Mid Term Rental Questions!

[Veronika Wojakowska]

Hi there!

I have a recently updated 3 bed/2 bath home in Lakewood, CO that I'd like to use for mid-term rentals. Ideally travel nurses or other business professionals (people who would respect the property). 

So my questions:

1. Would you rent this out as a house or each room individually?

2. What platform would you list it on? Airbnb? Furnished Finder? Some other platform? Let me know your favorite! I've used airbnb for STR stuff and liked it, but wanted to see what others might recommend.

Thank you!

[Paul Sandhu]

Whole house. Every platform you can find.

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Veronika Wojakowska do quick search on this. There have been many topics started about mid-term rentals recently.

[Ryan Williams]

Hi @Veronika Wojakowska - I would recommend doing the whole house and put on all the major platforms as Paul said above. Renting each room individually can get tricky with the listings - if you have access to some direct bookings it can be nice profit wise but more involved to navigate. 

I'm an agent and a short term rental manager here in the Denver Metro - if there's any way I can help out or if you have other questions I'm happy to help any way I can!

[James Carlson]

@Veronika Wojakowska

Awesome! Love the medium-term rental model in Denver. We have a few places we rent to traveling nurses and remote workers in Denver and Colorado Springs. And a number of our clients are leaning toward this model in both cities. It's a nice middle ground between short-term rentals/Airbnb and long-term rentals.)

I'd rent the whole house. With the size of your place, you're likely to get more remote workers/traveling professionals than nurses, but you may get a pair of a trio of nurses traveling together. Either way, it's a lot less work than individual leases, and you'll make about as much anyway.

I hear people say every platform, and that's probably smart to start with. VRBO, Airbnb, Furnished Finder, etc. That said ... we've found that the vast majority of our tenants come from Furnished Finder. We occasionally get one through Airbnb, but I find Airbnb to swing heavily toward the tenants' side, so if anything goes wrong, Airbnb can just refund their money without you getting a say. (Had this happen once.) And I like to get an actual lease in place in writing outside of any platform, and the Airbnb guests sometimes balk at doing that when they've already agreed to the Airbnb terms. 

Also, I'd read American Nomads about renting to medium-term renters. 

[Veronika Wojakowska]

Thank you all so much! Really appreciating the feedback!

[Mark Obszanski]

@James Carlson

I have a SFH I am ready to list as a mid-term rental. What do you find to be the most common and effective way to collect rent, security deposit, and fees? For example, on a 3-month stay do they pay 2 months rent (first and last up front), plus deposit, plus fees, and then pay the second month of rent 30 days later? 1 month rent upfront along with deposit and fees? Something else? Any other tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Aaron Breckenridge]

Moved to the Mid-Term Rentals forum.

[Eliott Elias]

Depends on the area and demand. If there were young professionals and college kids i'd rent by the room. If you want to airbnb rent the entire home. Less wear and tear and more passive