Realtors: can you help me figure out how much to charge in 44102?

[Roi C.]

Hi all,

I own a double property (up and down units) in 44102, between Detroit & Lorain Ave, one of the tenants is moving out and I would like to figure out what the market value is now, to see if I can raise rents.

The property is managed by a PM, but I believe they are under pricing it.

This unit that will vacate is a unit at the bottom of the house (down unit) and has:

• 2 bed
• 1 bath
• approx 1000sqft

Our unit does not have central air, off street parking, and not much curb appeal, but I'm not sure how much weight these issues have on the final rent price. Compared to other similar properties in the market now, our PM wants to charge about 70% of the price that other properties are going for, and I'm having a difficult time understanding if this is justifiable.

I would really appreciate it if any Realtors, or PM's in this forum can help me understand the real rent price that can be charged. I do not have access to MLS comps other than sites like Zillow, and it would be great if you have access to these comps and can share them with me.

I'll be happy to provide more info as needed and discuss this further. Also, If you are a PM that services this area, please contact me in private and let's hop on a quick call, maybe I can give you some business...

Thanks a lot!

[Matt Rutter]

There's a lot of factors at play that make this hard to answer. 

The 44102 is such a large area, some properties at one end that can certainly attract high rents and others that can't. This is also a factor street by street. 

Most houses don't have central air or parking in this area due to the historic nature of the houses, but I would say in your case curb appeal, and not just of your property, places a very significant role in attracting desired rents. If a tenant isn't going to feel safe living on that street they are probably not willing to pay the higher side of things to live there. 

For perspective, we own a 2 unit rental in this area (3BR 1 BA) that needed some work. We've recently painted the front porch, we are fixing and updating things in unit as they are brought to our attention, and have bi-weekly lawn maintenance to make the exterior look welcoming. The tenant we inherited before we bought it pays $625 while the other tenant we placed pays $900. 

I've never used it before, but Tenant Cloud has a Market Report you can download that tells you all about the area and your surround property and presumably has rent info from their preview. You can also use Zillow Rental Manager and do searches for comps for bed and bath in your neighborhood and look at pictures to determine where your rents should be.