Analyzing rent strategies

[Malik K.]

Hello, 

I came across a duplex that I was interested in so I decided to dig in and started to run the numbers to see if it makes sense as a rental investment.

When I searched for rents on RENTOMETER it didn't really give me an answer saying  "Sorry, there are not enough results in that location to generate a valid analysis".  So, I would like to ask you guys for some more ways to get accurate info on rents in that area or maybe a general idea of what to expect.

Thank you!

[Russell Brazil]

Welcome to BP @Malik K..

I see you are in the DMV area. Depending on where in the DMV the property is, there are basically 4 different ways to think about how a property will rent. And Rentometer isnt something Id use to determine any of the 4 ways.

There 4 different ways to rent a property in the DC area are

1) Normal market rate tenant renting the whole property. (90% of people do this)

2) Rent it via Section 8. Many locations in the area, the Section 8 rent is quite different from the market rate.

3) Renting by the room. (Keep in mind occupancy limits for unrelated persons...4 in VA, 5 in MD and 6 in DC)

4) Corporate rentals. (Different from short term, corporate rentals are 30 days plus, all of our jurisdictions limit days per year on short term, but not on 30 plus day rentals)