Apartments.com is a good place to start when looking for your own housing as an independent contractor travel nurse. For instance, eJane.com has travel nurse openings in Virginia Beach, Virginia so I thought I’d find out what kind of housing is available in that area. I went to the Apartments.com website and clicked on the links for the state, city, area of city, etc. then chose the amenities. When searching for your apartment, be sure they offer corporate/short-term leases, because not all apartment complexes do. I found an apartment complex located 2.6 miles away from the healthcare facility where travel nurse positions are being offered. The apartment complex’s website has pictures of the grounds and 360 videos of the inside of the apartments.  

Short term leases are generally higher than yearly leases and, in this case, a 3-month lease for a 1 bedroom/1.5 bath apartment is $1000/month. For a 36-hour work week and a 13-week employment contract, this lease breaks down to be $6.41/hour ($3000 divided by 36 x 13 = $6.41). This information is useful when you enter negotiations with a healthcare facility through eJane. You can also find other helpful information and links by signing into your eJane account and reading through the Support Services link.

There are many other sources for finding housing opportunities, as well. If your travel nurse engagement is longer than 13 weeks, you may want to consider renting a house or duplex out in the country or on the beach! Local newspaper Classified ads are helpful in these cases. If the landlord does not usually offer a lease for less than a year, tell them you are a travel nurse–they may make an exception.

Good luck! I look forward to your comments and any other ideas you can share with our fellow travel nurses for finding their own housing!