You’ve interviewed, accepted the job, signed the contract, and you leave for your next adventure in 2 weeks. Now the hard part; finding somewhere to live once you get there. This is arguably every travel healthcare worker’s LEAST favorite part of traveling. Trying to find affordable, safe, fully furnished, travel nurse housing close to work is no easy task. In this post I’m going to cover the housing sites I have on rotation when looking for housing for my next assignment.

**Yes, I’m a travel med tech, housing for travel healthcare professionals is just more easily referred to as ‘travel nurse housing’.

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To recap from my previous post- Travel Nurse Housing 101– there are 2 major options when it comes to housing: company housing or self-acquired housing.

Company Housing vs. Self-Acquired Housing

Company Housing

If you choose to go this route, there are a few things to consider. As a traveler, your paycheck will typically consist of an hourly rate, a housing stipend, and a meal stipend. If you choose to take company housing, the company will cover your rent 100%, however, you won’t receive the housing stipend. Your paycheck now will consist only of your hourly rate and your meal stipends.

Going this route simplifies the housing search, however, you lose the ability to choose for yourself where you’ll be living. I recommend only choosing company housing if you sign an assignment last minute and don’t have time to find housing, have looked for housing and have had no luck, or truly don’t want to find your own.

Self-Acquired Housing

This is well-known to be the worst part about traveling; finding housing. It can be very stressful as you are 100% responsible for finding your own housing for the duration of your contract. Plus, you have to deal with landlords and always be on the lookout for potential scams. I know what you’re thinking, “If it’s such a hassle, why not just choose company housing?”.

#1-PAY

If you choose to go this route, your paycheck will include your hourly rate, a meal stipend, AND a housing stipend. You’ll actually most likely be losing out on money if you choose to take company housing; so long as you don’t book something too expensive.

#2-FREEDOM

Choosing to find your own housing allows you freedoms that company acquired housing does not. You get to make all of the decisions regarding where you live, and you can be as picky as you’d like.

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Choosing to find housing yourself can seem like an impossible task, so I’ve created a list of my favorite short term, fully furnished housing sites that I’ve had the most success with.

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Top Housing Sites

#1 Furnished Finder

Furnished Finder is arguably my favorite tool for finding travel healthcare housing. I personally have used Furnished Finder for the majority of my travel med tech assignments and have had great success!

When I first started my travel career at the beginning of 2022, Furnished Finder was a site dedicated strictly to travel nurses and other travel healthcare professionals (which is what drew me in so quickly). Now, as it has gained a lot of attention, it has shifted to being dedicated to not only travel healthcare professionals, but also corporate travelers, relocating families, and others needing short term, furnished housing.

What appealed to me the most about Furnished Finder is the all-inclusivity of the stays. Everything from furniture to kitchen appliances and utensils to utilities (including internet and cable) was included. It removed a lot of the anxiety I had surrounding how I was going to manage moving to an unfamiliar city for such a short amount of time.

Another great thing about Furnished Finder is there are no booking fees and other random fees that skyrocket the price right before you book. There may be cleaning fees or parking fees, but those are disclosed upfront in the listing making it easy to see exactly how much you’ll be paying for your stay.

#2 Airbnb

Apart from Furnished Finder, one of the first sites I check is Airbnb. The all-inclusivity of an Airbnb rental is very convenient for a travel healthcare professional. One of my favorite perks of Airbnb is the reviews. Airbnbs are typically fairly popular, meaning there are typically a good amount of reviews. This takes some of the guessing out of the status of the property before blindly booking.

The issue I have with Airbnb is the abundance of fees that come with booking. The monthly rate that’s advertised never ends up being close to the true monthly rate.

In my experience, this site is much more tailored to weekend/week long stays than extended stays (30+ days). The price per night never reflects a reasonable monthly price. When booking with Airbnb, I usually ask if the owner is open to negotiating the price for an extended stay; it never hurts to ask!

