Rental Value Websites

[Brian Olson]

Hello, 

I'm just getting started in real estate investing and live in the Washington DC area. I'm interested in taking advantages of the more realistic home prices in the midwest, however I'm having a difficult time gauging what criteria to use to evaluate deals. I'm a technology guy, so I've looked for some niche website that does the heavy lifting for me and found things like ZilPy, rentometer, rentfax, etc. I'm really looking for something to do the first take on a property so I don't spend time digging into deals that are no good from the beginning due do the neighborhood profile or other factors. 

My question: Does anyone put any faith in tools like this? Or is one any more accurate than the other? Or do you just recommend doing everything manually? Thanks!

Brian

[Jeff G.]

@Brian Olson

 I second @Jeff Rabinowitz that the numbers can sometimes be misleading no matter how you gather them. I personally use Rentometer Pro and go with the lower of the average or median area rent as my rule of thumb. The other thing I do is check out Section 8's website to see what they're willing to pay, by bedroom count, with their vouchers in the same area. 

This number will differ from Rentometer's numbers but it's good to have. It may be substantially higher or lower than what you expect given the realities in the market.