The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: Megma on September 07, 2015, 06:00:48 PM
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I've been using Rentometer for my rent price research after seeing it recommended here but it seems in the past few days they have discontinued any free reports? I used to be able to get ~10 reports a day, which was more than plenty for my searching and if I hit the limit, I would just take a break until the next day. However it seems they have cut off all free use except for ten reports total.
Has anyone else had this issue? Does anyone pay for pro use of Rentometer?
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What was so special about it? I just compare houses for rent in my area on craigslist and zillow to see what comparable rentals are going for.
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I use rentometer to help gauge market rents but I have never tried any of the reports. What kind of report is it and why do you need it? What does it show you?
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CashFlowDiaries, I was just using the standard free report with the rent prices based on address, nothing special. You still have free access then?
BeardedMan, I liked it because it also looks back historically if there's nothing listed right now. If there's nothing for rent in that neighborhood right now there's nothing on CL. Around here, a few streets over might have a pretty different price because of proximity to the university or bus line for example.when I get deeper I usually check all three, Rentometer, zillow and CL. Rentometer is also quicker, CL has lots of duplicate listings in my area at least and I takes a while to get a good average from there, at least for me. Rentometer takes 30 seconds.
To each their own, I found it really handy. In a few seconds I can see if I need to even bother looking at the photos of the listing or not.
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CashFlowDiaries, I was just using the standard free report with the rent prices based on address, nothing special. You still have free access then?
BeardedMan, I liked it because it also looks back historically if there's nothing listed right now. If there's nothing for rent in that neighborhood right now there's nothing on CL. Around here, a few streets over might have a pretty different price because of proximity to the university or bus line for example.when I get deeper I usually check all three, Rentometer, zillow and CL. Rentometer is also quicker, CL has lots of duplicate listings in my area at least and I takes a while to get a good average from there, at least for me. Rentometer takes 30 seconds.
To each their own, I found it really handy. In a few seconds I can see if I need to even bother looking at the photos of the listing or not.
I guess it depends on where you live. I live in the suburbs by the big city, so there is always something for rent in my area. I've found Zillow to be very accurate rent wise as well. I've listed my rentals at just below the price Zillow shows and had people beating down my door right away.
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I just tried it and it worked for free. It does not seem that useful to me though, underestimating the rent in my area significantly (it said 650 for a 1 bdrm apt may be too high but I know that is pretty much the norm) and the range for "normal" rent for my area is such a wide spread, anywhere from 390 to 630/mo. Do you know how it calculates average rents?
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Srob, because it uses the historical information also, it might be a little low at times, depending on how much your market appreciates a year. It also doesn't account for number of bathrooms, which obviously will have an impact.
It averages listings in a radius of the address you enter that are for properties of the same size, depending on the density of the area the radius will vary. If you look at the little map they provide you can see the actual data points. The pro reports are even more detailed but have also always been paid.
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I put an ad out with what I think is fair. No showings/calls from pre-qualified people within a few days, I drop price.
If I actually show it, to what I think are 2-3 qualified people and it does not rent, I drop price. Drop the price every week or so, by $25 or so on a $1000 per month unit, until it rents.
Vacancy is your number one avoidable expense as a landlord, avoid it at all costs.
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For experience
I put an ad out with what I think is fair. No showings/calls from pre-qualified people within a few days, I drop price.
If I actually show it, to what I think are 2-3 qualified people and it does not rent, I drop price. Drop the price every week or so, by $25 or so on a $1000 per month unit, until it rents.
Vacancy is your number one avoidable expense as a landlord, avoid it at all costs.
Yup, that's the way to do it. #1 reason of no calls is too high a price. #2 is you're not posting where your audience is.
Rentometer tends to be hit or miss. Your best bet is Craigslist in your area over a 2-3 month period, or Zillow if they have significant traction where you live.
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Your best bet is Craigslist in your area over a 2-3 month period, or Zillow if they have significant traction where you live.
When you say CL over a 3 month period, is that done manually such as looking at the rent yourself and monitoring the neighborhood or is there a feature I'm unaware of?