How to price a rental?

[Bryce Caron]

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing a duplex in Portsmouth, NH to use as a buy-and-hold multifamily rental. My question is how to go about setting a reasonable market rent? So far I have spoken with someone whom lives in the town to get their opinion, but they don't have an experience beyond being a renter. The most they have said is some of my numbers look reasonable.

A strategy I was trying to use was to find similar quality apartments online to calculate a dollars per square foot and then average them together to get an idea, but I am not sure if this is a good idea.

Any thoughts?

[Al Bigonia]

There is a survey done by UNH each year Bryce. It's actually put out by the NH Housing Authority, and it's actual Landlords (like me-I participate) filling out the information, and it's broken down by city. I'm just not sure how to get it to you. Last time I tried to put an email address in one of these it wouldn't let me post it. Maybe you can call me at work and give me your email address. Just tried to give you me work phone number, but it won't post that either. Any idea's?