Renting a room in a house, Los Angeles

[Jake Dion Kindem]

I have a potential buyer interested in acquiring a listing I have. She is looking to buy the house and rent the second bedroom/office out and would like to know how much that would go for. This may be an obvious answer, but what is the best way to come up with a ballpark figure? Look at the history of room rentals in the surrounding area?

Any help would be appreciated!

[Tim Chen]

@Jake Dion Kindem Yes, if you have access to information for what rooms are renting for in the area, then you would use that information. Like most things in real estate, rent is decided comparably to everything else that has recently rented/is active on the market. It's usually a little tough to get information on individual room rentals so I would suggest you look at what similar style studios are renting for in your market area and use that as the benchmark for the maximum price that a bedroom would rent for. (Since studios would be the cheapest independent units in an area.) Then I would look at what similar styles 2 bedrooms are renting for and then divide it in half. So if two bedrooms are renting for $1400 a month, then the assumption would be that a rent for a singular bedroom will be approximately $700. This is using the assumption that two individuals may rent a 2 bedroom apt/house and split the cost and live separately in the two bedrooms. Be very careful with what information you give someone. If they are unable to obtain that price, they might blame you for the shortcomings. Sometimes it's best just to give the a range and tell them to do their own due diligence.