Comprehensive Guide
Learn more in our Investing Guide.
How it works
A midterm rental is a furnished let of one to twelve months — the stretch between a night on Airbnb and a year-long lease — serving traveling nurses, relocating families, insurance displacements and corporate stays. The strategy's promise is a rent premium over unfurnished long-term letting; its price is vacancy risk you now own, utility and cleaning overhead a tenant used to pay, and a furnishing outlay that must be earned back before the strategy shows true profit. This calculator prices all three honestly. Midterm revenue is booked at your monthly rate times realistic occupancy — 85%, not the brochure's 95%. Overhead is charged monthly against the whole year. Furniture is amortized straight-line across its usable life, converting a scary upfront number into an ordinary expense line. What remains is net-versus-net: midterm earnings against the twelve-month tenant benchmark, with the annual premium as the headline and the furnishing payback period as the credibility check. Premiums of 30–45% over long-let rates are common in hospital-adjacent markets; premiums that evaporate once overhead lands are just as common in oversupplied ones. The arithmetic decides which market yours is.Formula
MTR net = rate×12×occupancy − overhead×12 − furnishing ÷ years | Premium = MTR net − long rent×12 | Payback = furnishing ÷ (premium÷12)
Tips
- Anchor rates to hospital and corporate housing comps, not vacation-rental nightly math.
- Thirty-day minimum stays dodge most short-term-rental regulation — verify locally anyway.
- Direct-to-client bookings beat platforms' 15–18% fees once you have two reviews.
- Durable, mid-grade furniture outsells stylish pieces on a five-year amortization.
- Target stays near hospitals, universities and large insurers — demand there survives recessions.
Frequently asked questions
How much more rent does a midterm rental earn?
On these defaults, $2,300 furnished at 85% occupancy nets about $22,900 a year after overhead and furniture amortization — roughly $3,700 above a $1,600 tenant. The gross rate premium is 44%, but occupancy risk and overhead consume nearly half of it, which is why net-versus-net is the only honest comparison.
Are midterm rentals actually in demand?
Yes, wherever hospitals, universities, film productions and insurers concentrate — traveling nurses alone fill millions of assignment-nights yearly. Demand is steadier than tourism but thinner than general rental demand, so success tracks location selection. Properties within fifteen minutes of a major medical center consistently book the strongest calendars at premium rates.
How long does furnishing take to pay back?
$7,500 of furniture earning a $3,700 annual premium repays in about twenty-four months. Slower paybacks signal thin premiums or optimistic occupancy. Furnish durably rather than cheaply — replacing bargain furniture at year three destroys the amortization math this premium depends on.
Do midterm rentals avoid short-term-rental rules?
Mostly, yes — stays over thirty days usually fall outside STR ordinances and hotel-tax regimes, though registration requirements vary by city. Leases still govern: use proper midterm agreements, collect appropriate deposits, and screen identically to any tenancy. Verify local definitions before marketing, since a few cities regulate anything under six months.
Can I switch a long-term rental to midterm mid-year?
Only at lease end or by mutual termination. Plan conversions for natural turnover windows, and stage the transition: photograph and inventory furnishings, list sixty days ahead, and hold one month's expenses as conversion buffer. The premium begins accruing from the first furnished placement, not from the decision to try.