How to get rental house priced right?

Question

I plan on doing my own property management for a suburb house rental 9 miles west of downtown Minneapolis.  I look at properties for rent on Craigslist and Zillow, but they seem all over the place price wise, and the few that are houses with similar bedrooms, baths and size as my own house, are often miles away.  So then I look at majority of apartments, but I don't know how much more I should be charging for a house?  Should I pay a realtor to come over and give me their opinion?

Will Gaston · Answer

@Chris Clemptor in my experience, the market will give you quick feedback.

I expect 2-3 inquiries a day for my student rental listings. More than that and I know I have priced it too low. Less than that and I need to lower the price.

Pay attention to your response rate. That will tell you what you need to know.

Adam Martin · Answer

Pricing a rental is more of an art than a science.  You are on the right track checking Zillow and Craigslist but I would also add Facebook marketplace as well.  If you have a Zillow rental manager account they have a price my rental feature that can help.  For me they used to be fairly accurate but haven’t been able to keep up with rising prices recently. They do however show which houses they used as comps and you can see when and for how much they rented for.  Use this as a guide but also pay attention to the houses in your local market and how much they are pricing, what features they have, and how long they take to rent.  If you price your rental and hear crickets chirping lower your price and you were too aggressive.  If phone blows up with inquiries you were too low.  I wouldn’t bother with a realtor since most aren’t too familiar with rentals.  The property manager isn’t a bad idea if you don’t want to handle this on your own but with on property it isn’t too hard. I suggest following the market for a while if you can before posting the rental because the houses listed now have not rented yet it is the ones that rented recently that give you the best info.  Don’t let this delay the process but this will be something you want to keep up with.

Drew Sygit · Answer

Why don't you pay a Property Management Company to do a rental market analysis?

Since this sounds like your first time doing this, you may need to call on them for other advice or hire them for other services.

Might as well start a business relationship...

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Yes.

How to get rental house priced right?

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