All Forum Posts by: Evan Kline

Hey @Patrick Gilbert,

I'm not in the Indianapolis market (Winston-Salem, NC. Two major hospitals, 5 universities, and the normal random house relocation/renovation/etc keep us booked) but we started focusing on mid-terms about 18 months ago and its been successful for us. Lot's of great advice here already, I'll just add what we've learned as concisely as possible. 

And just for context our niche within the MTR space is to be in the top 5% of listings in our area. We aren't appealing to the budget travelers who rent by the room/look for the cheapest option/etc. (Not to say that isn't a viable strategy! Keypadding doors/renting by the room can be a better cashflow option. We just like the tenants better in the top 5% space)

1. Looks matter. Stage well, get professional photography. Hire out what you can't excel at yourself. (We stage but hire out photography). Similarly don't necessarily copy STR or hotel style staging. People want to feel like this is home since they are staying for 30+ days, not a vacation. Nice, comfortable, and functional.

2. Speed matters as @Kenny Hall said. We've had our units flood, Heating go out when it's below freezing, AC go out when it's above 90, keypads die and locking tenants out, etc. Speed to address a problem matters way more than the problem itself. Even with all those problems (some of which were pretty bad!) we still haven't gotten below a 5 star review. This also is true of finding new tenants. The faster you can respond to new inquiries the more trust they have in you and your listing. It sets the tone for what it will be like renting from you. 

3. A dedicated office (or at least a desk in a good location) and high speed wifi help you stand out. 

4. There are weird quirks of MTRs. Did you know freezers need to be opened regularly? Did you know most refrigerators will freeze over and shut down if it's not? Did you know sometimes nurses who work night shifts only eat out and don't use the kitchen for 9 weeks? You see where I'm going with that. We started including ice-cream sandwiches as one of our amenities just to incentivize tenants to open the freezer regularly. $15 is cheaper than a $75 technician. 

5. Amenities are different between STR and MTR. Think home, not vacation. AKA things like a nice Coffee pot instead of a Keurig.

6. 1 bed or 2 bed units are your sweet spot. You can do bigger (our biggest is a 4/2) but it's easiest to fill and charge higher rates per sqft with 1 or 2 bed.

7. We use Airbnb, furnished finder, and facebook groups. "Travel Nurse Housing - The Gypsy Nurse" is the best facebook group. We get 20-30% of our tenants from there. You need to apply. It's worth it. 50% of our business comes in passively through Airbnb/Furnished Finder. 20-30% traveling nurses we actively source from FB groups. 20-30% referrals (if you have a nice place people talk about it). 

Happy to chat if you have any questions!

I would also suggest doing a hard look at the staging and photography of your place. If you want to charge higher prices your place needs to justify it. Invest in professional photography, look at other MTRs in your space that are listed at the price you want and are rated well and see how they staged the property. As @Allen Duan said 1-2 bedroom are the sweet spot for traveling nurses, but that being said we have a 4/2 that's stayed booked consistently. Mostly appeals to larger family units but we've had traveling nurses bringing their family, folks needing a place for outpatient surgery, also people between moves, etc. 

Also check out facebook groups for travel nurse housing where you can post your property. The biggest one is called the Gypsy Nurse, 130,000 members. We also list on furnished finder and airbnb but get most off our traveling nurses from that group.

@Allen Duan Thanks for the input, that's helpful!

My wife and own some MTR's in the Winston Salem area. We've had a lot of success and I got my RE license to help with our own investment and also help others replicate what we've done in Winston Salem. 

I've had a good number of people reach out and ask if we can manage MTR's for them. What are good management fee structures you've seen in the MTR world? Splitting the difference between a LTR management fee (10%) and STR fee (20-30%)? Charging 10% with an additional fee for turnovers? Curious to hear what's been working well for others, whether you manage yourself or have your properties managed by others.

If you're looking at NC I would also second @Pat Lulewicz and go to the Triad. I'm most bullish on Winston Salem (I own 6 units here). It's still possible to cashflow a little bit (100-400/month on LTR), but Mid-Terms do exceptionally well here. We have two major hospitals, 5 universities, multiple anchoring global corporations. 

Our worst preforming MTR cashflows $1000+ per month depending on utilities. Best does $2,200/month. 

Feel free to reach out and private message me if you have any questions!

@Andres Ruiz I'd look to Winston Salem over Greensboro personally - plenty of cash-flow opportunities here. We've started switching our long-term rentals to mid-terms and have had great success. Winston has 2 major hospitals and 5 universities, creates a great market for mid-terms. Median price point is $290k, we've been able to snipe deals well under that. For example we bought a duplex end of 2021, one side rents for $1500/month and covers the mortgage. The other side is a 1/1 and we furnished as a mid-term and it rents $2200/month which is all cashflow for us. That was a pretty exceptional deal but we have some others in our portfolio that are still pretty good. 

If you want to chat about mid-term or Winston Salem feel free to private message me

@Matthijs Pol Winston Salem is a great market. We have 2 major hospitals (1 out of every 3 jobs here are medical professional) and 5 universities which makes for a perfect mid-term market. Prices are very approachable too - median sale price is about $290k, but we've been able to sniff out plenty of deals well below that price point. 

I'll second @Stephanie Walker with NC generally. Charlotte and Raleigh are growing fast and are great cities. Winston Salem has some more approachable price points. One thing we've found is that pricing tends to be more national for mid-terms at least from a traveling nurse perspective: meaning nurses are looking at prices from all over the US and comparing them against each other, so prices are a little less local market dependent. Therefore Winston benefits disproportionately compared to other markets since our median sale price is lower than most of the country. 

@John Sandoval we did 1 BRRRR but hit the same interest rate issue as @Evan C.. Purchased @$250K in Ardmore (middle class historic neighborhood), put in $40k, ARV $370k. We cashflow about $500/month with a long-term rental there, but I think we might actually sell that one.

We really like mid-term rentals though. Winston is a perfect market for them. Happy to chat if you'd like to private message me

@Wendell Butler. I'm very bullish on Winston. I own 5 properties, 6 units (1 property is a duplex). Winston has very strong neighborhood divisions, that might be why rents are seeming all over the place. We buy primarily in B+, A- neighborhoods. Long term rents there go from 1500 to 2200 for a typical 3/2 depending on how nice it is. 

We actually have been converting our units over to mid-term rentals. Winston has a very strong medical community - about 1 out of every 3 jobs here is a medical professional job. 2 major hospitals here, one private, one a teaching hospital for Wake Forest. Traveling nurses/other medical professions are a big thing here. We have 5 universities also, and traveling/visiting professors is a common thing also.

We have a 1/1 mid-term unit that rents for $2200 per month and a 4/2 mid-term that rents for $3200 per month. Nearly 100% occupied (we intentionally keep a couple days between stays, cleaning takes a bit longer between turnovers on a mid-term we found, otherwise we would actually be booked 100% of the time). 

I'm also an real estate agent in the area if you'd like to chat. Just ping me!

See you there!