A mid-term rental - a furnished room, unit or whole house rented for 30 days or longer - sits between a 12-month lease and an Airbnb, and for a Central Iowa house hack it can be the most balanced of the three: more monthly rent than a lease, far less turnover than nightly stays. It carries its own rules, though. Iowa's hotel and motel tax can reach longer stays than most owners assume, Des Moines and Ames run rental licensing and inspection programs, and your owner-occupant loan decides when renting the whole place is on the table.
I see mid-term as one of the most untapped options in Central Iowa. Here is how it compares, where the demand comes from, how to price it and what to check before you list.
It is easy to remember: mid-term is smack dab in the middle. Short-term serves stays of a few nights to a couple of weeks, long-term runs on leases of 12 months or more, and mid-term fills the gap for someone who needs a furnished place for one to several months, usually for a work assignment or a life event with a clear end date.
Against a long-term lease, you trade a locked-in year of rent for higher monthly rent and more frequent, but manageable, turnover. Against short-term, you cut out most of the cleaning crews, linen changes and guest messaging that turn an Airbnb into a part-time job. Short-term also carries its own local rules, which I cover in the Airbnb rules Central Iowa investors need to know.
In Central Iowa, mid-term demand comes from a handful of clear sources:
We even see it around the Iowa State Fair, from people who come to town for two or three months of prep before it.
The part I like most: in many of these stays, the housing is paid by an employer, a staffing agency or an insurer with a housing budget, not out of the occupant's own pocket. That is not guaranteed rent - nothing is - but it is a different kind of payment source. Still shopping? My guide to house hacking in Ames covers local property types.
I talk a lot about house hacking as a partnership with the bank and the government. Mid-term adds one more partner, the company paying for the stay, and the goal is a price where both sides win.
Illustrative round numbers, not a quote on any property: say your house hack would rent for $2,000/month on a 12-month lease, and might gross closer to $4,000 as an Airbnb in a strong month, before cleaning, turnover and empty nights. A mid-term offer around $3,000/month for a defined contract period pays you more than the lease without the constant turnover. The company still comes out ahead of a hotel or nightly rental, and it is not stuck paying out a 12-month lease after the assignment ends.
What not to do is treat a corporate housing budget as permission to charge an insane price. Price from comparable furnished rentals, then subtract the costs you take on: move-in-ready furniture and a workspace, utilities, internet, cleaning between stays and the gap between contracts. I walk through comps in how to set the right rent for your Central Iowa rental.
A 30-plus-day stay is still a rental, and I recommend running it like one. Iowa Code chapter 562A, the state's landlord-tenant law, excludes "transient occupancy in a hotel, motel or other similar lodgings," so how you structure the agreement matters. Use a written lease with fixed start and end dates, reviewed by a real estate attorney, not a booking confirmation, and put any company's payment terms in writing too.
Several 562A rules carry over: a security deposit cannot exceed two months' rent and must sit in a federally insured account, separate from your own money. Screening works like any rental, with the same written, objective criteria (verified income, rental history, references) applied the same way to every applicant. My Iowa landlord basics guide covers the rest.
Then the loan. With an owner-occupant loan, occupancy comes first. FHA's handbook, for example, requires at least one borrower to move in within 60 days of signing the mortgage and intend to keep living there for at least one year. Renting a furnished room or the other side of a duplex while you live there is house hacking; renting the entire house mid-term comes after you meet that commitment. Your lender will confirm the exact terms, and I compare the two main loan paths in FHA vs. conventional for a house hack.
Iowa hotel and motel tax. Iowa's definition of "lodging" includes an apartment or residential property. The state tax is 5% of the rent, plus a local hotel and motel tax of up to 7% where a city or county has adopted one. You may have heard that 31-plus-day stays are exempt. Iowa Code 423A.5 still exempts lodging rented by the same person for more than 31 consecutive days, but for a room or apartment in any place where sleeping accommodations are furnished to transient guests, the exemption starts only after the 90th consecutive day, a change effective July 1, 2020. The Iowa Department of Revenue says tax on those first 90 days is due and not refundable. Book only through a platform like Airbnb or VRBO and the platform collects and remits the tax; rent directly and you need a sales tax permit to remit it yourself.
Income tax. IRS Publication 527 says that if you rent part of your property, you divide certain expenses between the rental and personal parts. Furniture used in residential rental real estate is 5-year property. If you provide substantial services primarily for the tenant's convenience, such as regular cleaning or changing linen, the income goes on Schedule C and may be subject to self-employment tax.
City rules. The City of Des Moines says a house not occupied by the owner must have a rental certificate/license, and its inspectors inspect rental units. In Ames, a rental must be registered, with a Letter of Compliance issued after inspection or pending, before you offer it for rent; an owner-occupied home with one roomer is exempt, but a second roomer makes it a rental unit under Ames Municipal Code Chapter 13. Iowa Code 364.17 also requires cities of 15,000 or more to run a regular rental inspection program, so check with your city before you list.
This is general information, not tax or legal advice - confirm your situation with a CPA and a real estate attorney before you act.
What this means for your strategy: mid-term works best as a deliberate plan, not an Airbnb fallback. Pick the demand source closest to your property, price against furnished comps net of your costs, confirm tax treatment and city registration before you list, and let your loan's occupancy terms set the timeline.
Done right, mid-term can mean less risk than short-term, more per month than a lease and far less day-to-day work. Run furnished and unfurnished scenarios side by side in the Deal Calculator, and use the house hacking playbook for the bigger strategy. If you want a second set of eyes on a property, reach out - no pressure, just a clear look at the numbers.
Jackson Krile | Flanders Team | RE/MAX Real Estate Center
515.490.8614 · Jackson@FlandersTeam.com
Let's talk through your specific situation - no pressure.