Is Rentometer a reliable measure of market rents?

[Oz Pariser]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if Rentometer is a reliable measure of market rents? What other tools do you guys use? I've read that talking to a property management company that is knowledgable in your market is one of the best ways, but I'm looking for a way to get a good idea of market rents on my own when analyzing rental property deals. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks,

Oz

[Jeffrey Levy]

I had the same question this morning while doing some research.  I decided to ask Rentometer themselves regarding sources, age of data, whether it they are "for rent" prices or "rented" prices (not that they would differ much).  Here is the answer that i got:

"We collect predominately listing (asking) rents although we do have some actual rental data in the system.  Our Basic (free) service uses data up to 3-years old. Our Pro Lite version has a MaxAge filter of 12-months and our Pro version has a MaxAge filter of 3-months."

From my take, the "free service with data up to 3 years old" is not going to be so helpful in a rising or declining market.  The paid plans would seem more reliable at 3 months and 12 months old.  If the paid versions are accurate, then it might be worth the $15-$30 monthly for the ease that the data is shown with just typing in an address and bedroom count.  I am not yet convinced that they are accurate since I was told in separate email "Rentometer collects rental listing data and rent data from a variety of sources including: bulk syndicated data, our proprietary rental data survey, and user generated input and listings of rental data".  Without naming any sources or the distribution ratio between the 4 mentioned mediums, it is difficult to determine from the user's end.  On the other hand it might be the most accurate available.  If anyone learns more about the accuracy of the paid plans then I would be interested to hear about it.  I would also be interested in any other company that might do the same thing but clearly state their sources.