How to find Market Rents?

Question

Besides craigslist or rent.com how do you figure out what market rents should be in your area?

Joshua D. · Answer

Here's the Ultimate Guide to Fair Market Rents, compiled of all the best advice we've seen offered here on BiggerPockets on the topic.

Michelle Murray · Answer

Zillow.com has something called a rental zestimate when you type in any addresss.

And they now offer rental listing, so you can see what others are asking for rent in the neighborhood.

Hope that helps

Scott W. · Answer

Call an agent & have them send you comps for what they rented out for. it will have pics of the interior as well so you can get a good idea. also, it'll list the vacancy time.

with rents going higher, i get counter offers from possible renters. i will tell them i have the comps & can send them over. this stops the negotiation process rather quickly.

you can do the same when raising the rents on your current tenants as well.

Will Browm · Answer

Rentometer.com

Steve Babiak · Answer

Many threads of a similar nature already exist:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/fair-market-rents.html

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/30215-rental-comps

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/72101-how-much-the-rent-should-be

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/21109-how-do-you-declare-rent-amount-

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/65751-how-much-rent-to-charge-

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/43852-how-to-estimate-what-section-8-will-pay-

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/6508-how-do-you-determine-fair-rental-value-for-a-property-

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/80/topics/73624-anyone-use-rent-o-meter-to-get-idea-of-rents-in-the-area

Ann Bellamy · Answer

just shared this all over the place - it's great, Joshua Dorkin

Joshua D. · Answer

Thanks Charles Perkins.  That's the goal with the project that I posted about.  I'm glad you see the value. As always, please be sure to share it!

Account Closed · Answer

Joshua Dorkin the ultimate guide is a great resource.  It will be nice to have resources like this especially for newer investors.

Phillip Dwyer · Answer

Appraisers, re agents, realtor.com, trulia.com, newspaper, online version of the newspaper, property managers, other tenants, ect.

T Brown · Answer

Michelle Murray said:

I'm new here, and have lots of questions.  :-)
Have you found those rental zestimates to be accurate?  I wondered because when I look at the supposed market sale price for the same property, the selling price seems to be wildly out of whack with the actual asking price (the asking price is much, much lower).  I wonder what algorthm they are using?

Also, I haven't seen much advice out there on how to figure out rents when the area you are buying in is largely owner-occupied (which is the areas that I often see recommended for where to buy).  Any ideas?

Thanks again!!

How to find Market Rents?

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