Zillow as a tool for local rent rates

[Chris L.]

Has anyone found Zillow as a reasonable tool to figure out what local rent rates may be? Is there an alternative which has more data and also thought to be accurate?

[Russell Brazil]

@Chris L. The best way to figure out rents is to have a relationship with an agent who will pull the rental comps for you. We can look at Zillow and Craigslist, and yes those give us a good idea of what people are asking for rent....but they do not tell us what people actually got for the rent. An agent will be able to pull accurate information off the MLS for you. If you do not have a relationship with an agent, it might be worth it to throw $20 or so at one online to pull the comps to get an accurate picture.