All Forum Posts by: Miguel Del Mazo

Run an ozone machine between tenants and then let it clear out for a day before showings. It smells "fresh" but no one knows why. I'd avoid doing this in units with shared ventilation as there is a potential risk of irritation to someone's lungs with prolonged exposure, especially if the person already has existing lung disease.

Ozone machine will run about 60 bucks on Amazon.

My advice probably isn't the one that will maximize your return, and it may not even be what I will follow as we continue to grow our portfolio, but here it is.

My wife and I manage 5 units (4 we own, and 1 we arbitrage), and we allow anyone to give us 30 days notice to vacate at which point they can be let out without penalty. We will try to find a qualified tenant to take over during those 30 days, and if we can secure someone, then we will refund back to the original tenant for the overlapping days once we get paid by the new tenant.

So how is this working out for us? We're happy with this so far. No one has abused the policy as the only residents who've activated it have done so during a period of their own hardship (e.g. RN contract being canceled early).  We've always managed to fill vacacies quickly, often with a rent increase (we return to the original tenant based on their rent, not the new). 

Is this the "best" policy? Probably not, but it keeps us happy and sleeping well.

We are starting to see more and more demand from corporate entitities at our MTRs whether that be from companies providing for their executives or skilled laborers, or insurance-associated temporary housing.  Interestingly, these leads have come 50/50 from furnished finder and AirBnB (sorry, Vrbo). 

This has been great as there has been a general decrease in the number of traveling medical professionals in our area, and those travelers have been more price-sensitive than during COVID.  The corporate clients have been very easy to work with, and they seem less concerned about the dollars charged as the quality of the level of service provided. That means, be responsive and cordial.  These booking are often not made by your eventual resident, but rather they may be made by some harried assistant who ultimately has the power to choose where the "VIP" stays. Keep that person happy, and they will keep you happy as well.

Quote from @Allen Duan:

like Airbnb and Furnished Finder. 

Since the OP specifically mentioned that she will be operating her MTR in Gainesville, GA, she needs to be aware that there is an ordinance limiting all rentals to 16 days or greater. There may be some exceptions for owner-occupied properties, but as we don't live in any of our rentals there, I have not investigated those ordinances. Listing on AirBnB is still an option, but she should set her minimum stay to 16 to avoid any issues with the city.

If her rental is in Hall county, but not inside the city limits then using shorter-term stays to fill in the gaps between MTRs is possible, but there are specific licenses that need to be requested from the Hall county planning and development department.

Northeast GA Medical Center (the hospital in Gainesville) does not directly provide housing to travelers.That is usually handled by the traveler on their own with a stipend given by the traveler's agency.

Allen, as usual, is right. :)  There are more reasons to need an MTR than just traveling for a medical job. Don't limit your listing without a good reason.

Welcome, Aaron.

As a fellow MD, I would advise making sure that you are playing defense very well before continuing your RE investing journey. Make sure you have great disability insurance (Guardian is top notch), a great umbrella insurance policy, and an LLC with a thick corporate veil (and great property insurance). Too many folks think that physicians have deep pockets (if we do, it's not from just being an MD), so we are an attractive target for lawsuits. Protecting your income, wealth and investments requires adequately layering insurances, and it is probably worth getting an expert involved.

Best of luck.

Quote from @Evelin Negrete:

I recently bought a BRRR project in Gainesville, GA . I am wanting to do a midterm rental, focused mainly on travel nurses and doctors. The home is located 7 minutes away from a 1 Trauma Center Hospital. I want to better understand the topic and be able to talk to the Hospital and set a contract to house their nurses. This would be my first time everything doing a midterm. I would appreciate any advice that could be given. An idea on the process and steps? What I need to do? How to furnish the home?

 Hey Evelin,

I think you're going to have great success.  You are asking all of the right questions.  Keep looking in the forums for all the right answers.  I will reach out directly to you as I may have a bit of an insight into your market.

Padsplit and Roomster are sites that market rooms for rent, but they are not active in all locations. I have a friend that does Padsplit in Atlanta, and he seems to enjoy it, but I will say it's a headache managing his tenants. Both PS and Roomster were deadends for our properties.

My wife and I converted a large house into a triplex in Northeast GA with the express intent to rent by the room. All 11 bedrooms have their own bathroom, every bedroom door has an electronic lock. We even have a locked mailbox for every bedroom to ensure privacy with everyone's mail.  While we are prepared to host by the room, what we are seeing is that most residents are just taking the whole space.  We are getting more insurance housing requests and families staying nearby the hospital while a loved one is sick than we are nurses asking for singlets. Our 2/1.5s are often rented by a single traveling medical professional who just wants extra space and can afford it.

We'll see as time goes on.  Maybe I am just bad at marketing by the room. Neither FF nor AirBnB make it easy to attact a MTR by the room, though.

It's all great advice above, but I wanted to add a recommendation that I don't see as often: don't go cheap on your washer and dryer.

Nobody wants to work 12+ hours and then go home and fight a tiny washer and a slow dryer. Get your dryer's exaust cleaned before you open up the unit for rent and periodically therafter. That saves you $ on electricity and lowers the fire risk. If possible, include in your welcome kit the location of a drop off laundromat (they wash, dry and fold for a fee).

Make life easy for your residents, and you will be rewarded. :)

Great advice above from the GOATs of the MTR forums.

I would add that you should also try to get on the lists of corporate housing and temporary housing for insurance companies. Our 2/1.5s seem to go to traveling professionals (medical or otherwise), but our larger units attract the insurance company's attention. Some of those have come by FF, but AirBnB greater than 30 day stays also generates leads.

Best of luck with your endeavor.

Nick and Nicole are offering great advice.  MTRs are not LTRs or STRs,but rather they are their own little hybrid. 

My take on this is to underwrite purchases based on expected LTR rents (I like rentometer and the BP's own rental estimator), but start charging 1.5x that rent for your MTR. Go up as you are able between tenants. Our experience has been that most tenants book about two weeks out from a vacancy, so don't slash the price of your MTR too soon to your next ecpected vacancy(you will get nervous, I promise). Respond to "unmatched housing requests" as well as other tenant leads. You may learn a lot of valuable information about what people are looking for in your area. Lastly, running an MTR is partially hospitality (like STR), but it is also a sales position (like all commerce). Anyone in sales knows, you are going to have to be prepared for a lot of "Nos" to get to the "Yes".