Mid Term Property Management

[John Clevenger]

Hey guys, as an investor agent in Indy I have found a lot of clients are becoming increasingly interested in mid term rentals. With this interest comes a need for property managers that offer mid term lease options.

I always love to build relationships and trust to recommend specific companies but before I do I always want to make sure their system processes are solid. From your experience, what are the biggest challenges and noteworthy things to ask as I search for a referral partner in the future?

Thanks in advance for the insight!

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @John Clevenger:

As Drew said, and as I have been saying on this forum for almost a year, "mid-term rentals" is a manufactured term with no basis in law and is only causing to confuse people. Some YouTuber made it up thinking they could start a new movement, not knowing that it already existed.

Short-term rentals are 30 days or less. Long-term rentals are more than 30 days. Whether you rent it for 37 days or six years, it is a long-term rental. The same laws apply. Zoning requirements are the same. HOA rules are the same. You advertise on the same websites. Use the same lease agreement. Just because they are furnished and include utilities does not change a single thing!

If you own a short-term rental, you can rent it long-term, furnished, with utilities. If you have a home you normally rent for one year at a time, unfurnished and without utilities, you can easily add furniture, include the utilities, and rent it for less than a year but longer than 30 days. People have always done this.

Marketing is only slightly different. A short-term rental can still advertise on the same websites with monthly rates. You may also consider adding it to websites that are designed for marketing long-term rentals because that is where you'll get the most traffic. If you have a long-term rental and want to market it to traveling nurses or other renters that may want it for less than one year, you can continue marketing on the long-term sites and consider whether it's worth the effort of creating a short-term rental ad on AirBnB, VRBO, furnishedfinder, etc. I personally think it's unnecessary. I manage 400 rentals with one-year leases, but we remain flexible with our terms and rent them for three months, month-to-month, 127 days, or whatever the customer is wanting to negotiate and pay for.