Top Tips For Getting Started In Corporate Rental Housing

Have you been curious about the world of corporate rental housing but don’t know where to get started? I was in the same boat in 2019 and dove in head first figuring it all out. These are my top tips for getting started.

You’ll walk away from this article excited about the possibilities and have more knowledge on where to get started.

This post is all about corporate rental housing.

Corporate Rental Housing

What is corporate rental housing?

Corporate rental housing is short term rental housing that is furnished for traveling professionals. It could be for anyone from a travel nurse to a CEO.

Generally these units compete with extended stay hotels and offer a more comfortable living environment. It’s an entire house or apartment that is rented for one client.

For landlords, this is a lucrative strategy because these tenants will pay a premium for a longer term stay in a fully furnished place. It does require more maintenance and attention to detail for the landlord but usually the spread in profit makes it worth it.

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Do I need to own property to get started?

You do not need to own property to get started. Similar to the Airbnb arbitrage model, where people get leases from landlords that allow them to turnaround and list the property on Airbnb, you could do the same for corporate housing. It’s just a matter of finding the right landlord willing to work with you on a lease like this.

If I have long term rentals, how do I prepare them for corporate rental housing?

If you already own property, you’re a step ahead. The next step is too research your market to understand the industry and what kind of corporate travelers are coming to your area. Medical is everywhere and the easiest to research.

Look at other development projects too and who is hired to do the work. If they’re not a local company, chances are they are sending in travelers to complete the project.

Now that you know why people are traveling to your area, you need to furnish the unit, and get it listed. Do not use Craigslist furniture. Use nice, durable furniture and decorate the space well. Pay for professional photos to be taken for your marketing.

You have to think about these traveling professionals, they are paid well, probably have nice homes of their own and away for awhile. Make your space homey, inviting, clean and take great pictures.

What are the best ways to find tenants?

Now that you have your listing set up, this is where I would go to find tenants. Some platforms are going to be better by area so it’s important to post everywhere while you’re still learning where travelers go in your area to find housing.

1. Airbnb

Airbnb has a long term stay feature and is honestly my favorite way to book to long term travel tenants. I always make sure the listing isn’t on instant book for long term stays so I can vet them.

My vetting process: I always read all previous reviews. They need to have at least 4 reviews that are all 5 stars with comments. If they are new to the platform, I allow them to book a couple nights and then send them through my vetting process as I would a long term tenant.

2. Furnished Finder

Furnished Finder is another great tool that connects landlords to travelers. This one is more time intensive as there’s no way for travelers to directly book your property listing but you can reach out to the travelers directly.

After you make the connection and they want to move forward, you can take them through your normal vetting process and sign a rental agreement. I have always had great experiences with connecting and leasing to travelers on this website.

3. FBMP

Facebook Marketplace is somewhere I personally have never had great success connecting to travelers. But I know landlords in this space who have.

How they do it is they post their furnished rentals and always have at least one unit posted as a lead magnet. They connect with the leads and see if any of their other properties are a potential fit if the one posted is not available.

Once they find a tenant, they take them through the normal vetting process of a long term tenant and sign a rental agreement.

4. Classic long term rental websites

Other great spots to post are on traditional long term rental marketing websites like Zillow, Apartments.com, Craigslist and more. I’ve successfully connected and signed corporate housing tenants on Zillow before.

These are websites where most people look for long term housing so naturally a traveler may check here for furnished rental options. It’s always worth posting and pretty easy to do multiple posts once you have the description and pictures all laid out.

How do I move them out and do the turnovers?

I always put my corporate rental housing tenants on month-to-month rental agreements. I have found this to be the best way! Let me tell you why.

In the rental agreement, it states the tenant needs to give me 30 days notice to vacate. This allows them to give me plenty of notice to relist the unit and locate a new tenant. It also allows the tenant to extend their travel contract and not move out of my apartment.

Extending contracts is very normal in the medical travel world and you would not want to miss out on the opportunity to reduce turnover by allowing tenants to stay longer.

Once I have a move out date, I schedule the cleaners for the next day. The cleaners follow a checklist to completely reset the house and get it ready for the next tenant.

What other questions do you have about corporate rental housing? Let me know in the comments below!

This post was all about corporate rental housing.