All Forum Posts by: Chris Allen

Depends. Some nurses will travel with their significant other, family, or just a friend they want to bring along, so in that case, they may not pay rent and the nurse will just cover them. But I know a few travel nurses who take assignment with friends who are also travel nurses and they just room together. I think there is a market for both, just depends who you get. 

Also remember that all bills should probably be in your name, offer some good amenities like coffee maker, maybe a "free travel mug" will be put to good use. Nothing crazy, but something that makes your stand out. Some nurses like areas so much they may be repeat customers or turn into a year tenant. Also may be nice to offer some flyers or coupons from around town for things to do on their day off. Basically run it like a nice hotel, if its not too much for you to do, offer a few "concierge" services if you can. Woild be nice from a nurse working a crappy 12-16hr shift to actually look forward to coming home. 

Paul Sandhu, im sorry you haven't had good experiences with travel nurses. I am a travel nurse, and I can tell you most of the ones I have met are a lot like me. You go to work, get home, shower, eat and go to bed. And on your days off, if you are in a nice place, you go out to see what the area has to offer as far as recreation. Most nurses are there to work, make money, and experience a new area. So while you may see a little more wear than a shorter AirBNB since they are actually living there for a couple months, you usually won't see any problem from them throwing parties, punching holes in the wall or anything like that. 

Obviously ideally the more private the better,  but at least for me, im perfectly fine sharing space for a short amount of time if that means i can potentially pocket upwards of a thousand extra dollars a month; but not all nurses will have that same view. 

I'm not sure which way would work better in your area. I would think that doing it as an entire side may work better, just because some nurses travel with other people so they may need an extra room, or they may want to find their own roommate.

@Michael Watson- The city planner mentioned splitting the lot into 4 or more lots, he said 4 or less would be the easiest. So if we did this, it would need to be 4 different loans? 

@Teri Feeney Styers- Would you think basically seller financing the land would be the best route? And as far as the actual Zoning, we would not need to rezone the property, both of those zoning codes say you can use it for any residential use except for apartments. Planner said he doesn't think it should be an issue.

So I am looking at two of pieces of property that I know the seller is open to selling. Its an old house on a 0.56 acre plat that cuts right in the middle of another plat that is about 2.5 acre, both owned by the same person. The house is zoned for "Neighborhood Service", and the larger piece is zoned "General Retail". I talked with the city planner today and he let me know a developer actually just backed out of building a corner store there because the neighbors did not want a retail area there, but when I mentioned splitting the plats and doing maybe like duplexes or something there, he sounded excited and thought that the neighborhood would be on board for something like that. My question is this...

If I were able to tackle this deal, how would you go about financing and structuring a deal like this?

I know there are several exit options available to this property, as long as I get the neighbors and city approval, so any other suggestions on use for this property?

Hey there @Kevin Bevillard; not sure if you ever got your answer, but while there are agencies that will do what you are asking, not all will. You may or may not have better luck marketing to nurses and traveling professionals directly. There are tons of agencies out there and tons of FB groups for nurses, try "furnished finders".

But if you are not familiar with the options travel nurses have for housing, they can 1) have the agency pay for their housing, or 2) receive a tax free housing stipend and find their own. 

Most of the time nurses will take the tax free money and find their own for cheaper. Just to give you an idea, my housing allowance for here in Dallas right now is around $1.2k/week, so around $4800/month which is way more than needed to find decent housing here and you get to pocket the difference tax free.

What I would recommend is furnishing a house, rent by the room, and market it over different travel nurse sites, Air BNB, etc... Nurses will be down to room together so they can cut down on living expenses so they can make more money. 

Hey there! I'm a proud nurse as well, while nursing is a great profession, it doesn't offer early financial independence in if itself. 

I would recommend starting out to do a househack. You could even combine it with a BRRRR. I got my duplex with FHA, fixed it up a little, and am about to refi into a conventional.

@Ricardo Reyes

I am also a nurse, but have not found a "part time job" in real estate in order to network. I agree that as a nurse, we have a decent amount of time to dedicate to a part time job; but here is my opinion. 

As a nurse, our Hourly Rate is usually going to be higher than most "part-time jobs" that we would get. So from at money standpoint, you are probably better off in picking up OT. So from a money vs time standpoint, I would say work some OT and just continue reaching out to people on BP, going to meet ups, and reaching out to get those connections. Most people are still willing to meet for lunch or at the very lest take a phone call. 

Now I will say that education does have a high value. So if you are willing to trade your normal hourly wage for $10-15/hr while getting some great education and networking experience, that that's totally worth it, jut make sure you link up with the right person that will make the education/mentoring part worth it. But I agree with @Maria Bakaj. Assisting a great agent may be beneficial. Other side jobs I have considered have been Notary, inspector or appraiser. But again, I have found it more valuable to earn more money at what i am already good at, then just find ways to network. 

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $137
Cash invested: $15,000

Owner Occupied 2:1:1 townhouse style duplex. Bought FHA with inherited tenants in half paying $675/mo. Moved in half, did a basic remodel (floors, paint, light fixtures, kitchen), renters moved out, I moved in other half, and and rented out the new side for $800/mo. Currently finishing up the other half and working on a refi.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Intro into investing and learn how to become a landlord while decreasing my living expenses.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS, negotiated down from $145k because of repairs and offered to pay closing cost.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA loan

How did you add value to the deal?

Remodel interior and increase rents- new flooring, paint, fixtures, toilets, painted cabinets, refinished counters.

What was the outcome?

Increased rents, working on refi.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don't try to do everything yourself, pay for quality work and materials.

For me personally, the lunch time meetup is what has stopped me from going to meetups in the area. Working nights the only way I could make a lunch meetup is if I am off completely, rather that if its in the evening, I could work the night prior, get some sleep, and still make it to the meeting. I definitely think once the meetup gets established having it less often at a set time, but I could also get on board with meeting maybe twice a month to start out, just to get more people involved, and get a flow of what time, days, and schedule works best for people. I know the meetup I have gone to in Austin has a "Private Money" meet at the beginning of the month, then a "REI" meetup at the end of the month around 6-7pm and I feel that has worked pretty well.