House Hacking to Travel Nurses

New to Real Estate · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 3 votes

I have recently purchased a home in Grand Rapids, MI and I am looking to house hack. One strategy that I am investigating is renting to travel nurses. I am looking for any advice in this area. If you have had experience with this type of rental I would love to hear about it. What would a lease or rental agreement look like for this type of rental? How would you advertise your home?

Any feedback is appreciated!

2 Reply

15 views

Most Popular Reply

Ryan ThomsonBusiness Member

Real Estate Agent · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

@Trenton VandeGuchte You would want to get your hands on a bedroom lease with shared common areas. Bigger pockets has leases for every state that will probably do the trick for your situation.

Advertise on furnished finder, apartments.com, airbnb, facebook, and craigslist.

The Assumable Guy544 Reviews

Website View Page

3 Reply

See this reply in the discussion

14 Replies

Jump to latestLatest

Sort by

Ryan ThomsonBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
3y
@Trenton VandeGuchte You would want to get your hands on a bedroom lease with shared common areas. Bigger pockets has leases for every state that will probably do the trick for your situation.
Advertise on furnished finder, apartments.com, airbnb, facebook, and craigslist.
The Assumable Guy544 Reviews
Website View Page
3 Reply
Joshua Filkill
Rental Property Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2019 · 135 posts · 160 votes
3y
@Trenton VandeGuchte Try reading 30 Day Stay, I listened to the audiobook and found it very helpful as I'm thinking about doing the same thing you are.
Are you planning to rent a room or is this a multifamily building where you'd rent a unit? I know Craig Curelop Airbnb'd his room while house hacking and lived in the living room
1 Reply
Jasmine Vida
Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2019 · 90 posts · 41 votes
3y
Hey Trenton!
My boyfriend and I have been house hacking and renting bedrooms to travel nurses for about 2 years now. I've had good tenants so far, my advice would be to lay your own ground rules (since it is your house). We had one tenant who would bring different guys over almost every day and it was weird for us lol but we never told her she wasn't allowed to have anyone over so we just let it be because she was a great tenant besides that. I use leases off of avail.co and just do month to month. You can change or add some of the clauses on there to make it custom to your situation. One more thing, travel nurses like their own bathrooms! So you are probably better off renting a private bedroom and bathroom unless you drastically change the price for them to have to share a bathroom. Best of luck :)
0 Reply
Nicole Masters
Realtor · Sacramento, CA · Member since 2019 · 242 posts · 152 votes
3y
Quote from @Jasmine Vida:

Hey Trenton!
My boyfriend and I have been house hacking and renting bedrooms to travel nurses for about 2 years now. I've had good tenants so far, my advice would be to lay your own ground rules (since it is your house). We had one tenant who would bring different guys over almost every day and it was weird for us lol but we never told her she wasn't allowed to have anyone over so we just let it be because she was a great tenant besides that. I use leases off of avail.co and just do month to month. You can change or add some of the clauses on there to make it custom to your situation. One more thing, travel nurses like their own bathrooms! So you are probably better off renting a private bedroom and bathroom unless you drastically change the price for them to have to share a bathroom. Best of luck :)

Hey Jasmine! We also use Avail.co for our rent by the room leases and I really like their interface and how easy it is to track each room individually. We use roomies.com to find roommates, but I don't think that's applicable to the nursing space as much as the places that Ryan suggested are
2 Reply
Tanner PileBusiness Member
Real Estate Broker · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2019 · 389 posts · 326 votes
3y
@Trenton VandeGuchte
Furnished finder and Airbnb are great ways to market for mid term rentals to travel nurses. You could also connect with the local hospitals and see what they do to help new travel nurses coming to the area to get housing.
Tanner Pile4.931 Reviews
Website View Page
1 Reply
Rachel KokosenskiPro Member
Realtor · West Michigan · Member since 2017 · 105 posts · 53 votes
3y
@Trenton VandeGuchte - there are some great resources here: https://www.furnishedfinder.co.... Better to be very clear about rules and expectations at the beginning than to try to fix the situation after something goes wrong.
0 Reply
Jamie Banks
Real Estate Consultant · Reston, VA · Member since 2022 · 513 posts · 521 votes
3y
Hi Trenton, I am renting out part of my home to a traveling lab tech and I market to traveling medical professionals (and other travelers) on furnishedfinder.com. I have a lease that I created using Avail that is similar to my leases on my other medium term rentals but I have a few clauses on occupancy that are specific to my house hack. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the lease for you to get a sense of the language I use.
1 Reply
Trenton VandeGuchte
OP
New to Real Estate · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 3 votes
3y
Thanks to everyone who contributed! All of your advice and suggestions have been very helpful! I wanted to give an update. Just a couple of days ago I happened to get a phone call from my dad. He told me that he was sitting with a recent graduate from Texas A&M, who was just beginning an internship here in Michigan with a group of fellow students. He arrived in the area a few weeks before their internship and began to search for housing for himself and his group for the summer. My dad connected him with me and I was able to meet him at the house. From there we made a deal to rent my two upper-level rooms to a couple of guys in his group. They will be moving in on May 20th and staying until August 12th. We made a verbal agreement on the terms of the lease and I will be sending him a more formal written agreement for him to sign before the people move in.
I am wondering if you all have any suggestions on how to handle this type of lease agreement. It is kind of a unique situation. What kind of things should I include? @Jamie Banks, I would love to see what the lease you mentioned looks like. Thank you for offering to share.
Again, I appreciate all of the advice and feedback everyone has shared. It is all so helpful!
1 Reply
Kimberly Tabon
New to Real Estate · Richmond, VA · Member since 2023 · 2 posts · 0 votes
2y
Quote from @Jamie Banks:

