as an entire side may work better, just because some nurses travel with other people so they may need an extra room, or they may want to find their own roommate.
@Chris Allen hmm, interesting. do their roommates play rent as well or just stay with them for the time that the traveling nurse is in town?
I also have read that there are companies that you can rent the furnishings from if your apartment is unfurnished. I'm trying to really dig in and see how this all works. My second duplex unit is unfurnished.
Depends. Some nurses will travel with their significant other, family, or just a friend they want to bring along, so in that case, they may not pay rent and the nurse will just cover them. But I know a few travel nurses who take assignment with friends who are also travel nurses and they just room together. I think there is a market for both, just depends who you get.
Also remember that all bills should probably be in your name, offer some good amenities like coffee maker, maybe a "free travel mug" will be put to good use. Nothing crazy, but something that makes your stand out. Some nurses like areas so much they may be repeat customers or turn into a year tenant. Also may be nice to offer some flyers or coupons from around town for things to do on their day off. Basically run it like a nice hotel, if its not too much for you to do, offer a few "concierge" services if you can. Woild be nice from a nurse working a crappy 12-16hr shift to actually look forward to coming home.
@Chris Allen I had actually thought about offering those kind of services, I'd have to factor those into the price I'm sure. I thought that since I'm house hacking this duplex, I could even offer some of housekeeping services at like a bed and breakfast (minus the cooking breakfast for them).
I definitely have a lot of research to be doing. Is there a way to contact the local hospitals to find out if they have need for housing for nurses?
thank you and sorry for all the ?'s
I don't mind at all. I have thought about doing the same thing, but until right now, there just are not a lot of travel nurses coming to my hospital.
But I'm not sure of an exact way to contact the hospital to find out other than just calling the hospital and asking to talk to maybe the House Supervisor or a manager or something. But typically the hospitals are not the ones finding housing for the nurses, it would be the Nurse Staffing Agencies.
I would try asking around your town to find out what agencies are staffing your area then just reach out directly to those agencies. There are a few "big name" agencies that staff all over the country, but there may only be 1 or 2 actually staffing your hospital.
As a previous travel nurse myself, I have rented entire houses (2BD, 1BA), 1BD condos, and apartments. It ranges based on the market and I mainly found rentals on VRBO and AirBnB. I never took housing from my staffing agency because most of the time they offer you something like a hotel room and I was always willing to dig for something better. As @Chris Allen mentioned, there are some great fb groups that are all about travel nurse housing - the one I look at is "Travel Nurse Housing - The Gypsy Nurse". It is literally a forum for people posting their places to rent and people asking for places to stay.
As to the second unit being unfurnished, I didn't know any travel nurses who traveled with furniture so renting stuff would be necessary. I literally drove across the country in my 2 door car and could only take what fit in my car.
Also, most travel assignments are 13 weeks - this varies, of course, but that is the standard. A lot of nurses will "extend" their contract and stay longer if they like the location or the hospital and can stay for almost a year before declaring residency. Just an FYI to keep in mind when booking.
I love this idea have definitely thought about implementing it as well! Good luck :)
@Andrea Kendall, driving from place to place in a little vehicle is why I am kind of apprehensive about it right now. I don't want to furnish a place only to find out that there isn't much demand here and then be stuck with a furnished apartment that might limit me on potential renters, likewise, I know I need to furnish the place for traveling professionals (nurses, contractors, etc.).
The only thing that I am struggling with right now is the pet policy. I've been very "no pets" allowed, and I hear stories from landlords and BP about "NO PETS", and so I'm a little torn on the issue now. I have had a few responses from some traveling nurses asking about the property. What are thoughts on the pets/no pets policy when it comes to this?
I am all for pets, just have a good pet deposit and right it in your contract.
I think its like 67% of American families own pets. That's limiting your tenant pool pretty hard.
And as far as the furnished house, just ask about the rental furniture. If you don't need it, just give it back.
@Justin Johnson - I agree with @Chris Allen, just look into some rental furniture that you can have ready to go if you decide to go that way. I did a quick search for you on the travel nurse forums, within the last two days just on one site two people have asked for a place in Fort Smith so obviously at least one of the hospitals in your area is taking travelers right now.
@Justin Johnson - to add to my last comment, I looked in the jobs section and on Sept 2nd a hospital in Fort Smith, AR posted a bunch of jobs, and it seems like they do this often. They did this on July 27th, and Feb 2. Keep in mind these are rotating so they post every 13 weeks usually unless people extend their contract.
@Andrea Kendall I have also been googling the furniture rental companies. Thank you for looking at the jobs posted. I had done a little digging into that and saw a few jobs posted and my wife got like 3 replies the same day when she mentioned something about our property on one of the Facebook groups. However, I found a tenant yesterday that is going to be renting the unit out on a long term basis, YAY! That being said, I am going to immediately start looking for another property to buy and move into. Once I've moved, I'm going to fix the other side of the duplex that I'm currently living in and get it ready to go for traveling nurses. It is definitely something that I will be learning all I can about it.
This is something that I love about real estate, there's always some new/more to learn and discover. It gives me a reason (or excuse :D) to geek out on things and read/research/learn.
Thank you both, you have been incredibly helpful. (Apologies to the original poster for stealing this thread).
Hello All,
My wife is travel nurse so maybe I can help a little:
Their is no incentive for the nursing agencies to help you.Agencies offer housing for the nurses to stay in during their assignment which is a lower cost than granting the housing stipend to them. If the nurse accept the stipend,they are able to find their own housing and pocket what ever is left tax free. As mentioned before you will be better off marketing to the nurses directly. The Gypsy nurse Facebook group has already been mentioned and is a good resource. There is also other websites like www.furnishedfinder.com and www.nursesbnb.com that are just similar to Airbnb but cater to travelling healthcare providers (nurses, medical assistants,locums,radiology techs). You can also go on Linkedin and find HR reps for the hospitals and offer them an incentive ($$$) for "suggesting" this great place that would be perfect for them.
@Justin Johnson Congrats to renting out your place!
@Kevin Bevillard Did you figure out your situation? Most nursing agencies that I have worked with use places like extended stay hotels. Where the money is, in my opinion, is putting your place up on travel nurse forums specific to housing, VRBO, FurnishedFinder, etc. I have listed some specific sites above. Good luck!
Hey @Andrea Kendall, I just purchased my first rental and it is on the other side of town from the hospital so at the moment I have veered away from doing the travel nursing thing. Looking at more long term for this one. However, my second house I am looking to get now is two blocks away from the hospital. If I end up getting it that will definitely be my goal! @Chris Allen and @Justin Jefferson you all have been super helpful with your insight and questions on this. Will definitely revisit this thread once I get my next rental that is more suited for traveling nurses.
@Kevin Bevillard congrats on your first rental!! when I find another property, in going to look at the travel nurse rentals for the unit I am currently living in.
I would also look into renting out a room in your own house if you are open to having someone else live there. It's better than renting it out long term to someone, and if you get a nurse that works nights, you may hardly ever see them haha.
I owned a Medical Staffing Company. Best thing to do would be research ones in your local area and reach out. Next step would be to call the hospitals and ask who they use for staffing and if they have a contact # for the staffing coordinator that they deal with. From there reach out as they are likely national companies.
If all else fails try to circumvent the gatekeepers by inquiring about something other than real estate (My wife is looking for a staffing job) or something of the sort. Staffing companies are great about shutting you down at the gatekeeper level so I would background research the company and see who the decision makers are.
@Andrea Kendall thank you for your answers, they are very informative!
Where do you look for open jobs for traveling nurses? I'm trying to do a research to find out where would be the best place to invest in this niche.