Understanding How Rental Prices are Determined for Areas

[Mark Schneider]

Hello fellow Iowans, I am wondering if anyone can shed some light on the best way to decipher average rental prices for various areas around Des Moines: Waukee, Johnson, Ankeny, Urbandale, and Indianola. I have been looking at the rentometer website; however, it does not offer information on if the unit is fully furnished or not, or if the landlord or tenant are paying the utilities (I feel like these variables would dramatically alter how much is charged for rent).

I would greatly appreciate if anyone has advice on finding out how much I should/could charge for rent for a property in the cities above. Thanks!

[Rick Mapes]

Greetings Mark,

I wish there was a good answer for this, but I'm afraid (my experience anyways) pricing rent is some % science, and some % art.  I generally invest in the same part of Des Moines, so I can use past experience with houses as my guide.  If I put a house on the market, and get flooded with requests for viewings, I've probably priced too low.  If I get very few, I've priced too high. And that all depends on the neighborhood, sq footage, shape the house is in, fenced in, proximity to schools, and on and on. I'd suggest checking out Zillow and see what comps are renting at.  (Generally speaking, I get between $1,000-$1200 for nice 2BD/1BA fenced in yard houses in Des Moines)

One interesting story, I had a place that I listed for $1,025/month.  Didn't get the interest I'd hoped for, and from experience, I thought it was priced correctly.  However, someone looking for a $1,000/month house, is probably putting $1,000 as the high end of the Zillow search parameter, and therefore they never even SEE my house.  Brought it down to $980, and boom, tons of interest.  So there's also some psychology of the search that comes into play as well.  I know this isn't a cut and dry response, but I hope it helps some.