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Manage Rental Property .com Research Local Rent Prices How much rent should I charge for my vacant unit? One of the biggest questions new and experienced landlords have is "what are the local rents in my area for a 'x' bedroom unit?" The good news is that finding this information just got a whole lot easier! ManageRentalProperty.com has links to great FREE resources that can help you figure out the rents you might be able to get for your vacant units, or the units you just bought, or the ones that you haven't raised the rents on in a couple of years! Rentometer by iiProperty - I love this service. Just plug in your property address, the rent you are asking, the number of bedrooms and the number of units in the building and BAM!!!!! Rentometer will tell you if your asking rent is higher lower or on average for the area. It shows you a map of the area and you can 'point' to specific properties on that map to see what fellow landlords are asking! It doesn't let you know if these rents include utilities, etc. But it is a great way to check the overall market for your area! HUD Fair Market Rent Data - Yes, the government is watching you and crunching the numbers too! Each year the Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates the FMR (Fair Market Rent) values for each area of the country for efficiencies, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom and 4+ bedroom units. Their data is based on various factors, including local rents and utility costs specific to that area. They use this data to figure what to pay landlords for housing tenants who are receiving government subsidy, like Section 8 Housing Vouchers. Generally, they will allow a subsidized tenant to rent a unit when the rent plus estimated utilities does not exceed the upper end of the FMR for that size unit. (The FMR number is actually a "middle number". HUD actually will pay between 80% to 120% of the FMR) Remember these numbers include utilities, so if the tenant is paying some of the utilities, then HUD may pay less than the listed FMR). Sites that Link Directly to Local Papers |
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