Rental Property Comps

[Rassan Sampson]

My first and only rental property in East English Village has been underperforming since I acquired the property in 2019. I believe it can do well if renovated to attract higher quality tenants and rent at the market rate instead of below market as it is now. The challenge I'm having is determining the renovation budget against the expected increase in rent. I've asked for feedback from my property manager (response wasn't very helpful) and have looked at comparable rentals on Zillow/Trulia/etc. and rentometer but I would like more confidence in the numbers before hiring a contractor. Does anyone have suggestions on other ways to determine if the planned renovations will increase the rent to the needed level? Are there other resources I may not be aware of or consultants for this? Thanks.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Rassan Sampson:

My first and only rental property in East English Village has been underperforming since I acquired the property in 2019. I believe it can do well if renovated to attract higher quality tenants and rent at the market rate instead of below market as it is now. The challenge I'm having is determining the renovation budget against the expected increase in rent. I've asked for feedback from my property manager (response wasn't very helpful) and have looked at comparable rentals on Zillow/Trulia/etc. and rentometer but I would like more confidence in the numbers before hiring a contractor. Does anyone have suggestions on other ways to determine if the planned renovations will increase the rent to the needed level? Are there other resources I may not be aware of or consultants for this? Thanks.

There's no easy answer. It may take some time studying the market by looking for comparables on zillow, apartments.com, realtor.com, or whatever and just really getting to know the market.

You could try shopping around other property managers. Describe your house to them as if it were fully renovated and see what they think it would rent for. Keep in mind their estimates are just educated guesses and shouldn't be relied on since they haven't seen the house and it's not fully renovated, but it can get you pretty close in the ballpark.