Mid-Term Listing/Advertising Strategies

[Alexander Knox]

Hi all, 

I own a rental just a few blocks away from Old Town Scottsdale. I've recently renovated the place and have had it listed for a few weeks with some traction, tours, but no commitments just yet. I've done extensive research and comped out rents with a solid margin for vacancy. This all said, I am pricing my unit very competitively and have gotten positive feedback on the tours but I am struggling to get mid-term renters to commit. I am wondering how successful mid-term renters on here have been advertising their properties. I am targeting travel nurses as the property is close to 4 medical centers in the area but again, struggle to get more commitments. Is there a way to tap into recruiting/placement agencies for these medical centers? Does it make sense to hire a property management company who may have the connections with these recruiters/placement agencies who may be able to help with a more steady stream of mid-term tenants. 

Any advice is welcome. Thanks! 

[Taylor Dasch]

I always just put mine on Furnished Finder, FB, and Zillow. Furnished Finder seems to get me the most hits from traveling nurses. 

[Noah Corwick]

Hi Alexander. Kudos on owning a rental in such a prime area!

Furnished Finder has become huge for marketing to traveling nurses. I would definitely recommend looking into them if you haven't already. 

You can also work with an agent to list it on the MLS so that you can potentially get even more traction and it makes your listing look more legitimate. The downside of this is that you would have to pay both agents (your agent and the tenant's agent) a fee. Sometimes the renter pays this, it could be a percentage of the total lease amount, or it's the equivalent of the 1st months rent. But it should increase your foot traffic.

Hope this helps!

[Mason Weiss]

Hey @Alexander Knox, I have found the most success here in AZ with mid term rental clients through Zillow. I also have corporate insurance companies reach out through my Zillow listing. If you want to talk further shoot me a PM and I can help you get that set up.

[James Carlson]

@Alexander Knox

We get investor clients wanting an MTR in Denver or Colorado Springs and they always ask about targeting insurance companies or travel nurse groups, but I think that's overthinking it. The vast majority of medium term renters will look on the big platforms -- Airbnb, Zillow Rental Manager and Furnished Finders. So be where the eyeballs are, that's what I think.

You do have to think about each platform a little differently, though. For Airbnb, for instance, you should put "30+ day rental" in the headline to differentiate yourself from other listings that will show up in a search for a 3-month stay, but are really just short-term rentals with STR pricing.

For Zillow, which doesn't have headlines for its listings, you'll want to doctor your first photo to put "30+ day rental" overtop it in some way so that MTR renters can easily differentiate you from the mostly LTR listings on there.

Furnished Finders ... I still think it's worth posting there, but I'll say that none of our Colorado medium-term rentals, nor our clients midterm rentals, have gotten tenants from FF in awhile. I think they changed something in their algorithm, and something's off. 

Anyway, I wish you luck!

[Alexander Knox]

Quote from @James Carlson:

@Alexander Knox

We get investor clients wanting an MTR in Denver or Colorado Springs and they always ask about targeting insurance companies or travel nurse groups, but I think that's overthinking it. The vast majority of medium term renters will look on the big platforms -- Airbnb, Zillow Rental Manager and Furnished Finders. So be where the eyeballs are, that's what I think.

You do have to think about each platform a little differently, though. For Airbnb, for instance, you should put "30+ day rental" in the headline to differentiate yourself from other listings that will show up in a search for a 3-month stay, but are really just short-term rentals with STR pricing.

For Zillow, which doesn't have headlines for its listings, you'll want to doctor your first photo to put "30+ day rental" overtop it in some way so that MTR renters can easily differentiate you from the mostly LTR listings on there.

Furnished Finders ... I still think it's worth posting there, but I'll say that none of our Colorado medium-term rentals, nor our clients midterm rentals, have gotten tenants from FF in awhile. I think they changed something in their algorithm, and something's off. 

Anyway, I wish you luck!

