All Forum Posts by: Allen Duan

Urban markets are the best markets for MTRs. If you're asking if Furnished Finder is worth the financial cost, that's a no brainer. The price is so low, don't overthink it. 

The better question is how to use Furnished Finder successfully. It's very different than Airbnb so don't expect it to work the same. Think of FF as a glorified classifieds or Craigslist for furnished rentals. Some people will contact you directly about your property, but a lot of people post housing requests and you have to contact them.

This is a big challenge in the MTR space. Most property management apps are built for LTR or STR. Since MTR is similar to both in different ways, you'll need a custom tech stack to cover all your needs.

I agree with Miguel, build your system, then hire a virtual assistant and train them how to use it. This is what I've done. Happy to help you get started.

Welcome to do the MTR business Tod! Furnished Finder is primarily a lead source. Just like if you were doing a marketing campaign for any other business type, you have a lead list and now you have to work it and see what you can sell.

Yes, its a lot of manual work. Closest thing I found to automating it is hiring an virtual assistant to work the list. Ultimately it's up to you if it's worth the work. You're either doing it yourself, spending a little money and hiring/managing someone else to do it, or you don't do it and let the leads rent from someone else.

Ignoring the numbers for a second, let's think of the customer's (tenant's) point of view. No MTR tenant wants to open an utilities account in their name for a few months. It's expected and common for MTRs to have utilities included. View it as a business expense like you do the mortgage. 

Now for the numbers part, since all MTRs include utilities, the market MTR rates should have that baked in already. In other words, all the other MTR hosts are dealing with the same expense.

To control this expense, I always recommend an utility cap where tenants are charged for any usage over an established dollar amount. 

Lots of great feedback here already so I'll keep mine short.

Don't start with only thinking of travel nurses. They are one of many types of MTR tenants. It's like opening a coffee shop and only targeting 30-40 year old males working in HR =) 

That is, unless you're opening that coffee shop next to a giant HR company where most employees are 30-40 year old males.

Yes, we get bookings from relocation companies all the time. Out of our 22 MTRs we're managing, 6 are currently rented out like this. Some of these bookings we get through marketing partners who build these relationships and charge referrals fees for finding the housing. Happy to share more how I do it.

Get started by reading all the content in these forums =) 

Why do you want to get into STRs? Do you know where you want to invest? What strategy are you considering: buying, managing for others, arbitrage, etc?

I own a STR/MTR management company here in Los Angeles, so if you have questions about this market, please ask =)

The amount your target tenant would want =) In other words, it depends.

Are you expecting remote workers to rent your MTR? They'll need fast reliable wifi. Are you expecting work travelers who will be out all day working? They'll be ok with slower speeds, just for browsing and streaming.

For routers and modems, just make sure you go with name brand devices and check reviews on tech sites. Your internet provider will have modems that are compatible and they'll probably provide you one as well.

Hi Adam,

I've heard of Itel but never had a booking with them. If they're like the other relocation companies, you can ask to background check the tenants. Sometimes they let you, sometimes they don't. If the company is reputable, I don't need to vet the company. Ideally you have the company and the tenants on the lease since one party is paying rent and the other party is in the home. Most of the time the tenants are responsible for the deposit.