How to determine vacancy rates?

[Parth Patel]

Hey everyone, I was wondering what tools I can use to determine vacancy rates in my area? (NJ/PA) Also how would I determine if a certain area is not a good place to purchase a rental? Are there any helpful tools I can access on the web? Thanks.

[Franco Li]

Vacancy is a loose term and sorta ambiguous to calculate. You should always have some capex for your rental to assume a month or two of vacancy. If it takes longer than several weeks to assign a new lease, perhaps the location isn't that good to begin with. In your simulations though, you should have at a minimum of two cases. One, is obviously the base case scenario where you onboard someone for a while. Two, is probably stress it a bit, and assume whether it will still be profitable for you were the property to have only 9 months of rental per year (unrealistic btw).

Play around and get comfortable before pulling the trigger.