Travel Nursing Housing
Hello, I am looking to start renting out a room in my house and would love to find travel nurses to occupy it. I have been exploring various websites for travel nurses, such as travelnursehousing.com and furnishedfinder.com. I wanted to ask the community if anyone knows or has experience with any travel nurse websites that they loved and would recommend. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Hello @Austin Remus,
I rent to travel nurses in Portland Oregon. I use FurnishedFinder and Airbnb (30-day minimum). In my experience, 80% of the traveling nurses book through FF to save on booking fees.
On Facebook there are several "travel nurse" groups that you can join where you can message travelers and advertise your place. Facebook only generated one renter for me in the almost 4 years I have been doing this.
https://www.furnishedfinder.com/stats will give you an idea of what your competitors in Denver are charging for a room.
Due note that ER nurses need to be within a 10-minute drive to the hospital. I have had health care professionals (physical therapists, phlebotomists, x-ray techs, etc.) and they are more flexible on drive time. Top requested amenities from my past travelers: off street parking, free Wi-Fi, access to kitchen and washer/dryer.
Cheers,
Melissa
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Real Estate Agent
#4 House Hacking Contributor
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#4 House Hacking Contributor
- House Hacking Specialist
- Denver, CO
@Austin Remus you should be able to find 95% of your guests using 2 different platforms. Furnished finder and airbnb (set min stay for 30 days). Exactly as @Melissa Hartvigsen mentioned :) That is how I have operated for 3+ years. Be sure those calendars are synced. I found that out the hard way early on.
If that is not doing the trick, I would take a step back and look at a couple different things:
-your listing (including photos) pricing. Professional photos go a long ways.
-other similar listings and their pricing. Might be worth give some sort of new listing special.
I have a couple helpful resources (spreadsheets, checklists) I have compiled over the years. Happy to share if you would like.
One thing to note is that airbnb will allow people to book themselves. Furnished finder is different where people will message you about booking and you will need to organize a lease with them. Often times possible tenants will send out message to multiple available units and you will need to reach out to them about your listing and see if it will be a good fit.
I have noticed that many travel nurses prefer to have a unit all to themselves. I have a furnished bedroom in my primary residence and had only one travel nurse stay in in the 8 months it has been active.
If you also work in the medical field that could be different in finding roommates but keep in mind you may need to have other strategies than only travel nurses.
Quote from @Austin Remus:
Hello, I am looking to start renting out a room in my house and would love to find travel nurses to occupy it. I have been exploring various websites for travel nurses, such as travelnursehousing.com and furnishedfinder.com. I wanted to ask the community if anyone knows or has experience with any travel nurse websites that they loved and would recommend. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Travel nurse and fellow real estate investor here. Furnished finder is well known in the community. Besides Airbnb and VRBO, you're missing out on your biggest free form of marketing; Which is Facebook and Facebook Marketplace. There's groups of travel nurses exclusively on Facebook where you can post your listing, along with posting generally on FBMP. Few other potential concepts you'd want to keep in mind. Travel nurses get a weekly tax exempt stipend from their contract, these rates are based on GSA per diem rates. You can research what stipend nurses are getting based on your area's zip code here https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates and then base your pricing on this allowance along with other comparative properties. Travel nurses still make a good income but declining rates will affect what travel nurses are able to afford currently and in the future.
My favorited way to go about it is getting in touch personally with the agencies and hospitals to get your property put on their "list" that they give to the nurses to choose from. Other ways, such as FurnishedFinder and AirBNB are great, but I've seen a good success when reaching out directly.
My gf travels and we've never looked outside of furnished finder. Often hosts will reach out saying to look at their other property photos thru abb links so having them cross posted has seemed to be the norm.
#2 Medium-Term Rentals Contributor
- Investor
- Narragansett, RI
@Austin Remus the market for rooms for travel health professionals in most areas is more the techs xray, surgical techs rather than the higher earning RNs. The RNs tend to search for private units at least around the Boston area. Also consider that not everyone who uses furnished finder is a health care professional. Your local city travel nurse/healthcare FB page can be a good place to post. Also travelnursehousing and furnished finder I think are the same site. Read the discussions, being a health care professional does not by definition make people a great tenant.
A good way to estimate if there is unfilled demand is to search FF for units similar to yours. If a lot similar to yours are available that can mean supply exceeds demand. If you see a lot that are booked there is likely room in the market. FF has stats you can look at too.
Quote from @Melissa Hartvigsen:
Hello @Austin Remus,
I rent to travel nurses in Portland Oregon. I use FurnishedFinder and Airbnb (30-day minimum). In my experience, 80% of the traveling nurses book through FF to save on booking fees.
On Facebook there are several "travel nurse" groups that you can join where you can message travelers and advertise your place. Facebook only generated one renter for me in the almost 4 years I have been doing this.
https://www.furnishedfinder.com/stats will give you an idea of what your competitors in Denver are charging for a room.
Due note that ER nurses need to be within a 10-minute drive to the hospital. I have had health care professionals (physical therapists, phlebotomists, x-ray techs, etc.) and they are more flexible on drive time. Top requested amenities from my past travelers: off street parking, free Wi-Fi, access to kitchen and washer/dryer.Cheers,
Melissa
ER nurses aren't required to be within 10-minutes. They work a regularly scheduled shift. I am an OR/operating room nurse. WE, when called back, have a 30-minute window to be back onsite, dressed in hospital surgical scrubs (diff type of scrubs and diff laundered method).