Using Mid-Term Rentals to Bridge to Short Term Rentals

[Curtis Lipsey]

Hey guys, I was curious if anyone has ever used mid-term rentals (MTR) starting and then later transitioned to short-term rentals (STR)?

My wife and I are at a place now where we feel comfortable to start making offers for potential properties. We found a property that we ran numbers for and we believe it would make for a successful STR. The process of applying through the city to be able to list your STR takes a bit of time (up to 6 months it said online) and I was wondering to myself if there might be any way to reduce the cost of maintaining the property, mortgage costs, etc. if we were to press forward and purchase the property.

I thought to myself that if the property's numbers could successfully stand as a MTR then this might be a good strategy in the mean time as we wait for the city to process our STR request. To the best of my knowledge a MTR wouldn't be subject to any applications or processing time with the city so my thought was that it could be a smart idea.

Has anyone had any experience with this as a strategy?  Do you have any tips/tricks that helped you in the process?

Thanks!