Rental Comps and setting Rent rates

[John Southard]

When looking at rental comps what's more important, the number of bedrooms or the square footage?

One example this week I looked at two properties within a mile of each other.
One property is a 4 bed 2 bath 1500 sqft.
The other is 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sqft.

If I look solely at sqft the rents on the 3/2 are higher than the 4/2. I realize that every scenerio like this can be answerd "it depends" and every market is different but ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL what do you find to be true?

These two properties are in the same subdivision less than a mile from each other so the market is pretty close for both houses. Same demographics, same side of town, same quality of construction.