How to Win Big with Mid-Term Rentals with Zeona McIntyre

Today's Guest: Zeona McIntyre

Zeona is a licensed realtor and a mid-term rental investor located in the Boulder area. She has a great group of experienced investor-friendly agents who can help people find the perfect home. Zeona also has a nationwide referral list of vetted teams that allows them to connect clients with investor-friendly agents in any state.

Highlights From The Show:

We begin the episode with Zeona sharing her background story and how she ended up in real estate. Zeona shares that she is a real estate consultant and agent. She started her journey with Airbnb in 2012 and is in the early ramp-up stage in the mid-term space. Zeona has been investing in real estate for 10 years, and she loves helping people get into furnished rentals because whether they are mid or short-term, they are a great boost for cash flow for people. Zeon’s goal is to help get as many people as possible to be financially independent.

We then discuss medium-term rentals and why you should invest in this model. Zeona shares that based on her book, mid-term rental is anything over 30 days, but the typical stay is 90 days because most traveling nurses have assignments for 13 weeks. From her mid-term rentals, she often sees people staying for a month to several months and sometimes even a year. On the other hand, Zeona explains that what differentiates long-term rentals from mid-term rentals is that long-term rentals are unfurnished and rented by the year, while mid-term rentals are by the month. According to her, the number one benefit of mid-term rentals is regulations. Mid-term rentals are seen as long-term rentals because regulations are enforced in the 30 days or fewer markets. So it’s a comfortable space when your numbers for short-term rentals are not working out.

Next, we talk about the downside of mid-term rentals. Zeona shares that when she started with Airbnb, it was new, and she has watched short-term properties get all the cool automation that it has today. Automation didn’t exist when she started, and now, with the medium-term rentals, it also doesn’t exist, but you can borrow some from the short-term rentals. It will not be a perfect fit, but it will help. Zeona also shares that you can modify a long-term lease to a mid-term lease.

We then discuss how to get into medium-term rentals by hosting traveling nurses. Zeona shares that you can start by looking into your area using a map for hospitals. Hospitals are rated by trauma levels. Level 1 and 2 hospitals take the most extreme cases, while smaller hospitals don’t do much and don’t get as many travel nurses. Zeona recommends investing in areas with levels 1 and 2 hospitals and places closer to them, within a range of 30 minutes distance. You also need to look at the number of beds in the units, and 200+ would be a solid option. According to Zeona, all these are online, and all you need to do is to search for the name and check the trauma level and bed capacity. From there, you can connect with HR and inform them of your offering. You can also do it through Furnish Finder. It will give you a list of people searching in your area, and you can connect with them. This is easy and effective, and you can do it now or even before you purchase a property to assess the demand in an area.

Lastly, we talk about how to manage your calendar. According to Zeona, you’ve to be careful how you open up vacancies because you don’t want someone to book something you will not be able to fulfill. Managing your calendar is all about knowing your high and low seasons to plan your openings, rates, and occupancy. Zeona explains that it’s good to plan ahead and use your mid-term rental in a hybrid way, especially in slow seasons. For her, she used the mid-term rentals as short-term rentals in places where she can legalize them as such.

Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Zeona McIntyre and get valuable information on how to win big with mid-term rentals!

Notable Quotes:

“Furnished rentals, whether mid or short-term, are a boost for cash flow.”

Zeona McIntyre

“Mid-term rentals are seen as long-term rentals with regulations, and it’s a comfortable space when your numbers for short-term rentals are not working out.”