Data for Year-to-Year, Room-by-Room Leases?

Question

Hi BiggerPockets ATX. I know there's data out there regarding property prices, and there's data out there about the short-term rental market a la AirBnB, but do you know where I can find data on year-to-year leases for rooms? I'm asking because I am looking to buy a house where I will live and get roommates who will also be my "tenants". I am evaluating several areas in Austin, but I would like to look at data to help me evaluate which of these areas are surest bets for the types of year-to-year, room-by-room renters I'm looking for. Thanks for your help!

Ralph Justiz · Answer

The easiest way to determine what rent should be is to search for one bedroom units in your area and charge less than that. One bedroom units are the market space you will be competing in. If your rents are the same as an apartment complex the tenants would more than likely move to an apartment to not have to share space with anyone. I used this method in college when subletting rooms to roommates. We would split utilities evenly and if anyone wanted a private bathroom they would pay a more for that. Does that answer your question?

Timmy Fritz · Answer

Hey Sarah. There are multiple ways you can go about it, and you should reference multiple sources to verify what you find either way. You can start with a combination of Zillow, Trulia, Rentometer, etc. While I wouldn't ever use any of them standalone, they are typically close & used collectively will give you a rough idea. Since you're looking at renting by the room those sources will only give you an idea of what areas are more sought after. You can also call local property managers to ask what they are seeing in certain areas for what you're trying to do. Another way is to find where people are advertising their rooms for rent, and see what they are getting in their areas. There are tons of facebook groups with so many people moving to Austin looking to rent rooms as well as people posting rooms available for rent. Also, Roomi is an app where you can list rooms for rent & connect with people who are looking. I'm sure there are plenty more like resources like those as well.

This should give you a good base. If you connect with the right property manager who is in touch with the Austin market, and willing to share their insight they will be the most valuable resource to you. They'll be able to tell you everything they're seeing in each area from type of renters, demand, what you can get renting by the room, the quality that renters look for that'll yield the best profit, renting furnished vs unfurnished, etc.

Bryan Noth · Answer

@Ralph Justiz makes a great point on researching 1 bed units and charge less.  You may see some slight variance as you move towards the outskirts of the city or as the quality of   interior amenities decline.  There is definitely a sweet spot when considering proximity + quality + price.

@Timmy Fritz named some great other resource tools.  One additional one to throw out is Craigslist, it still gets a lot of traction for room rentals and can give you more data points.

Good luck @Sarah Klein!

Sarah Klein · Answer

Thank you both, this is exactly the information I was looking for!

Data for Year-to-Year, Room-by-Room Leases?

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