The short answer
Travel nurses are the textbook mid-term rental (MTR) tenant: working professionals, placed somewhere for a few months, who need a real home rather than a hotel room. (You’ll also see it written midterm or medium-term — the same furnished 30+ night stay.) Tyler Sorenson, Nexxus’s founder, has rented furnished homes to travel healthcare workers since 2019, alongside construction crews and project managers, relocating families and insurance placements; the extension and early-move-out notes below come from those rentals. This guide is for landlords and operators; if you’re new to mid-term, start with what a mid-term rental is.
How travel-nurse contracts work
- Length. Assignments most commonly start at 13 weeks and can range from about 2 to 26 weeks.
- Extensions are common. A facility that likes a nurse often offers another block of weeks, and many nurses take it. In those rentals, from memory, 80–90% or more of travel nurses have extended at least once — some several times. Plan for a 13-week lease to become six months.
- Cancellations happen. Facilities cancel assignments for low patient census, overstaffing or budget reasons. The nurse loses the job and may need to move out early — the biggest risk in renting to travelers, and the reason the lease matters. In those rentals it has been rarer than the extension: no travel nurse has had to leave early during a first lease term. More often, a nurse extends several times and the last extension is a few days rather than a few months.
- A one-year horizon. Under IRS rules, a work assignment is treated as temporary only if it’s realistically expected to last — and does last — a year or less. Nurses who rely on tax-free stipends are careful about staying in one place much longer. That’s their tax question, not yours, but it’s why very long extensions are rare.
How housing stipends work
A travel nurse’s agency either arranges housing or pays a housing stipend with their pay, and the nurse finds their own place. Nurses who take the stipend keep whatever they don’t spend on rent — which is why they compare homes carefully and why many prefer to book directly with a landlord.
Stipends are set by the agency and vary by assignment. Many agencies use the federal GSA per diem rates — what the government reimburses its own travelers for lodging in each area — as a reference point. A stipend is generally tax-free for the nurse only if they keep a qualifying tax home they’re paying for while they travel; that’s between the nurse and their tax adviser.
How much to charge a travel nurse
Price the home against comparable furnished homes near the hospitals — on the sites nurses actually use — not against the stipend you imagine they get. A nurse who sees one price on your site and a lower one for a similar home down the street will book the other home. If you already rent the home nightly, a monthly discount is another anchor (the rentals above use about 15–20% off the nightly rate on Airbnb).
The GSA lodging rate is useful as a ceiling. As a worked example, here’s what it looks like for Phoenix and Scottsdale in federal fiscal year 2027 (it changes by season, and every October):
| 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 |
That’s the most a federal traveler’s lodging would be reimbursed for 30 nights — not what a nurse is paid, and not what your home is worth. Look up your own area — month by month, over a whole assignment — with the free travel nurse stipend calculator. The full pricing method is in how to price a mid-term rental; for the income comparison with your own numbers, try the mid-term rental calculator.
Where travel nurses look for housing
- Furnished Finder — built around travel nurses. A flat yearly listing fee and no booking commission, as of September 2026. In busy markets each lead gets plenty of competing replies, so answer fast.
- Facebook housing groups — active in many cities, with more screening work for you.
- Travel Nurse Housing, Airbnb monthly stays and Zillow — nurses search broadly, especially for short-notice assignments.
- Agency housing departments — some agencies house nurses themselves and rent furnished homes to do it.
- Your own site — nurses search for furnished homes near their hospital by name; a site that shows monthly prices and takes applications catches them, with no commission on the stay.
Fees, rules and what each site is good for are in where to list mid-term rentals. Nexxus lists homes on Furnished Finder and brings its leads into one inbox, next to the ones from your own site.
Screening and verifying a travel nurse
- Confirm the assignment: the facility, the start and end dates, and the agency — many landlords ask for the first page of the offer or contract
- Verify the nursing license for free on Nursys QuickConfirm
- Run the same screening you run for every applicant — identity, rental history, and whatever credit and background checks you use
- Have every adult who will live in the home apply and sign
- Apply your criteria the same way to everyone — fair-housing rules apply to mid-term rentals too
- Take the deposit and first month’s rent through a traceable payment method before handing over keys
The lease: dates, extensions and early move-outs
Use a written lease for every stay, with a refundable security deposit — the rentals above take at least $1,000, under an attorney-drafted “short-term rental agreement.” For travel nurses, three parts of the lease matter most:
- The term matches the assignment. Start and end dates line up with the contract, with the first and last months prorated if they fall mid-month.
- Extensions are welcome, with notice. Let tenants extend, and ask for notice — 30 days works well — so the dates don’t collide with the next tenant. One-month stays in particular often extend once someone is settled.
