First off, I want to start out by saying that I have been traveling for almost 3 years now and have always found a place to stay during every contract. I’ve lived in big cities, towns of less than 1,000 people, retirement communities, military communities and every thing in between. And it has always worked out.
Even when it seems impossible to find housing yourself, there are always options. Sometimes these options aren’t always the most ideal long term, but you can stay in these locations short term letting you get to know the area a little better.
For example, many people stay in a hotel or Airbnb the first week of an assignment to get the layout of the town and talk with people about where the best place to stay is. Word of mouth has always been the easiest way for me to find housing.
It does take some time and effort to find your own house so if that is too much of a hassle and something you don’t want to deal with for that contract, just tell your recruiter.
They then will find your housing for you that is near your workplace, furnished, and set up with wifi/cable. Basically, walk in ready. However, when you go this route, you are sacrificing your housing stipend. This is only for that specific contract though, so will again have the option to find your own housing on your next contract once you better get the hang of it.
But if you’re like me and are trying to maximize your income and don’t mind the few extra hours of work. You can find your own housing more easily than you think and pocket the most tax free cash possible. This is what I have done every assignment, and what I recommend to any new or old traveler.
The living stipend, which is the money given to you tax free for housing is location dependent but usually ranges anywhere from 500-1000 dollars per week. Which if you spent all that money on housing would equate to a $4,000 per month rental…
And let’s be honest, your recruiter will not be finding you a place costing anywhere near that much money. So if they find you a $2,000 dollar/month rental, that’s another $2,000 dollars that the company saves for themselves.
Why not find our own housing that meets our own personal requirements for $1,000 or even less and pocket the remaining $3,000 per month to do whatever you please with??
To read more about how I cut my own housing costs while traveling follow the link below
How I managed to find $200 per month housing
But Where Do I Find Short Term Housing with the Accommodations I Need?
Well over my numerous contracts, I have utilized many different techniques to find the best deal that met my needs at the time. So let’s break them down.
1. Craigslist
The most obvious place to find housing is Craigslist and a place that I have attempted to use for almost everyone of my assignments. Craigslist tends to offer some of the cheaper options that you will find. It usually offers the most quantity as well.
However, with Craigslist, you tend to waste time filtering through the fake posts. It also tends to be the least secure as you don’t know who you are meeting or how legit the situation really is.
That being said, I have never had a bad or sketchy experience thus far. I recommend most people check out the house with a friend, or ask one of their new co-workers to come with them just to act on the safe side.
I have found two of my assignments through Craigslist and have had great experiences so far. I actually was able to find an apartment South of Boston for $700 per month, utilities included which is unheard of in Boston.
In this circumstance, the third roommate who I was replacing, up and left leaving his roommates with a headache and a vacant room costing them money. So they were happy to just get the apartment filled as quickly as possible which worked out very well for me. The only thing is that the room wasn’t furnished but this too can be overcome.
2. Airbnb
I have used Airbnb twice now. My first use was actually in PT school when I did a clinical in Boise, ID. It was a great experience and one of the perks to Airbnb is that most places offer a significant discount when booked for a long term stay. This made my 3 month stay very affordable for me, especially as a poor college students.
My second experience was a part of my crazy first assignment story. This location, completely framed the pictures and the situation to make the place out to be something that it was not.
I paid the money to stay there, however, once I showed up and saw the true situation, I left immediately. The other perk to Airbnb is that your money is always safe to fraud. I was able to submit my claim, and I was reimbursed in full.
Airbnb is also nice because you get to read other guests reviews of the place and the host. This usually makes it much safer and USUALLY makes it harder to be fooled.
If you are looking into starting an Airbnb account, if you click my link below, you can get up $55 dollars off to begin exploring!
3. Zillow, Trulia, or other Real Estate Apps
These are typical real estate sites that do have a rental section which normally are used by property management companies to find tenants. I have not had much luck with these places yet, as they tend to be looking for more long term renters.
However, I normally give them a quick scan before the start of each assignment. Even the posts offering short term rentals often require increased paper work and hoops to jump through making a quick transition difficult. I have heard of people having success on these sites so I wanted to include it in my list.
4. Local Facebook Housing, Rental, and Sublet Groups
I have found Facebook groups to be one of the best options for finding short term housing in higher population areas. All large cities have multiple Facebook groups like this that allow individuals to post their apartments, sublets, rooms, or houses that are available. Even some smaller areas are beginning to start these types of groups.
I really utilize this option quite a bit now, especially for both of my assignments in the Boston Area. It is constantly being updated with new posts giving you plenty of different options. It offers a lot of variety in terms of entire apartments, studios, bedrooms, or even room shares if you are cool with that.
You can quickly Facebook message people about availability or with specific questions. You also have the ability to screen someone’s Facebook profile to determine if they look sketchy or if they are someone you could see sharing an apartment with.
In these groups, you also have the ability to post about your desired situation you are looking for. You can tell a little bit about yourself, what type of living setting you are looking for, mention why you are in the area, and mention the dates you will be in the area from and until.
Then, people who fit your situation will either comment on your post or direct message you with what living situations they have available. You actually let other people do the work for you, and who doesn’t love that!
5. Facebook Traveling Healthcare Groups
To go right along with the post above, there are actually other Facebook groups that are solely dedicated to temporary housing for healthcare professionals. Many of these are dedicated solely to travelers as well. Often times the people offering up their houses are past travelers themselves so they are very open to giving back and are happy to help out their colleagues.
They tend to offer very affordable rents as a result.
