Where do you get your information for market rents?

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Where do you get your information for market rents?

Brandon Elliott-Pandey
Realtor · Erie · Member since 2022 · 194 posts · 88 votes

I already have a subscription to rentometer.com and appreciate the platform. I use it for my investor clients and myself and thus far it's helped us tremendously. That said, I don't want to become complacent and not seek out better alternatives or platforms that could even provide more value.

Have you found a website that provides accurate market rents but gives more value than rentometer.com?... or what platforms do you prefer to use and why?

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Conner Olsen
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 941 votes
4y

@Brandon Elliott-Pandey Those sites are great for an idea of rents in the area, the best way to be accurate is to pull your own comps or get an agent to do it for you.

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  • Brandon Elliott-Pandey
    OP
    Realtor · Erie · Member since 2022 · 194 posts · 88 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Luka Milicevic:

    I start with the MLS-I'm an agent and have access to all MLS info. I search for closed comps in the exact subdivision to see if there are any. From there I expand my search.

    I also check zillow to see what's active at the moment. 

    Based on closed comps and active inventory is when I start to determine where to price my rental. 


     Thanks for your thoughts Luka! :-) sounds like a great approach!

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  • John MorganPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Grand Prairie, TX · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    4y

    Zillow

    1Reply
  • Kevin Manafi
    Realtor · NJ · Member since 2020 · 277 posts · 138 votes
    4y

    @Brandon Elliott-Pandey As a Realtor® I always use the MLS for my most accurate rental comps. If I want to be extra sure, I then follow up the MLS search with looking at comps on Hotpads, Trulia, Apartments.com, etc. just to give my clients or myself an idea of what the competition is charging around me in real time.

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  • Patrick DruryBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH & Cleveland OH · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    4y

    @Brandon Elliott-Pandey
    Rentometer has worked out quite well for me. It's fairly accurate in Columbus, but has a few shortcomings and is by no means perfect. You can always cross-reference rent amounts with Zillow and apartments.com. 

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  • Brian Moore
    Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2019 · 62 posts · 61 votes
    4y

    I use many of the methods listed (Zillow, Realtor.com) with Rent-o-meter as a starting point. One of my oldest sites that nobody mentioned is padmapper.com. I believe it aggregates data from several sites like Craigslist and apartments.com, and plots them together on a map (which is commonplace now, but was unique 5 years ago!). Also Hotpads and Rently sometimes contain listings not mentioned elsewhere, so it's always good to cross reference multiple sites.

    I'd also mention (when you are leasing or renewing your rentals) not to be afraid of challenging your PMs numbers if you feel confident in doing so. Hopefully you both come up with a similar number, but they are incentivized to place a tenant (typically with 1/2 month rent) and will likely be at or below market. You know your product and all of the improvements in-depth, and if you feel there's more meat on the bone, then it's your role as the asset manager to go for the higher price.

    1Reply
  • Brandon Elliott-Pandey
    OP
    Realtor · Erie · Member since 2022 · 194 posts · 88 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Kevin Manafi:

    @Brandon Elliott-Pandey As a Realtor® I always use the MLS for my most accurate rental comps. If I want to be extra sure, I then follow up the MLS search with looking at comps on Hotpads, Trulia, Apartments.com, etc. just to give my clients or myself an idea of what the competition is charging around me in real time.


     Thanks Kevin, yes I do the same thing. Just wanted to see what other planforms there are out there to share as a value add for my clients.

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  • Brandon Elliott-Pandey
    OP
    Realtor · Erie · Member since 2022 · 194 posts · 88 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Patrick Drury:

    @Brandon Elliott-Pandey
    Rentometer has worked out quite well for me. It's fairly accurate in Columbus, but has a few shortcomings and is by no means perfect. You can always cross-reference rent amounts with Zillow and apartments.com. 


     Course, thanks for your thoughts Patrick! 

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  • Brandon Elliott-Pandey
    OP
    Realtor · Erie · Member since 2022 · 194 posts · 88 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Brian Moore:

    I use many of the methods listed (Zillow, Realtor.com) with Rent-o-meter as a starting point. One of my oldest sites that nobody mentioned is padmapper.com. I believe it aggregates data from several sites like Craigslist and apartments.com, and plots them together on a map (which is commonplace now, but was unique 5 years ago!). Also Hotpads and Rently sometimes contain listings not mentioned elsewhere, so it's always good to cross reference multiple sites.

    I'd also mention (when you are leasing or renewing your rentals) not to be afraid of challenging your PMs numbers if you feel confident in doing so. Hopefully you both come up with a similar number, but they are incentivized to place a tenant (typically with 1/2 month rent) and will likely be at or below market. You know your product and all of the improvements in-depth, and if you feel there's more meat on the bone, then it's your role as the asset manager to go for the higher price.


     Thanks for your thoughts Brian! 

    0Reply
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