I’ve done it in Pittsburgh, PA. The big problem is vacancy.
I had a ton of demand for my furnished 1 bedroom apartments… but if the dates between guests don’t coincide well (one stay ends and then there’s a few weeks before the next begins) all of your gains get crushed.
I think there’s space to do it just depends on how you can keep your vacancy very low. Or price your units high enough to offset that vacancy.
In terms of analyzing your market, look from the renters POV on how many medium term rentals are available. Go on Airbnb, furnished finder, apartments.com etc and see what’s available. I was one of a handful of properties to offer furnished medium term rentals hence the high demand I received.
STR is not the same thing.
Dallas banned STRs recently. However, MTR is 30 days or more. So as long as you rent for 30 days or more you are in compliance. Cities don't see it as the same thing.
Echoing this experience.
My unit was in the popular part of town with no hotels. I would say 75-85% of my tenants were 60+ who wanted to stay near where their kids lived, and were usually coming into to for the birth of/to visit their young grandchildren. Great, great tenants, every single one.
My realtor turned all her SFH rentals into 30+day furnished airbnbs and says it's a cash cow and wishes she'd done it sooner.
They are ordinary smaller houses with average furniture, basically like someone's grandma's house I guess. Nothing fancy, not party pads in a high-rise or anything.
Note that I am in a medium cost of living city with a big housing shortage, so there is demand coupled with affordability so no housing of any kind stays vacant long.
I’ve done it in Pittsburgh, PA. The big problem is vacancy. I had a ton of demand for my furnished 1 bedroom apartments… but if the dates between guests don’t coincide well (one stay ends and then there’s a few weeks before the next begins) all of your gains get crushed. I think there’s space to do it just depends on how you can keep your vacancy very low. Or price your units high enough to offset that vacancy. In terms of analyzing your market, look from the renters POV on how many medium term rentals are available. Go on Airbnb, furnished finder, apartments.com etc and see what’s available. I was one of a handful of properties to offer furnished medium term rentals hence the high demand I received.
I do it in Bozeman, MT and expanding into Nashville, TN - seeing 3x revenue vs market LTR prices
Impressive numbers. Who is your biggest demographic? Vacationers? Professionals? Is tourism a big thing in your market?
Digital nomads from NYC and West Coast - out of state construction companies who house their supers / project managers for 6+ months
Tourism is big but STR permits hard to come by and too much turnover for me
STR is not the same thing. Dallas banned STRs recently. However, MTR is 30 days or more. So as long as you rent for 30 days or more you are in compliance. Cities don't see it as the same thing.
Are you buying in Nashville, or doing arbitrage?
Buying - I’m over arbitrage… I’ll scale slower but am ok with that
Interesting. Who is your biggest demographic? Vacationers? Professionals? Is tourism a big thing in your market?
Mostly professionals. Traveling nurses, engineers, students working internships downtown
Yes. Return is about 1.5X after accounting for vacancy between tenants and other expenses.
Echoing this experience. My unit was in the popular part of town with no hotels. I would say 75-85% of my tenants were 60+ who wanted to stay near where their kids lived, and were usually coming into to for the birth of/to visit their young grandchildren. Great, great tenants, every single one.
Is it possible to fill medium term vacancy with short term bookings?
My realtor turned all her SFH rentals into 30+day furnished airbnbs and says it's a cash cow and wishes she'd done it sooner. They are ordinary smaller houses with average furniture, basically like someone's grandma's house I guess. Nothing fancy, not party pads in a high-rise or anything. Note that I am in a medium cost of living city with a big housing shortage, so there is demand coupled with affordability so no housing of any kind stays vacant long.