Short Term Rentals to Traveling Nurses

Short Term Rentals to Traveling Nurses

Real Estate Broker · Watertown, NY · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

Hey guys,

Looking for advise. I recently turned one of my SFH into a house for transient workers (traveling nurses, ect). I've found great demand for the product, but everyone backs out when I ask them to do the following.

Fill out an applicant

Go through the background/credit check

Pay a security deposit or move in fee

Am I going about this wrong? I've had 4 qualified candidates back out because of these things. I don't feel comfortable letting them in without knowing anything about them, or getting any kind of security deposit.

Does anyone else do this strategy? What have you found works/doesnt work?

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Real Estate Investor · Unionville, CT · Member since 2016 · 260 posts · 167 votes
7y

@Michael Ablan I also rent to traveling nurses and many have stated (on the traveling nurses fb pages) that when asked to do screening etc they just don’t rent from that person. The agencies do screenings that they work for. I’d just ask to get a referral from their recruiter instead or There’s a lot of business that you’ll be missing out on.

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  • Investor · The worst town to live in, KS · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Andrew Ziebro:

      Most applicants never responded or responded that rent was too much...that they were looking at $500 - $800 a month everything included.  You gotta be kidding me. 

    I've rented to people like that, people that think my rates are too high.  They end up staying at a furnished trailer in a trailer park.  No cable/wifi.  Separate building to do coin laundry.  Those trailers are $500-$800 a month.  I'm charging $400 a week for my smallest places.

    Here is my totem pole for renters.

    Project managers

    Engineers

    Electricians, Inspectors, Boilermakers

    Pipefitters, Welders

    General labor

    General Public

    Scaffold builders, painters, travelling nurses

    The homeless and people right out of prison.

    Notice I put traveling nurses below the general public and above homeless/parolees.

  • Investor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2016 · 25 posts · 36 votes
    6y

    @Paul Sandhu

    We don't have the same workforce you do in your town.  We have a large health complex here - Cleveland Clinic (largest employer in Cuyahoga County/North East Ohio), University Hospitals, MetroHealth Hospitals, etc.  There are some Fortune 500 companies, as well as a lot of colleges and universities.  That will be our base.  So I have to figure out how to attract them, and at the right price.

  • Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    I have a client who does this in CT and he has had a lot of success with it to the point where I am thinking of renting to travel nurses the next time I have a vacancy in a condo I own. Here are some of the nuggets he has passed along regarding this strategy:

    - You want to make sure your rental listings have great pictures, perspective tenants often are out of area and pretty much choose where to rent based on them.

    - Make sure to advertise on furnishedfinder.com and Facebook groups dedicated to travelling nurses. This is where they look.

    - This should be obvious, but the space needs to be furnished and immaculately clean.

    - The nurses prefer to have their own space as opposed to renting a room among other people. You can get more rent this way also. 

    - be prepared for 3-6 month contracts that have the ability to extend, but it's not a guarantee.

    - Accept pets and be flexible on deposits because it will set you apart from other STR landlords.

  • Investor · The worst town to live in, KS · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    6y

    What he said^^^.  My renters tell me that the main selling points are the full kitchen and the washer/dryer.  Everything else is icing on the cake (cable, wifi, supplies, utensils, and artwork from Mr. Hefner's mansion).

  • Member since 2021 · 22 posts · 9 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Ken Latchers:
    Four applicants is not great demand. They may be backing out in part because they have have problems. 

    for my long-term tenants, I ask these questions:
    ... tell me about your pet situation
    ... How many people will be living in the unit?
    ... are the people in the unit inside outside or non-smokers?
    ... if I did a drug, criminal, credit check on you, is there anything I should know?

    and by extending the process, some of them may have found other accommodations. You need to be lightning fast to get a prospect. They want to hear that they have the place and that it suits their needs at the price they think is Worthy.

    perhaps instead of a formal credit check, you should be using something like USA search to try to find potential problems.

    Originally posted by @Michael Ablan:

    Hey guys,

    Looking for advise. I recently turned one of my SFH into a house for transient workers (traveling nurses, ect). I've found great demand for the product, but everyone backs out when I ask them to do the following.

    Fill out an applicant

    Go through the background/credit check

    Pay a security deposit or move in fee

    Am I going about this wrong? I've had 4 qualified candidates back out because of these things. I don't feel comfortable letting them in without knowing anything about them, or getting any kind of security deposit.

    Does anyone else do this strategy? What have you found works/doesnt work?

    I’m trying to figure out if I should mix male and female in one house. I was originally planning to do all female. I have two females in my property now and I haven’t got any other female inquiries that were a good fit. The other two that inquired had a lot of bad credit history when I ran their background. (Personally I will not rent to anyone who isn’t willing to do a background check or sign a lease. I treat it like any other rental.) anyways now I have two men who are interested and the property is only 50% occupied with females. So I’m highly considering to have a coed situation.  

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