New to Real Estate · San Jose, CA · Member since 2021 · 16 posts · 10 votes
Hello Everyone,
One of the biggest challenges I've come across is deciding how much to charge for rent while analyzing properties. I've looked at rentometer, craigslist, hotpad, zumper, and other sources out there. The problem is the amounts are all over the place between all sources and I wan to make sure I'm using correct numbers; I usually run a worst-case scenario just in case I need to rent ASAP and make a decision based on that number. At this moment, I've been getting an average amount between all sites and going with that number but I wanted to ask what others are using (or suggest) when analyzing and actually charging for rent.
I'm looking into buying my first multi-family home in either Vallejo, Oakland, Richmond, and Sacramento and I plan to rent the other unit and hack the unit I will be living in; I'm single so I can get away with getting a roomie. BIG BONUS if the property has an ADU or a detachable garage I can convert. Therefore, I tend to look for rent amounts for a studio, single room, and 2 or 3 bedroom (depending on the size of the unit).
Hi Robert! We do rent by the room in Roseville and I was wondering the same thing when I started looking at listing our bedrooms. It sounds like you're on the right track! I used comparables through similar sites to what you mentioned and made a list of notes next to them like "similar condition to ours" "small bedrooms" "has a pool" or whatever else was like/unlike our units and then picked in the higher percentile of rents because I knew we would provide more benefits than other units. You're doing all the right things!
@Nicole Masters Thank you! Glad to hear I'm on the right track. I threw some numbers on a spreadsheet to get a nice average and create my lowest threshold. I'm going to start implementing your method to create a higher threshold and have that nice boundary where I know I will be comfortable with.
I am a local property manager here in the greater Sacramento Market. When you have an opportunity please reach out as I would like to see how I can assist you. I do market rent analysis for many investors that are looking to acquire properties.