Hi Trenton, I am renting out part of my home to a traveling lab tech and I market to traveling medical professionals (and other travelers) on furnishedfinder.com. I have a lease that I created using Avail that is similar to my leases on my other medium term rentals but I have a few clauses on occupancy that are specific to my house hack. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the lease for you to get a sense of the language I use.

Hi @Jamie Banks - I'm starting out with my first MTR. I have it furnished and am researching what software to use for leases, rental payments, tenant screening, etc. I've read good things about Avail. I would be greatly appreciative if you could send me a copy of the lease you are using and any other helpful tips you can provide. TIA!
0 Reply
Bonnie LowPro Member
Lender · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
Quote from @Kimberly Tabon:

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

Hi Trenton, I am renting out part of my home to a traveling lab tech and I market to traveling medical professionals (and other travelers) on furnishedfinder.com. I have a lease that I created using Avail that is similar to my leases on my other medium term rentals but I have a few clauses on occupancy that are specific to my house hack. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the lease for you to get a sense of the language I use.

Hi @Jamie Banks - I'm starting out with my first MTR. I have it furnished and am researching what software to use for leases, rental payments, tenant screening, etc. I've read good things about Avail. I would be greatly appreciative if you could send me a copy of the lease you are using and any other helpful tips you can provide. TIA!

You might also look into Baselane. It is a platform designed specifically for real estate investors. What I like about it is that it integrates most things you just mentioned: leases, rental payments, tenant screening and it all integrates with your banking and bookkeeping. It is really simplifying my processes, that's for sure. I used to use Keycheck for background checks and Avail for lease agreements but as Baselane has partners for both of these (TransUnion for tenant screening and Rocket Lawyer for state-specific leases), I now just do it all in one place and that is proving to be much more efficient.
[email protected]
0 Reply
Jamie Banks
Real Estate Consultant · Reston, VA · Member since 2022 · 513 posts · 521 votes
2y
@Kimberly Tabon I recommend getting an attorney to draft up your lease. I'm in multiple states and each state has different requirements so you'll want to get one drafted for your specific state and include any additional requirements you want to add such as a utility cap.
0 Reply
Kimberly Tabon
New to Real Estate · Richmond, VA · Member since 2023 · 2 posts · 0 votes
2y
@Jamie Banks @Bonnie Low Thanks!
0 Reply
Robert Ruschak
Real Estate Broker · IN · Member since 2017 · 70 posts · 12 votes
2y
Hire a professional property manager to take care of the mid term rental
0 Reply
Nicole Masters
Realtor · Sacramento, CA · Member since 2019 · 242 posts · 152 votes
2y
Quote from @Kimberly Tabon:

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

Hi Trenton, I am renting out part of my home to a traveling lab tech and I market to traveling medical professionals (and other travelers) on furnishedfinder.com. I have a lease that I created using Avail that is similar to my leases on my other medium term rentals but I have a few clauses on occupancy that are specific to my house hack. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the lease for you to get a sense of the language I use.

Hi @Jamie Banks - I'm starting out with my first MTR. I have it furnished and am researching what software to use for leases, rental payments, tenant screening, etc. I've read good things about Avail. I would be greatly appreciative if you could send me a copy of the lease you are using and any other helpful tips you can provide. TIA!

I use Avail.co and have really liked it so far!
0 Reply

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.