Portsmouth, NH · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 1 vote
My wife and I are in the process of purchasing a duplex in Portsmouth, NH to use as a buy-and-hold multifamily rental. My question is how to go about setting a reasonable market rent? So far I have spoken with someone whom lives in the town to get their opinion, but they don't have an experience beyond being a renter. The most they have said is some of my numbers look reasonable.
A strategy I was trying to use was to find similar quality apartments online to calculate a dollars per square foot and then average them together to get an idea, but I am not sure if this is a good idea.
There is a survey done by UNH each year Bryce. It's actually put out by the NH Housing Authority, and it's actual Landlords (like me-I participate) filling out the information, and it's broken down by city. I'm just not sure how to get it to you. Last time I tried to put an email address in one of these it wouldn't let me post it. Maybe you can call me at work and give me your email address. Just tried to give you me work phone number, but it won't post that either. Any idea's?
There is a survey done by UNH each year Bryce. It's actually put out by the NH Housing Authority, and it's actual Landlords (like me-I participate) filling out the information, and it's broken down by city. I'm just not sure how to get it to you. Last time I tried to put an email address in one of these it wouldn't let me post it. Maybe you can call me at work and give me your email address. Just tried to give you me work phone number, but it won't post that either. Any idea's?
Congratulations on your upcoming purchase, but sorry for your wife's loss. I'm also a newbie REI here in Portsmouth. I own a single family with my wife here in town, but I'm itching to make my first multi-fam purchase in the seacoast area. That said, I have a good handle on market rents in various neighborhoods around town, as I was a renter here and have run numbers on a lot of properties in town over the last year. Happy to share my thoughts anytime.
I have listings sent to me daily for craigslist. This keeps me up to date on what a 2:1 or 3:1 will rent for in a specific area. Also you can use realtor.com. Watch your target market to understand what is fair market rent.
Thanks for the condolences. I would be interested in hearing any thoughts on it. The property is a duplex on .3 acres of land. According to the town assessor the property has 1840 sq ft of "livable" space (so I guess not including basement) between the two units, and my best guess is that the split is about 2/3 of the footage used for a 3 bedroom unit with 1.5 baths. The other unit is a 1 bed with 1 bath. Both units have off street parking, and I believe I would only have to include sewer for utilities as everything else should be separately metered. The entire building has been recently renovated by the insurance company, because there had been a fire caused by the old tenant so everything is in nice condition.
You could try educated trial and error.Look for rental properties with similar size and quality available now and price yours $200.00 a month more.If few or no people show up,it's too high.If you get 5 to 10 inquires you are in the ballpark for a great cash flow tenants.
Compare amenities, bedrooms, and quality to other units in the area. Start with craigslist and rentometer to do a little bit of research. Then follow up calling on local rental ads and shop around. I would probably go onto zillow or craigslist and obviously pretend your a potential renter. Ask about amenities and see if you can get layouts and pictures. That'll give you enough insight to figure out where you can value your rents. If you know realtors that give leads to rental properties in the area, you could get away with picking some numbers from them. Keep in mind market value on rent in our area trends up in the summer and down in the winter.
You can call a few property managers in the area and ask them how much it would rent for. They are super familiar with the neighborhoods and what amenities add more to the asking price, etc.