The short answer
A mid-term rental — also written midterm, and called a medium-term rental in some markets — is a furnished home rented for one to twelve months. Its price has to do two jobs at once: compete with the other furnished homes a traveling nurse, a project manager or a relocating family is looking at, and cover what a furnished home costs to run. This guide works through both, whether you rent out one furnished home of your own or price a portfolio for owners.
1. Find furnished comps
Your market’s furnished monthly rents are the price. Look where mid-term tenants look, and compare the total a tenant pays for a month:
- Furnished Finder — monthly rents for furnished homes near hospitals and employers.
- Airbnb — search a stay of 28 nights or more to see what homes like yours charge for a month, discounts applied.
- Zillow and the long-term sites — filter for furnished homes; relocating families shop there.
- Your own history — what your inquiries asked for, and which prices filled.
Match like with like: beds and baths, the commute to the hospitals and job sites nearby, parking, laundry, a real workspace, pets, and what’s included. There’s no fixed “furnished premium” over an unfurnished rent — it’s whatever these comps show. Where to find them, and what each site costs to list on, is in where to list mid-term rentals.
2. Check it against per diem — as a ceiling
Many traveling professionals shop with a housing budget tied to the federal per diem lodging rate: what the government reimburses its own travelers per night in an area. For federal fiscal year 2027 (October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027), the standard lodging rate is $113 a night — about $3,390 for 30 nights — and about 295 higher-cost areas have their own rates, often by season. Phoenix and Scottsdale, as a worked example:
| Topic | Per night | × 30 nights |
|---|---|---|
| October – January | $165 | $4,950 |
| February – March | $232 | $6,960 |
| April – May | $171 | $5,130 |
| June – August | $122 | $3,660 |
| September | $165 | $4,950 |
Read it as the top of the range, not a target: allowances vary by employer and agency, and travelers keep what they don’t spend, so they compare. If your comps land above the per diem for your area, expect traveling professionals to look elsewhere; well below it, and you may be leaving money on the table. How travel-nurse stipends work is in housing stipend and renting to travel nurses.
3. Price each channel for what you keep
The same home can list on several sites that charge very differently. Set each one so what you keep is about the same. As a worked example — the math, not market data — here’s what it takes to keep $3,000 for a month on each channel, at public prices as of September 2026:
| Topic | What it charges | List at |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | A 15.5% service fee for most hosts, taken from the payout | $3,550.30 (÷ 0.845) |
| Furnished Finder | $199 a year to list; no commission | $3,000, plus the yearly fee |
| Your own site, card | Stripe’s standard 2.9% + 30¢, if you absorb it | $3,089.91 |
| Your own site, bank debit | 0.8%, capped at $5 | $3,005.00 |
On Airbnb you don’t set a separate monthly price: you set a nightly rate and a monthly discount for stays of 28 nights or more, and discounts of 10% or more show in search. Tyler Sorenson, Nexxus’s founder, sets monthly discounts at about 15–20% off the nightly rate — enough to compete with furnished monthly rents while the home stays priced as the flexible, bills-included home it is. The rest of Airbnb’s 28-night rules are in Airbnb monthly stays.
4. Decide what the rent includes
- Utilities — power, water, gas, trash — built into the rent at your average cost, with a cap if you set one
- Wi-Fi fast enough to work from home, and any streaming you provide
- The furnishings and a stocked kitchen, linens and towels
- Parking, laundry and any pet fee
- A move-out clean — as a one-time fee or built into the rent, but said up front
Then show it as one all-in monthly price. Mid-term tenants compare totals, and hidden add-ons cost you trust. For short-term lodging, the FTC’s rule on unfair or deceptive fees requires the total price to be shown up front; it sets no length of stay and excludes ongoing landlord-tenant rentals, so whether it reaches a furnished monthly stay depends on the facts — showing the all-in price is the safe habit. What to stock is in the free furnishing checklist.
5. Set deposits and fees
Move-in money is part of the price. Deposits and fees are set by state law in many places: Arizona, for example, caps security — including prepaid rent — at one and a half months’ rent, and California allows one month’s rent for most landlords. Several states also cap application fees. What one operator collects, as an example — the move-in money in the founder’s Arizona rentals:
| Topic | What’s collected |
|---|---|
| Within 24 hours of signing | A $1,000 refundable security deposit, about $300 for cleaning, a $150 admin fee and $65 per adult to apply — about $1,515 for one adult |
| At move-in | The first month’s rent, prorated if they move in after the 1st |
| Every month after | Rent on the 1st; the last month prorated |
Work out the partial months with the free prorated rent calculator, and see what you may ask and charge in applications and screening. General information, not legal advice.