#3 Hello Landing

Hello Landing is a site dedicated to flexible, short-term, furnished apartments found in over 375 cities across the US!

Hello Landing genuinely surprised me! Every contract I took in the past, I looked at Hello Landing’s site but never booked through them because they’re expensive. However, I had limited housing options when I travelled to Austin, TX and Hello Landing was my last resort. To say I was pleasantly surprised upon move-in is an understatement. The unit had very updated furnishings and decor, the check-in and check-out processes were done digitally, and I felt like I was living in a corporate apartment, not someone else’s home (which is a big ‘ick’ for me).

The downside to Hello Landing are the fees. When checking out, I noticed my monthly total went up HUNDREDS of dollars due to the fees tacked on at the end. Not ideal.

Standby Landing

I recently found out there is another way to book a Landing, and that’s by ‘Standby’. Booking a Standby Landing entails paying a flat monthly rate of $1495 with none of the excess fees. The catch is that if someone else books the unit while you’re there, you have 2-3 days to choose a new Standby Landing and completely move out.

This is a much more affordable option if you’re okay with less stability and don’t mind moving multiple times a month!

#4 Blueground

Similar to Hello Landing, Blueground offers flexible, short-term, furnished apartments with more of a corporate apartment aesthetic. Also similar to Hello Landing are the excessive fees that skyrocket the monthly price.

I’ve never personally booked with Blueground, but I always check the site when booking travel nurse housing!

#5 VRBO

While I’ve never personally booked with VRBO, it’s always one of the first sites I check when searching for travel nurse housing. VRBO- or Vacation Rentals By Owner- is a site tailored to short term renters, so keep this one in mind when searching for a furnished stay!

#6 Extended Stay Hotels

While this one is typically a last resort for me when looking for housing, it’s still a great option to consider. The reason I don’t gravitate towards this one more is because extended stay hotels are typically pretty pricey. It can also be difficult to live in a small hotel room for 3 months compared to a fully furnished apartment.

#7 CorporateHousing.com

CorporateHousing.com has short term, furnished apartments in many cities across the US. Their shortest term rentals typically start at 3 months and continue on in 3 month increments. This isn’t necessarily ideal for a travel healthcare professional because a travel assignment is typically 13 weeks, not 3 months exactly. So make sure to clarify this when inquiring about a property.

Also be sure to double check that the unit comes fully furnished. I’ve seen them tack on the option for furnishings at the END of the booking; it may not be guaranteed.

While CorporateHousing.com isn’t my first, second, OR third choice for finding housing, I always keep it on the back burner while hunting for housing! You never know what you might find!

Things to Avoid When Booking Travel Nurse Housing

#1- Craigslist

One of the easiest ways to get scammed is through Craigslist. No accountability and security channels from a site like Craigslist is a recipe for disaster. Avoid looking for housing here.

#2- Wiring Money to an Unknown Recipient

You should be leery when a potential landlord will only take payment through wiring. This is typically a red flag when booking housing, however, there are some companies that do their bookings this way.

Be cautious and DO YOUR RESEARCH before wiring ANYTHING. Avoid it if you can!

#3- Paying in Full

If the landlord is requiring you to pay the full rent up front, get out. This is a HUGE red flag in the short term housing world and has a high chance of you getting scammed out of thousands of dollars. PLEASE don’t do this.

Housing RED FLAGS:

• No photos
• No reviews
• Money wire required
• Pay in full required
• No response from landlord
• Pushy landlord
• Seems too good to be true
• Your intuition is telling you no

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Navigating travel nurse housing is challenging to say the least. You’re committing to living in someone else’s home in a new city, without seeing the unit in person. It can be a tricky task, and I hope you take every precaution you can when signing a lease.

Above all else, TRUST YOUR GUT. You have an intuition for a reason; use it!

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Thanks for reading! I hope you took something away from this post and you find that looking for housing for your next assignment is slightly less daunting. If you have any questions, drop them below, and don’t forget to subscribe to be notified when new posts go live!