Investors are getting crushed by short-term rental oversaturation. Real estate agents are scrambling for new ways to serve relocating clients, corporate housing, and insurance placement leads. But what if you could build a highly profitable rental business that doesn’t rely on Airbnb, and then teach others how to do it too?
Amanda Williams, aka Amanda the Traveling Realtor, cracked the code. In this episode of the RealtyHack podcast, she shares how she built a midterm rental brand in North Carolina, what caused her to pivot from short-term rentals, and how she now teaches investors and agents to build repeatable midterm models outside of Airbnb.
Table of Contents
What Is a Midterm Rental?
You’ve probably heard of short-term rentals like Airbnb. But what’s a midterm rental?
Midterm rentals are furnished properties that are leased for 30 days or more, often to corporate travelers, insurance placement clients, or families relocating to a new city. Amanda runs a hybrid model: if her property isn’t booked with a monthly guest, she’ll temporarily list it for short-term stays.
This approach gives her the flexibility of short-term income without the high turnover and burnout that comes with managing dozens of check-ins per year.
Compared to 100+ guests per year in a typical short-term rental, Amanda’s midterm properties host just 4–6 high-quality tenants annually.
For agents and investors, this model offers a simpler, more scalable, and often more lucrative alternative to Airbnb hosting. And because it falls under the short-term lease umbrella in many cities, Amanda can bypass traditional landlord-tenant laws, keeping more control over her property and reducing legal headaches.
You’re not just making money on monthly rents. You’re building a brand and a system that attracts repeat guests, corporate clients, and investor referrals.
Why Amanda Made the Shift from Short-Term to Midterm
Amanda’s journey started with flipping houses in Raleigh, North Carolina. She got licensed in 2013 to avoid paying commission, but soon grew a rental portfolio and eventually operated 15 properties by the time the pandemic hit.
But in 2020, Airbnb canceled $66,000 worth of bookings in one day. That single event forced Amanda to rethink everything. She quickly pivoted to midterm rentals, launching a “Come Quarantine With Us” campaign targeting New Yorkers desperate to escape tight apartments during the early COVID lockdowns.
Within seven days, all 15 of her properties were booked with multi-month stays.
This wasn’t just a survival tactic, it became her new strategy. Amanda leaned into corporate housing, relocation clients, and insurance-funded stays, unlocking a business model that was less volatile and more consistent than traditional Airbnb rentals.
And when Airbnb suspended her account due to a technicality involving a co-host, she went all-in on independence, building her own direct booking website and brand.
Now, she doesn’t just list midterm rentals, she teaches others to build recession-proof midterm rental businesses that don’t rely on third-party platforms.
How Amanda Trains Agents and Investors to Build Midterm Rental Brands
Amanda’s rental business operates under the name Carolina Furnished Rentals. But her personal brand, Amanda the Traveling Realtor, is where the real transformation happens.
That brand is the home for her live education programs, where she teaches self-managing Airbnb hosts and curious investors how to build their own midterm rental businesses from scratch.
It’s not just a course. Amanda runs live, AI-updated training every week because the industry is changing too quickly to rely on pre-recorded lessons.
Her ideal students are people who:
- Have 3–5 properties listed on Airbnb
- Don’t have a business LLC or brand
- Lack a direct booking website
- Want to stop relying on short-term rental platforms
For them, Amanda offers a starter workshop to build the foundation and a 30–60 day bootcamp to launch a midterm rental brand that attracts direct bookings from companies, insurers, and relocating families.
In Amanda’s words, “Most people don’t need more platforms. They need systems, branding, and a business that works without Airbnb.”
And she’s helping agents turn their rental knowledge into lead gen tools, branding themselves as relocation specialists who can house clients while helping them buy.
Midterm Rentals: The New Referral Goldmine for Agents
For real estate agents, the midterm rental niche isn’t just about investment, it’s a client pipeline.
Amanda has turned her rental properties into a feeder system for buyer clients. Most of her guests are relocating from California to North Carolina, and once they’ve stayed for a few months and found a neighborhood they love, Amanda refers them to one of her agents.
She earns:
- Monthly rent from the guest
- A referral commission from the home purchase
- A management fee from the property
- And often helps set up the next investor’s rental too
It’s a full-stack strategy that turns one guest into four revenue streams.
If you’re an agent, the lesson is clear: you don’t need to just help people buy. You can help them relocate smartly, rent with flexibility, and eventually purchase with confidence, all while branding yourself as the go-to local expert.
And if you’re worried about inventory or cash flow, Amanda even recommends rental arbitrage, renting a property yourself, then subleasing it midterm to vetted clients.
Advantages of Midterm Rentals vs. Short-Term Rentals
Amanda breaks down the differences between short-term and midterm rentals with refreshing clarity.
Here’s what you gain by going midterm:
- Fewer guests, less burnout: Only 4–6 tenants a year vs. 100+ short stays
- More predictable revenue: Monthly leases remove the stress of nightly fluctuations
- Simplified operations: Fewer turnovers mean less cleaning, communication, and automation
- Higher-quality guests: Midterm renters are often professionals, families, or relocation clients, not vacationers
- Corporate and insurance deals: These are typically high-paying, longer-term, and far less risky
Midterm rentals are also more forgiving. If your calendar isn’t booked, you can still fall back on short-term listings. But the real money is in direct contracts, the kind Amanda teaches her clients to land.
As Airbnb rolls out new 15%+ host fees, midterm rentals with direct booking systems and brand visibility become more attractive than ever. And they position you as a professional, not just a host.
How to Learn Amanda’s System (And Start Your Own)
If you’re an agent or investor looking to get started in this space, Amanda’s advice is simple: Get one midterm rental under your belt.
Whether you buy it, arbitrage it, or manage it for someone else, the experience will teach you more than any course ever could. Then, turn that experience into a brand.
Her midterm system includes:
- Building a direct booking website
- Creating Google My Business listings
- Setting up automations and marketing funnels
- Attracting insurance and corporate housing clients
- Using AI to generate copy and systems at scale
And it works. Amanda’s model has allowed her to travel, generate multiple income streams, and teach others to do the same, without depending on platforms like Airbnb.
You can start by following Amanda on Instagram at @amandathetravelingrealtor, where she posts links to free masterclasses, weekly trainings, and live events.
🎧 Want to Learn More? Listen to the Full Podcast Episode
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- How Amanda turned Airbnb cancellations into an opportunity
- The truth about Airbnb shutdowns, co-hosting issues, and account bans
- Why midterm rentals are easier to manage and more profitable
- How to land insurance and corporate housing clients directly
- The simple strategies Amanda uses to turn guests into homebuyers
🎙️ Tune in now to learn how Amanda is helping agents, investors, and self-managing hosts build branded midterm rental businesses, without relying on Airbnb or corporate middlemen.
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