Market pad rents in Columbia, SC

[Sam Duckett]

Guys and Gals,

My name is Sam Duckett. I'm a broker that specializes in MHP and am new to Bigger pockets. I work in the southeast and am out of Greenville South Carolina.

I wanted to get some feedback from the community in and around Columbia, SC about projected rent increases. I've done some rent comps in Richland and Lexington Counties, and have found to majority of the rents are in the $400-$300 price range. For all the property owners out there, what are you planning in terms of rent increase over the next 3-5 years? In our underwriting we've been using a $25 to $50 rent increase per year. I'd love to hear about what property owners in the market are actually doing with their rent projections and increases. 

Thanks for your time and I look forward to reading your responses!

[Ross Gortney]

Hey Sam

My long term rentals are in Spartanburg (so it may not be super helpful to you), but I'm looking at $100 increases per unit in the coming months (going from $900 => 1000, or $1000 => 1100), which is basically just barely beating inflation, but also I'm catching up on rents already having been below market rate.  I did $150 increases earlier this year, so it's a lot of increase pretty quick.  The tenants are really unhappy about that, especially the ones that have lived there for many years, and especially one that I have living on social security ("fixed income").  Tenant turnover makes it a lot less emotional to do big increases.

Ross