Best Place to Figure out Rent Rates?

[Andrew Erickson]

I'd love to hear what are the best ways to estimate rental rates. Here are a few methods I use. 

Rentometer.com seems pretty good for a first pass at rates. It gives you a good idea of rates based on sqft, neighborhoods, and features like distance from beaches. (I'm in San Diego, CA)

Then I look at Craigslist and see what people are offering. It gets way more niche in the CL forums. You can see what people are asking for single rooms with shared bath, master bedrooms, condos, whole houses, etc. You can get a feel for other harder to measure things like pets, parking, etc. 

Then finally I do a little market testing and will actually list a space for rent on CL to see how many inquires I get. I write up a whole listing as if I were selling it: photos, sales copy, bio, etc. We adjust the price up  and down until we get about a dozen inquires within 3 days. Ex. List it at $800 and get 40 inquires on day 1, bump up the price. List it at $1100 and get 2 on the first day, bump it down.  

Any other methods I should try?

[Dan H.]

I think your CL idea is on the correct tract but I get more of my responses from Zillow rental manager (hot pads, Zillow, Trulia, etc) than I get from Craigslist.  I suggest either instead of or in addition to craigslist, you do the same exercise with Zillow, hotpads, trulia.  Maybe include Facebook marketplace.

If you do the exercise right, there is no need for fake listings, etc.  You will know the market range and the appropriate rent.  

Good luck