6. Price for stay length and extensions
- Short stays cost you more. A one-month stay means more turnovers and more chances of a vacant gap, so charging more for it than for a three- or six-month stay is reasonable. Keep the gap modest: in the founder’s rentals, a one-month stay often gets someone in the door, and then they extend.
- Plan for extensions. Travel nurses and project crews extend often — in the founder’s rentals, from memory, 80–90% or more of travel nurses have — so price for the stay you’re likely to get, and say in the lease whether the rate changes on an extension.
- Re-price between stays, not during one. Check comps before each new listing period and when the season turns; a signed lease’s rent stays as agreed.
- A yearly lease is still furnished. If a mid-term tenant wants a full year, price the furnished home as a furnished home — the founder puts 5–10% of a furnished portfolio on yearly leases, at furnished rates. See mid-term vs long-term rentals.
7. Run the numbers
A price that fills still has to pay for the home. Put your rent, occupancy and costs — furnishing, utilities, cleaning between tenants, platform fees — into the free mid-term rental calculator and compare the same home as a nightly, monthly and yearly rental. Be honest about vacancy: a home that rents for three months and then sits empty for two weeks between tenants is occupied about 87% of the year.
If the home isn’t filling, check these before you cut the rent:
- Is the monthly price in line with furnished comps — all-in, fees included?
- Do the listing and photos say it’s for stays of a month or more, with a workspace and utilities included?
- Are you answering inquiries the same day? Mid-term leads message several homes at once.
- Is the home listed where your tenants search — including your own site?
Pricing in Nexxus
Once the price is set, it should appear the same everywhere. On a Nexxus booking site, each home’s card shows the monthly rent, deposit and cleaning fee, next to an availability calendar that comes from the same calendar as your Airbnb stays — which connect through Channex, an Airbnb Preferred+ Software Partner. When a lease is signed, the ledger schedules rent for the whole stay with partial months prorated by the day; extend the stay and the added months post automatically.
See mid-term rental software, or open the live demo set up for mid-term — no sign-up. What Nexxus itself costs is on Nexxus plans and pricing.
Mid-term rental pricing FAQ
How much should I charge for a mid-term rental?
What comparable furnished homes near you rent for by the month — found on Furnished Finder, Airbnb with 28+ night dates and Zillow’s furnished listings — adjusted for what yours includes. Check the result against the federal per diem lodging rate for your area (a ceiling for many traveling professionals) and make sure it covers furnishing, utilities, turnovers and vacancy.
How much more can you charge for a furnished rental than an unfurnished one?
There’s no fixed percentage — it’s whatever the furnished comps in your market show. A furnished home also carries costs an unfurnished lease doesn’t (furniture, utilities, cleaning between tenants, more vacancy), so compare what each leaves you, not just the rent. The mid-term rental calculator does that on your numbers.
Should utilities be included in mid-term rental pricing?
Usually, yes. Mid-term tenants arrive with a suitcase and expect one monthly price with utilities, Wi-Fi and often streaming included. Build your average utility cost into the rent; some operators set a monthly cap and bill usage above it. Whatever you choose, say it in the listing and the lease.
Should longer mid-term stays get a discount?
Longer stays usually cost you less to run — fewer turnovers, less vacancy — so a lower monthly rate for them can make sense, and a higher one for short stays. Keep the gap modest: a one-month stay often turns into a longer one once the tenant is settled. Whatever you decide, write down whether the rate changes when a stay is extended.
What monthly discount should I set on Airbnb?
Enough that the monthly total competes with furnished monthly rents near you. Nexxus founder Tyler Sorenson sets monthly discounts at about 15–20% off the nightly rate. Airbnb shows discounts of 10% or more in search, and most hosts now pay a 15.5% service fee — so check what you keep, not just the price.
Is the GSA per diem rate what a traveler will pay for rent?
No — it’s a ceiling, not a price. It’s the most the federal government reimburses its own travelers for lodging in an area. Many employers and staffing agencies use it as a reference, but allowances vary and travelers keep what they don’t spend, so they compare homes. Price against furnished comps and treat per diem as the top of the range.
How often should I change my mid-term rent?
Between stays, not during one. Re-check your comps before each new listing period and when the seasons change, and keep a signed lease’s rent as agreed. Extensions follow what the lease says about the rate.
Sources
Checked September 26–28, 2026. Rates and fees change — confirm the current ones.
- GSA: per diem rates (FY2027 Phoenix/Scottsdale lodging) and per diem bulletin FTR 27-01 (FY2027 standard lodging rate $113)
- Airbnb Help Center: service fees, weekly and monthly discounts and software partners (Channex, Preferred+)
- Furnished Finder: 2026 pricing and FAQs
- Stripe: pricing (standard US rates)
- Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1321 (security deposits) and California Civil Code 1950.5
- FTC: Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees — FAQ