 Thanks for this, James. I've got the place listed on a few of the sites you named and gotten some response but as you pointed out, I want to look at a targeted MTR approach. Do you personally reach out to those MTR groups (nurses/insurance?) or have any knowledge on where I could join a network group like that? It would be great to have a pipeline with a placement company but I havent had any luck in hearing back from them. 

[Sarah Ware]

Quote from @James Carlson:

@Alexander Knox

We get investor clients wanting an MTR in Denver or Colorado Springs and they always ask about targeting insurance companies or travel nurse groups, but I think that's overthinking it. The vast majority of medium term renters will look on the big platforms -- Airbnb, Zillow Rental Manager and Furnished Finders. So be where the eyeballs are, that's what I think.

You do have to think about each platform a little differently, though. For Airbnb, for instance, you should put "30+ day rental" in the headline to differentiate yourself from other listings that will show up in a search for a 3-month stay, but are really just short-term rentals with STR pricing.

For Zillow, which doesn't have headlines for its listings, you'll want to doctor your first photo to put "30+ day rental" overtop it in some way so that MTR renters can easily differentiate you from the mostly LTR listings on there.

Furnished Finders ... I still think it's worth posting there, but I'll say that none of our Colorado medium-term rentals, nor our clients midterm rentals, have gotten tenants from FF in awhile. I think they changed something in their algorithm, and something's off. 

Anyway, I wish you luck!

 I think this is very valuable info and will definitely use in future.  Thank you!

My experience just this very second with our very first unit (still waiting on sent lease to my 10/1-12/31 MTR people to be signed): I also furnished to attract Traveling Nurses (Knoxville, TN) and put our rental on Furnished Finder, FB Marketplace, and Airbnb. I got nothing at all for 10 straight days so out of a bit of worry, I accepted an airbnb guest for one week in mid-Oct and then immediately regretted it. I had continually reached out to all the 'almost' Furnished Finder people with a message about what my unit offered as the 'leads' came in, and usually offered them $200 off my rate/month for their travel period. That finally worked yesterday but I also had to accept a pet which makes me have some anxiety. But it's hypothetically rented, so whatever hump this was, we have pushed it three months down the road. I did cancel the Airbnb guy and while I profusely apologized, realized in the cancel process that Airbnb truly is a harder platform and likely best used for those of us that can do STR before the accepted MTR moves in (in my case, offer it for the next 10 days). We'll see how it all goes, again, this is our first experience with the three platforms in furnished scenario. I got no inquiries from any of the three for 30+ days on their own without effort in changing my requirements.

Last comment: it seemed in looking at Furnished Finder leads (people submitting housing requests that do not match your parameters (usually priced lower than you want))-most people in our market were looking for 1 bedrooms for $1200 or less. As a Realtor, I cannot find properties (SFR or Multi's) that can support that price. In researching other properties that were booked in my area- most were snapped up when an owner occupant advertised a singe-room in their house and could do for much lower than made financial sense for us. Best of luck!

[Ronda R.]

Quote from @James Carlson:

@Alexander Knox

We get investor clients wanting an MTR in Denver or Colorado Springs and they always ask about targeting insurance companies or travel nurse groups, but I think that's overthinking it. The vast majority of medium term renters will look on the big platforms -- Airbnb, Zillow Rental Manager and Furnished Finders. So be where the eyeballs are, that's what I think.

You do have to think about each platform a little differently, though. For Airbnb, for instance, you should put "30+ day rental" in the headline to differentiate yourself from other listings that will show up in a search for a 3-month stay, but are really just short-term rentals with STR pricing.

For Zillow, which doesn't have headlines for its listings, you'll want to doctor your first photo to put "30+ day rental" overtop it in some way so that MTR renters can easily differentiate you from the mostly LTR listings on there.

Furnished Finders ... I still think it's worth posting there, but I'll say that none of our Colorado medium-term rentals, nor our clients midterm rentals, have gotten tenants from FF in awhile. I think they changed something in their algorithm, and something's off. 

Anyway, I wish you luck!

 These are good ideas that I am going to implement. Thank you for the suggestions.