Renting to traveling nurses - advice?
One option that was suggested to me for a condo I own in Oakland is to rent it to traveling nurses (or other professionals that may need shorter term housing). Does anyone have experience with this, or any advice to offer on how to go about it?
The closest medical center to the unit is Kaiser Permanente in the Piedmont Ave area of Oakland - walking distance.
The background is that with the current lopsided rules favoring tenants in Oakland, I am too scared to rent to a regular long-term tenant, which is unfortunate, but that's the reality. So it's either find something less risky shorter term, or just sell it at this point. (Not considering really short term AirBnB etc.)
Dec 6, 2023
Parent Replies
Hi, I’ve heard very good things about renting to travel nurses (or other professionals who use their site(s), such as Funishedfinder). You’d need to offer it fully furnished; they travel for usually 13 week placements, with just their suitcase, and they often stay for additional placements if they find they enjoy the area. You can also try sabbaticalhomes.com. A third option is to rent to UC Berkeley professors who come for 9 or 11 month terms on visiting scholar placements, look at bCalRentals for that (https://och.berkeley.edu). Good luck!
My son and daughter-in law have rented to traveling nurses for a few years with no problems.
Just so you know, traveling nurses would likely still be considered tenants--unless you're talking like under a month, which is basically an Airbnb. I guess your theory is that since they have to leave anyway due to their jobs, then you would never have to worry about terminating their tenancies? Just wanted to flag that. If you don't want to be bound by Oakland's landlord/tenant rules, selling it may be the best option.
I’m a nurse and work with many travel nurses who usually rent using the Furnished Finders website which is like Air BnB but for longer term rentals. They expect the place to be furnished. Good luck!
We did it for sometime and it was great! Furnished Finder is what we used.
We are super new to doing the same but have heard that furnished finder is a common website used by travel nurses and other professionals. Good luck!
I too was in the same predicament of owning a furnished home that my daughter moved out of to attend grad school. I registered my home with Furnished Finders for $99/yr. That fee includes Key Check services which provides credit and background checks for interested renters. Very handy service.
I’ve had decent success because I’m very picky about tenants. Besides nurses, there are digital nomads that travel around the country working remotely or visiting professors teaching at Cal. It works for me because I can just make my house unavailable to accommodate family/friend visits.
There’s also a sabbatical housing program which I haven’t registered for but do sometimes get inquiries from professors seeking housing. Good luck.
I had two nurse nightmares -- one through Airbnb and one through Furnished Finder. the first did over 4k in damages -- bloody mattress, maggots in the house (not kidding) and he ruined sheets and towels beyond saving. A drug addict, obviously. Did not present as such and worked at a local hospital in the ICU. the second one stayed for a month of her three month agreement -- then was fired from her position. Am put off the traveling nurses right now. :)
Also still recovering from a Furnished Finder traveling nightmare. We had a few great tenants but the latest bad apple has really soured me on landlording in general. Over the last few months, I seriously questioned whether we might have a squatter situation. My takeaway from this is that mid-term rentals do not protect you from the strong tenant protections that are rampant in the Bay. We have a multi family property that we live on. I now no longer want to rent any part of it out, which is so very unfortunate, but it is what it is.