Travel Nurse Rental Niche

[Paige Miller]

I am looking at a property that is currently rented partially to travel nurses. I want some input from other investors that are working in this niche market. What things are critical to get a steady flow of tenants? The current landlord is collecting about 2.5x the amount of market rent, is that normal for this niche or a fluke? Where do you advertise to get the most exposure? Thanks for all your input!

[Brady Richard]

Quote from @Beth Blankenbicker:

Quote from @Brady Richard:

Quote from @Beth Blankenbicker:

I am a travel nurse so maybe I can weigh in if you have any specific questions

 @Beth Blankenbicker Thank you for your offer to provide your insight to the forum. How would a prospective investor determine the need in a particular market besides taking the "build it and they will come" approach (buying, furnishing, advertising, and keeping fingers crossed)? Thanks, Beth

 I would try to look for hospitals that relied heavily on travel nurses even before the pandemic, these will be your most stable markets going forward. If you can, find hospitals that offer multiple contracts- i.e. are they hiring one travel nurse at a time or ten?  A lot of hospitals are trying to phase out traveling nurses right now but we are seeing a trend that they will phase out travel nurses and then in a few months start hiring them again when they realize they cannot meet their own staffing needs. The spring and summer months tend to slow down for travel contracts and as a result the contract rates fall too but the fall/winter picks back up when the RSV/Flu/Covid season begins. The location should be within easy driving distance to the hospital but also a safe area, its better if the location is within easy driving distance to multiple hospitals as you can increase your pool of applicants. You can advertise on Furnished Finders, there are also specific Facebook groups geared towards travel nurse housing. As for furnishing- comfortable mattress, good blackout curtains are a must, fully stocked kitchen. Recently a travel nurse was complaining that they rented a place with a fully stocked kitchen but the kitchen had no cookie sheets, muffin tins, measuring cups or spoons, another nurse might not care about those things if they do not cook/bake but for that nurse it was important. Above and beyond would be things like a blender, an instant pot- some nurses travel with these things because, to them, they are must have items but if the nurse is flying into their next contract they are very limited on what they can bring with them.

Above all else PLEASE take into consideration that travel nurse "contracts" are volatile at best. A nurse will uproot his/her entire family, travel hundreds or thousands of miles to their next contract, sign paperwork and hand over thousands of dollars for a place to live and find out THE NEXT DAY that their contract has been canceled. Personally I will not sign any lease that does not have a generous release clause and I instruct other travel nurses to do the same. If the contract gets canceled then we don't have a job, if we don't have a job we are not getting paid, if we are not getting paid then how are we supposed to pay our rent? Being locked into a 13 week lease for thousands of dollars with no income is a lose-lose situation.

 Beth, Thank you kindly for your insight.