Medium Term Furnished Rentals in Austin

[Sarah Davis]

I don't see this discussed here a lot, so I figured I'd share my experience. 

Using an FHA loan, I recently acquired a duplex (2/1, 850 sqft on each side) in 78745 in south Austin to house hack. The FHA prevents me from doing short-term rental (less than 30 days) which was my original plan for the other unit. Instead, I pivoted to medium-term (30-90 days) furnished rentals. I signed my first tenant within a week of posting for $2350/month for 3 months (utilities included). I had several inquires and found them using Furnished Finder. If I had done true long-term unfurnished rental, the rent would have likely been ~$1400/month and true STR would probably have been around $3500-$4000 (bummer I can't do it, but it is what it is).

Doing this medium-term rental took this property from not cash-flowing to cash-flowing by a lot.

I think this strategy is great for Austin as they crackdown on STR in residential areas.

There is a higher turnover, but from what I've experienced so far, you get much higher quality tenants as they're usually traveling nurses or, in my case, someone moving to Austin for a tech job, and needs a place to stay while they purchase a home.

Anyone else in Austin have experiences with this?