Analyzing desirability of areas and coming up with rent prices?

[Eric Telese]

I know that there are  many seasoned investors on here. How do you guys know if a specific area will rent out? Also, how do you know where to start your asking rent at after purchasing and possibly rehabbing a house?

I was wondering if there are any sites that are useful for analyzing if a specific area or neighborhood in a town is popular/desirable? I am looking to invest a few hours away from where I live, therefore want to be very knowledgeable in the market I am researching. For instance, if a property is in a bad neighborhood, how do you go about finding this out?

How do you guys know where to begin your asking rent price? Right now I am creating spreadsheets comparing the prices of different places up for rent in the area. My asking rent price would be something similar to the competition obviously. But is there any other site/tool/anything that anyone recommends in finding what your rent price will be?

[Kevin Siedlecki]

@Eric Telese

The easiest place to get an idea of rents is rentometer.com, but it can have some inaccuracies. In my market, for example, there are a lot of vacation rentals, so that skews the averages. Trulia has maps that you can overlay for crime, schools, and other statistics. But again, I don't know how much to trust it.

Are you looking far outside your local market? Your questions are why most investors start in their backyards. You can learn pretty quickly what the market rents are just by calling around or asking friends. You know which neighborhoods are attracting young professionals, which are attracting young families, which are attracting students, and which are only attracting people with nowhere else to go.