1. Your numbers
Your costs either way
Long-term lease (unfurnished)
Mid-term rental (furnished, 30+ days)
Short-term rental (nightly)
Change any number; the result updates when you click Compare.
2. Result (per month)
| Way of renting | Revenue | Operating | Furniture wear | Net before mortgage | After fixed costs |
|---|
Mid-term net against the lease, by empty days and stay length ($/mo; positive means ahead)
Monthly rate needed to match the lease, by empty days
| Empty days between stays | Monthly rate that matches the lease |
|---|
How it works, and what it leaves out
- Mid-term: each stay earns the monthly rate; the empty days between stays earn nothing while utilities, insurance and maintenance keep running. A clean and restock is charged per stay, platform fees as a share of rent, and the furniture as its price spread over its life.
- Short-term: nights booked times the nightly rate, plus the cleaning fee guests pay, less a clean per stay, fees, utilities, supplies and the same furniture charge.
- Long-term: rent less vacancy, management and a maintenance reserve; the tenant pays utilities and furnishes the place.
- Net before mortgage compares the three on operating results; after fixed costs subtracts your mortgage, tax, insurance and HOA, which are the same whichever way you rent.
- Not decided: income tax, lodging and occupancy tax, zoning and short-term-rental permits, HOA or lease rules about short stays, tenant-rights rules that can apply to stays of a month or more, the cost of finding guests, bad debt, and local demand. The inputs are your own estimates; a rate you cannot actually get makes the answer wrong.
Common questions
Is a mid-term rental more profitable than a long-term lease?
Often, but not automatically. A furnished 30-day-plus stay usually rents for well above an unfurnished lease, and the owner then pays utilities, supplies, cleaning between stays and furniture wear, and carries empty days between stays. This page puts all of that on one line and shows the monthly rate and the empty-day limit at which the lease would come out level.
How many empty days can a mid-term rental afford?
It depends on the rate premium. Enter your numbers and the page reports the longest gap between stays at which the mid-term rental still nets as much as the lease. A premium that looks large at full occupancy can disappear after a couple of weeks of vacancy per stay.
Does furnishing the unit pay back?
The page divides the furnishing outlay by the extra monthly income over the lease, before counting furniture wear, and tells you how many months that takes against how long the furniture lasts.
How does a mid-term rental compare with Airbnb-style nightly renting?
Nightly renting books more income per occupied night and also brings far more cleanings, more vacancy swings and more guest handling. The page finds the occupancy and nightly rate at which nightly renting only matches the mid-term rental, so you can judge whether your market clears it.
Who rents mid-term furnished housing?
Travel nurses and other contract workers, people relocating, people between homes after a move or an insurance claim, and visiting professionals. Many of them have a fixed monthly housing budget; enter it and the page shows whether your rate fits.