I utilized this for one of my assignments and it worked great for my needs at the time. I actually found that place through a traveling nursing Facebook group. I obviously am a physical therapist but I encourage people to branch outside of their profession in these groups because it offers much more options and locations. Especially looking into nursing groups, as these tend to have the most people.
Worst case, they say no. Best case, they realize you are still a healthcare professional and they are still helping out the healthcare field as a whole. This option is also great for networking and can help to find and make connections that might benefit your career later down the road.
6. Military Housing
I put this on here, only because I did find housing for one of my locations using this approach. After my horrible starting situation in South Carolina, I ended up renting from a couple who had only rented to Military personnel in the past.
This is very location dependent, but at the time, I was working near a large Air Force base. So make sure to look in the area you are traveling to see if there are any large military populations. These rentals can be found through Facebook groups as well, but I actually came into this situation through word of mouth.
Again, all I did was ask if they would be willing to rent to a traveling healthcare professional and they agreed almost immediately. They felt that I too was giving back to the area and the country by providing coverage. They felt the same drive to help me out as they did with active military.
I am by no means comparing what I do to what someone in the military does, but again I use this as an example to show how many options there actually are available to traveling healthcare professionals.
7. Co-Workers
Prior to starting your contract, you will interview with your supervisor or manager at your next location. After accepting the contract, this interview also serves as your first introduction to someone who lives in the area and likely has connections to potential housing.
Often times, I will then send a quick email asking if they know of anyone who has any housing available. This then opens the door for any co-workers or other faculty to possibly offer a room in their house up for rent if they are looking to make a couple extra dollars. They might not want you in their house, but they also may have leads for other options or places that travelers in the past have utilized.
It takes minutes to ask and again, worst case scenario is they haven’t heard of any available housing.
As of late, I have actually stayed in three separate locations using this approach. I have found that the more you talk about your situation, the more opportunities tend to present themselves. Word of mouth is still king.
8. Family and Friends
This by far the best financial housing option, if you can tolerate your family for that long! Often times, family and friends are always looking for the chance to connect and spend time together. So traveling can serve as a great way for you to work and explore a new area while also catching up with some family or friends. This option tends to be very low cost or even possibly free, depending on how much your family actually likes you.
This Fall, I actually stayed at a family friends cabin. I was able to stay for free in a 3 bedroom cabin all to myself. They had someone to watch over their place while they weren’t there, and I was able to save some extra money on housing expenses. For most people, housing is the biggest hit to the budget every month.
Imagine if you didn’t have to pay rent every month! Now, imagine if you didn’t have to pay rent every month and still got paid a stipend to cover this non-existent housing. You are now double dipping in regards to savings and earnings.
Note: Don’t take advantage of family and friends, make sure you are offering some value to being there. And always leave a nice gift at your departure!
9. Ask Your Recruiter
Most recruiters have an area of the country that they specifically recruit in. Meaning, they have multiple travelers every month starting jobs and ultimately finding housing. This usually means they have some idea of where people have been finding housing and can sometimes direct you to potential ideas that are unique to that area.
Again, this takes minutes to reach out and helps continue to build a relationship with your recruiter which is important in future positions.
10. Bring an RV or pull a Fifth Wheel
This one to me is fascinating. Yes it requires some up front costs with purchasing an RV or a truck with a fifth wheel. But imagine the savings when you can drive your home to each assignment, providing you with housing and none of the hassle of packing and unpacking.
If this is something you are interested in, there is a terrific blog in which a couple of PT’s travel the country in a Fifth Wheel.
11. Rent an RV
This one is a new one to me and likely due to my current location in Arizona as many more people here own RVs or Fifth wheels than any where else I have worked in the Country.
Because so many people own RV’s/fifth wheel, many of these people don’t use these living spaces except for a few weeks during the year. So many of them sit dormant in someones lawn or driveway.
So asking about renting these spaces as you would a guest house becomes an option. Many people don’t even realize that they could be renting their stationary trailer. So often times they are willing to rent them for much cheaper than what you would pay in other situations as the owners were likely expecting to not get any return on their unused space.
I actually lived in a fifth wheel for nearly a month during my most recent contract and it ended up saving me a lot of money.
Quick Tips
1.) Try messaging people, especially college students, with lower than asking price offers.
Worst case they say no. But often times, they are transferring, taking a new job, studying abroad, or traveling and are desperate to get some of their rent covered even if it isn’t the entire amount.
2.) Ask your Co-Workers or supervisors about the area you are looking to rent in. Because there are definitely areas of most towns/cities that people try to avoid. I wish I would have done this before my first assignment.
3.) Map your route to work during rush hour. I almost took an apartment in the back bay of Boston when I worked about 8 miles North of the city. I thought 8 miles couldn’t possibly take more than 20-30 minutes to get to. IF I had lived there, I would have had over an hour commute each way to travel 8 MILES.
4.) Don’t stress. It always seems stressful at the time but there are always significantly more options than what it seems. Stay calm and try some of the options above.
Conclusion
This is by no means a comprehensive list, as I’m sure there are many more options. But the point is, that there are many options to find housing, more than what I ever knew when I first started traveling.
I probably could have prevented my horror story if I would have known even a fraction of what I know now. It’s always my goal to help others avoid some of the mistakes that I made along the way.
What do you think?
Have you found any different options for housing??
If you have any questions about housing, feel free to comment below or if you have specific questions feel free to email me at fiscaltherapist1@gmail.com
*Updated 3/11/20
