How to Estimate Rent for Deal Analysis

[Daren H.]

I would like to know how experienced buy and hold investors are estimating potential rent during deal analysis. I start with recent comps of similar size, type properties in the same neighborhood. What confuses me is how different people recommend using the comps. Some take the average rent of the comps and use this number as the projected rent. Some use the average price per square foot of the rent comps and multiply this by the square footage of the property to be purchased. Some use Section 8 as a guide. These numbers can be very different. What is the best way to estimate rent for buy and hold deal analysis?