Vacant Rate question (Aurora, Joliet and Cicero)

[Sherief Melik]

Hi All,

I live in Chicago, and was looking for cities around me with low crime rate to start rental investment, also i am looking for the highest ROI.

I like so far Cicero , Aurora and Joliet and open to any other suggestions, what drove me crazy that i did test posting an ad for Aurora 2 bedroom for $750 on craigslist and i did not get ANY single mail asking me anything in the last 24 hours.

Does that mean vacant rate is high in Aurora, IL or what ? or am i posting wrong way.

Please share your experience with new investor ! :)

Thanks

[Matt Holmer]

@Aaron Mikottis

If I was better with numbers and spreadsheets, I might be able to come up with a better system, but here is what I do.  Keep in mind, I am currently only tracking in one area that has about 40 active SFRs in the range I want to follow (<$1200/month rent).

Basically, I just bring a search in my specific area for SFRs that meet my rental criteria.  I created a spreadsheet to track the property details of all these active listings.  This includes when they went on the market, beds, baths, sq./ft., advertised rents and then notes on the properties.  This might include notes about the property condition, management company or rental specials.

Once that is done, every Sunday I will get on Zillow and limit it to properties listed within the last 7 days.  I will add these properties to the spreadsheet.  

I will also search the previously listed addresses to see if they have been removed. I typically do a Google search for the property as well to confirm (on hotpads) that it is no longer listed for rent.  Sometimes I will look on the property management company as well to make sure it was removed there too.  While I won't know exactly when it came off the market, by searching every week I should be at least within 7 days.

I have a second spreadsheet that shows the same information, but also includes the date the property was removed and the total days on market. 

I'm sure there is a better way to track this information, but I have not figured out what it is.  My hopes, is that after some time, I can get a true indication of the rental values and vacancy rates of a certain area.