Starting a Midterm Rental

[Evelin Negrete]

I recently bought a BRRR project in Gainesville, GA . I am wanting to do a midterm rental, focused mainly on travel nurses and doctors. The home is located 7 minutes away from a 1 Trauma Center Hospital. I want to better understand the topic and be able to talk to the Hospital and set a contract to house their nurses. This would be my first time everything doing a midterm. I would appreciate any advice that could be given. An idea on the process and steps? What I need to do? How to furnish the home?

[Jennifer Turner]

The Bigger Pockets Bookstore has a book on mid-term rentals that walks you through every step. I'd suggest reading that to start with!

[Zachary Deal]

I would recommend checking out Airbnb, Zillow and Furnished Finder to see what else is out there in terms of competition to get an idea of pricing and level of furnishings. 

[Jonathan Vinas]

As mentioned above, the book published by BiggerPockets (30 Day Stay) is a wealth of knowledge that covers questions someone looking to get into the space would want answers to (like myself). Also, episode 780 on the podcast was a great listen. Jesse Vasquez gets into the topic of his B2B approach and how he talks to hospitals, construction companies, etc. to get contracts. 

[Gabe Chase]

Hi Evelin! We manage about 40+ STRs and 10+ MTRs in Indianapolis. Congrats on getting started! I would highly recommend looking in the area that you will be listing. Look on the Furnished Finder map and look at what the competition is doing. See what you can add that they don't have, doesn't have to be expensive. For example; 

- Professional Photos 

- Better Design 

-Newer Furniture 

-Welcome Guidebooks

This will help you stand out when you do list. All of our MTRs are pretty baseline but do really well! Good design, clean, comparable with market rates, and professional photos. All of our units do really well and get leased within a month at most! 

Let me know if you have any other questions. Would be happy to help! 

[Ryan Daulton]

Quote from @Jennifer Turner:

The Bigger Pockets Bookstore has a book on mid-term rentals that walks you through every step. I'd suggest reading that to start with!

 What is the name of the book on mid-term rentals?  I don't see it.

[Carlton B.]

Quote from @Ryan Daulton:

Quote from @Jennifer Turner:

The Bigger Pockets Bookstore has a book on mid-term rentals that walks you through every step. I'd suggest reading that to start with!

 What is the name of the book on mid-term rentals?  I don't see it.

 30 Day Stay https://store.biggerpockets.com/products/30-day-stay

[Jennifer Turner]

30 Day Stay

[Miguel Del Mazo]

Quote from @Evelin Negrete:

I recently bought a BRRR project in Gainesville, GA . I am wanting to do a midterm rental, focused mainly on travel nurses and doctors. The home is located 7 minutes away from a 1 Trauma Center Hospital. I want to better understand the topic and be able to talk to the Hospital and set a contract to house their nurses. This would be my first time everything doing a midterm. I would appreciate any advice that could be given. An idea on the process and steps? What I need to do? How to furnish the home?

 Hey Evelin,

I think you're going to have great success.  You are asking all of the right questions.  Keep looking in the forums for all the right answers.  I will reach out directly to you as I may have a bit of an insight into your market.

[Allen Duan]

Others have provided great feedback on how to get started with MTRs. Regarding contacting hospitals, keep in mind some hospitals don't provide housing for their staff. They may be able to connect you to their staff or provide your info to them, but expect some traveling medical professionals to look for their own housing on sites like Airbnb and Furnished Finder. 

Also, while it's great to target specific tenant types in your area, don't limit yourself to those tenants. There are many more tenant types besides doctors and nurses and your property may appeal to other types as well.

Good luck and let me know if I can help any further!

[Miguel Del Mazo]

Quote from @Allen Duan:

like Airbnb and Furnished Finder. 

Since the OP specifically mentioned that she will be operating her MTR in Gainesville, GA, she needs to be aware that there is an ordinance limiting all rentals to 16 days or greater. There may be some exceptions for owner-occupied properties, but as we don't live in any of our rentals there, I have not investigated those ordinances. Listing on AirBnB is still an option, but she should set her minimum stay to 16 to avoid any issues with the city.

If her rental is in Hall county, but not inside the city limits then using shorter-term stays to fill in the gaps between MTRs is possible, but there are specific licenses that need to be requested from the Hall county planning and development department.

Northeast GA Medical Center (the hospital in Gainesville) does not directly provide housing to travelers.That is usually handled by the traveler on their own with a stipend given by the traveler's agency.

Allen, as usual, is right. :)  There are more reasons to need an MTR than just traveling for a medical job. Don't limit your listing without a good reason.

[KiKi Wood]

Hi! This is awesome, I hope it does well for you!! We manage about 15 mid-term rentals, and I believe it is a great investment strategy. For furnishing, we mainly use Amazon and Wayfair. The key is to make the property cute, but you don't need to invest a ton of money into it. Make sure it is good quality furniture, though! For pricing, I recommend looking at your competition in the area and seeing what they're listed for. I recommend Furnished Finder for mid-term. Best of luck!!