- Early move-outs are defined. If a hospital cancels the contract, what happens? Some landlords allow early termination with notice and a fee. Others require 30 days’ notice to vacate and, if a nurse has to leave on shorter notice, refund the dates they re-rent to a new tenant — the rule in the rentals above. Whatever you choose, write it down before anyone moves in.
Stays of 30 nights or more can create a tenancy under state law, so have your lease reviewed for your state. What else a mid-term lease should cover is in mid-term rental lease agreements. This is general information, not legal advice.
Setting up a home for shift workers
Nurses work 12-hour shifts, often at night. The homes that rent fastest to them get the basics right:
- Blackout curtains in the bedroom and a quiet street — day sleep is real sleep.
- A short drive to the hospitals, and easy parking at any hour.
- A washer and dryer for scrubs, a full kitchen for meal prep, and fast Wi-Fi.
- Utilities, internet and streaming included in one monthly price.
- Self check-in, so an arrival after a long drive doesn’t depend on anyone’s schedule.
Scams to watch for
Rental scams run in both directions, and travel-housing groups attract them. Two patterns to know:
- The overpayment. A “tenant” sends a check for more than the deposit, then asks you to send back the difference. The check bounces after your money is gone.
- Pressure to pay the untraceable way. Anyone who insists on wire transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency is running a scam — the FTC says so plainly. Keep rent and deposits on a traceable payment method with a signed lease.
Running travel-nurse stays without the spreadsheets
Extensions, early move-outs and prorated months are where travel-nurse rentals get messy — especially when the same home also takes short stays between assignments. In Nexxus, the lease is generated from your own template and e-signed by every adult, rent for the whole stay is scheduled on one ledger with partial months prorated by the day, and changing the end date adds or removes the months that follow. Every stay sits on one calendar with your Airbnb nights, so an extension can’t collide with the next booking.
Travel healthcare workers are a big part of our tenant mix, and from memory 80 to 90 percent of them extend — some several times. We’ve never had one leave early during a first lease term. Our lease requires 30 days’ notice to vacate, and if someone has to go sooner, we refund whatever dates we can re-rent.
See it in mid-term rental software, or open the live demo set up for mid-term — no sign-up.
Renting to travel nurses: FAQ
Is renting to travel nurses a good idea?
For a furnished home near hospitals, usually yes. Travel nurses are working professionals on fixed-length assignments, they often extend, and they need exactly what a mid-term rental offers: a furnished home, utilities included, for a few months. The trade-offs are vacancy between assignments and the chance a facility cancels a contract early — which your lease should plan for. In Nexxus founder Tyler Sorenson’s furnished rentals, most travel nurses have extended, and none has had to leave early during a first lease term.
How much should I charge a travel nurse?
Price against comparable furnished homes near the hospitals, not against the nurse’s stipend. Stipends vary by agency and assignment, and nurses keep what they don’t spend, so they shop around. The federal GSA lodging rate for your area is a useful ceiling for what a traveler’s housing budget might look like, not a target.
How long do travel nurses stay?
Assignments most commonly start at 13 weeks, and they can run anywhere from a couple of weeks to about six months. Extensions are common, so a 13-week stay can turn into six months or more.
What happens if a travel nurse’s contract is cancelled?
Hospitals do cancel contracts — for low census, overstaffing or budget reasons — and the nurse may need to leave early. Decide in advance and write it into the lease: for example, notice plus a fee, or 30 days’ notice to vacate with a refund for any dates you re-rent if they have to leave sooner. Check your state’s rules on lease termination.
Should I ask to see a travel nurse’s contract?
Asking for the assignment dates and the facility is reasonable, and many landlords ask for the first page of the offer or contract. You can also confirm a nurse’s license for free on Nursys QuickConfirm. Apply the same screening criteria to every applicant.
Where do travel nurses find housing?
Furnished Finder is the best-known site built for them. Nurses also use Travel Nurse Housing, Facebook housing groups, Airbnb monthly stays, Zillow, and their agency’s housing department. A direct site of your own catches the ones who search for furnished homes near their hospital.
Do travel nurses sign a lease?
They should. Most mid-term operators use a written lease or rental agreement for every stay of 30 nights or more, with the assignment dates as the term, a security deposit, and clear extension and early-termination terms. Have your lease reviewed for your state — this is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- GSA per diem rates (FY2027 lodging, Phoenix/Scottsdale, checked September 25, 2026)
- IRS Publication 463 — tax home and temporary assignments (one year or less)
- Trusted Health: travel nurse contracts — typical assignment lengths
- NCSBN: license verification (Nursys QuickConfirm)
- FTC: rental listing scams and fake check scams