Sacramento rents rising?

Question

Hi, I’m about to rent out a duplex I just purchased in Sacramento and I’m wondering what are people seeing with rent prices. I put them at what seems to be a little more than mid range market rent but the response I got is through the roof. Dozens and dozens of people interested. Is this normal for Sacramento. My previous experience as landlord in the Bay Area tells me that this much interest means I’ve priced the units too low. Considering re-listing them at a higher price but I don’t want to be greedy. Not sure where to go from here.

Jack I. · Answer

I have a handful of duplexs in the sac area ..This is what I do to stay on top of the prices...

1. I monitor what is for rent in the areas of my places continuously.

2. When I list, my business partner and I come up with a proposal...independently. We get together and discuss the price.

3. Then we list if at slightly above market rate (  Our places are fixed up better than almost everyone else ).

Our job is to do the right things...if we list too high, we have too few interested, if we list too low, we have too many. So, start high, and then come down....until you find the perfect candidate.

Our adds we always put our name and phone number watermarked into the photos so people who know who the owners are.

DJ Dawson · Answer

you are 100% right, the market is BOILING right now, whether purchasing or renting.

If the market dictates a higher price I wouldn't call that greed (especially since the unit is vacant, you aren't RAISING anybody's rent

I would call it good business :)

Tapan Trivedi · Answer

Go ahead and use Rentometer.com . It gives you a free version that will answer your question.

Kathleen Brady · Answer

Thank you all for posting. I raised the rent. There are so few rentals in the area that I had a hard time finding comps. The rent raise made a few people lose interest but still a lot of applicants.

@Joe Bertolino  wow! Yes that is the experience I’m having. A massive flood of applicants, many of who seemed desperate to find housing.

Another thing happened that I wasn’t expecting. Someone copied my listing within hours of me posting it and tried to get a scam going. Someone showed up to look at the houses and started talking about my Facebook marketplace rental posting. But I didn’t post on Facebook marketplace. They showed it to me and sure enough, someone had taken my ad from Zillow, copied and pasted it (with a rent reduction!). I assume they are trying to collect deposits. I got them to take it down but geez!

Dave Peterson · Answer

I read a suggestion that you add your phone number to the photos before you post them so it's more difficult for scammers to copy your ad.

Gary Pilkington · Answer

It's been like that for 6 years for me (East Sacramento to Elk Grove). Never any problem renting them out. I study current listings as well as rentometer and others to gage that I'm in a good zone and tend to list slightly higher than I would think and they go quickly. Many people interested are coming from the Bay area.

Joe Bertolino · Answer

@Kathleen Brady

The rental market is very tight.   15% of the posts on my Facebook feed made up of realtors is them searching for a rental for a client and about 15% of the posts on Nextdoor are looking for a rental.   The last rental I advertised were was in 95826 and there were 2 other homes or duplex listed.  6900 homes in the zip code and 3 were available for rent along with some apartments.  There is a severe housing shortage in Sacramento.

Jeremy Brown · Answer

We did recently price one too high, so yeah, it’s possible. But, we lowered the amount some and immediately had more interest. Aim high. Back off if you have to. It’s better to have an extra week or two of vacancy than be perpetually $200 too low.

Howard Chen · Answer

@Kathleen Brady Sacramento has an inventory shortage, so anytime, a residential unit is available for rent, it’ll get snagged up almost immediately. Rental rates have also gone up substantially this past year, so a mid range rental price seems like a discount.

Sacramento rents rising?

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