Most Rents at or Below 25th Percentile on Rentometer

Columbus, Ohio
Columbus Real Estate Forum
5yFollow

Most Rents at or Below 25th Percentile on Rentometer

Allen Tracy
Chatsworth, CA · Member since 2016 · 190 posts · 224 votes

Has anyone else seen that rents in Columbus are mostly around the 25th percentile number on Rentometer.com (if not slightly lower)?  I even played with the settings and changing it to 6 months at 0.5 miles and 3 months 0.2 miles.  It's the same with GoSection8 rental estimates.  For two of my tenants Section8 gave a value of lower than the 25th percentile on Rentometer and even slightly lower than GoSection8.com.

Whenever I run the numbers now on a potential property I use the 25th percentile number on Rentometer just in case.  Not sure if anyone else is seeing the same thing.

3Reply
22 views

Most Popular Reply

Harman N.
Rental Property Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 126 posts · 74 votes
5y

+1 to all the comments about using Zillow. I would also take note of how long properties have been listed. Even if you can get a certain rent amount, if it takes many months to get it rented it's no bueno. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that many Columbus neighborhoods are gentrifying, so within a small radius you can have vastly different quality rentals: from total dump to rental grade to fully rehabbed. So it's important to analyze the condition of the comps closely. 

4Reply
See this reply in the discussion

11 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • William Alonso
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2016 · 42 posts · 37 votes
    5y

    Hey Allen, I use Rentometer as well but only really as a a guide. The problem is it pulls homes that may be from different pockets of the city that may not attract the same rents. For example, if you’re looking for what rents get in Vassor Village it may pull rents from across Parsons in Hungarian Village, and now your estimates are off. I also like to use Zillow and from there you can see what rent listings are, how long they’ve been on the market and how many contacts they’ve had. If you see a rent listed for $1,200 but they’ve only had 3 contacts in 2 weeks you know that’s probably a little high.  Both help, but if you don’t already have units you’re renting in the area the next best thing is to find a good property manager or agent as they should be able to help you pinpoint some rents. 

    3Reply
  • Remington LymanBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Allen Tracy:

    Has anyone else seen that rents in Columbus are mostly around the 25th percentile number on Rentometer.com (if not slightly lower)?  I even played with the settings and changing it to 6 months at 0.5 miles and 3 months 0.2 miles.  It's the same with GoSection8 rental estimates.  For two of my tenants Section8 gave a value of lower than the 25th percentile on Rentometer and even slightly lower than GoSection8.com.

    Whenever I run the numbers now on a potential property I use the 25th percentile number on Rentometer just in case.  Not sure if anyone else is seeing the same thing.

     Rentometer should give you comps. I always look up those comps and try to reference the pictures on Zillow or Trulia.

    [email protected]614-541-8475Podcast Guest on Show My Job Laid Me Off, So I Replaced My Salary with Rentals
    Reafco512 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    3Reply
  • Brandon GoldsmithBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y

    I agree that it should be used as a relative tool to get an idea of what rents are like in the area. Since you cannot necessarily draw the boundaries it can sometimes be challenging to pinpoint the exact percentages but is still a good tool compared to others for getting estimates. @Allen Tracy

    [email protected]614-963-3340
    3Reply
  • Allen Tracy
    OP
    Chatsworth, CA · Member since 2016 · 190 posts · 224 votes
    5y

    I'll have to start using Zillow a bit more.  After I get really serious and want to make an offer I contact my PM for more accurate numbers but for general analyzing I'd love to at least be close without having to contact my PM.  For a single family it's not as big of a deal to be off by $100-$200/mo but once you start looking at multi family it can really drop your returns if a 4-6 unit is off by $150/mo per unit.  

    I think what I'll start doing is running the numbers at the 25th percentile in rentometer since that's what the current properties I own are renting for and many of the properties I'm seeing listed are currently renting for.  Then if those numbers work I'll start diving deeper into Zillow comps, if those numbers work I'll contact my PM, if those work I'll make an offer.

    1Reply
  • Zeke Liston
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Allen Tracy:

    Has anyone else seen that rents in Columbus are mostly around the 25th percentile number on Rentometer.com (if not slightly lower)?  I even played with the settings and changing it to 6 months at 0.5 miles and 3 months 0.2 miles.  It's the same with GoSection8 rental estimates.  For two of my tenants Section8 gave a value of lower than the 25th percentile on Rentometer and even slightly lower than GoSection8.com.

    Whenever I run the numbers now on a potential property I use the 25th percentile number on Rentometer just in case.  Not sure if anyone else is seeing the same thing.

     I would agree with the above comments. I use Rentometer as a guide but don't always rely 100% on the estimates. 

    1Reply
  • Daniel Judge
    Rental Property Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2019 · 131 posts · 183 votes
    5y

    @Allen Tracy if you're willing to pay their $19.95 fee, Stessa puts together a pretty nice report that also has information on expected vacancy in the neighborhood. I agree with the other comments about using Rentometer and Zillow (I also check out the new BP Insights tool, but that doesn't seem as reliable yet), but purchase a Stessa report if I'm going to make an offer on a property. 

    3Reply
  • Harman N.
    Rental Property Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 126 posts · 74 votes
    5y

    +1 to all the comments about using Zillow. I would also take note of how long properties have been listed. Even if you can get a certain rent amount, if it takes many months to get it rented it's no bueno. 

    The other thing to keep in mind is that many Columbus neighborhoods are gentrifying, so within a small radius you can have vastly different quality rentals: from total dump to rental grade to fully rehabbed. So it's important to analyze the condition of the comps closely. 

    4Reply
  • Alex Heidenreich
    Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2020 · 55 posts · 64 votes
    5y

    I've found Rentometer to be right around the average rate in Columbus, but I think it depends highly on the neighborhood. I would definitely agree not to rely on it 100% and research multiple avenues. Neighborhood Scout is another one that I have used for a really in-depth analysis on a neighborhood. 

    2Reply
  • Marc RiceBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus Cleveland Dayton, OH · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y

    @Allen Tracy

    Rentometer is good as a reference but I always recommend checking actual listings on Zillow/Apartments.com/etc as well as checking with a property manager. I always think it’s important to not just look at bed bath count but the entire units layout and amenities. You’re renting a place for someone to live, not just bed/baths.

    [email protected]614-363-2787
    Marc Rice | Investor Friendly Agent at Reafco Tailwind Team574 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Allen Tracy
    OP
    Chatsworth, CA · Member since 2016 · 190 posts · 224 votes
    5y

    Thanks, I always check with my property manager once I'm close to making an offer but I analyze around 3-4 properties a week and probably 100s of properties before I actually make an offer on one so I don't want to bug them that often.

    I'm looking for ways to analyze a property in under a minute just to see if I want to dive deeper into it or pass.  I wanted to see if anyone else was seeing rents closer to the 25th percentile number on rentometer or if it's just me.

    2Reply
  • Brian Moore
    Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2019 · 62 posts · 61 votes
    5y

    I use a site called padmapper.com as my first stop for rental comps. It doesn't have the sophisticated algorithims that other sites have but it specializes in aggregating listings from a lot of sources (kinda like kayak.com for travel). Padmapper collects data from apartments.com, craigslist, and many other sources (possibly more than zillow and rentometer), and plots them on a map. I use the map view to research the nearest comps and formulate a rental estimate from there.

    My other tactic is that I try to focus on a few small pockets (some of which I already own properties), and I can really zero in on the market rent through first hand experience plus intel from my PM.

    1Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free