How To Get Rent Estimate of SFH When Using Rent By Room Strategy?

Question

I think I've concluded that I want to start out house hacking by buying a sfh and renting out each of the rooms, I think it will do fairly well as I also live near a college and can rent out to students to get higher cash flow than a traditional 2-4 unit. Another reason I think this is a great move to getting started as all of the 2-4 unit properties are much more expensive in my area. Only issue is when I'm trying to practice running the numbers all the videos continuously make an arbitrary number up and say we'll just charge this and never really explain too much. When using tools like Zillow they estimate rent based on renting out the entire house to one person (or so I believe). Other sources just say go and compare and use some rent estimate tool. I think its hard to use these pieces of advice as using the rent by room strategy doesn't really take in account the fact that your renting a room along with an entire house so it doesn't really compare when looking at other rental listings. Maybe other people are talking about other rental listings with the rent by room strategy (I can't find any) and or I'm not looking hard enough and not looking in the right places? Maybe there is a certain metric to use when regarding square feet? I honestly don't quite know and am obviously a little lost on this topic.

Jamie Banks · Answer

I would use Furnished Finder to find comparable properties. Search the site by putting in your city, as if you were a traveler. Then, click the property type as “room”. From there you’ll be able to see how much similar furnished rooms are renting for in the area.

Melissa Hartvigsen · Answer

Hello Jared,

In addition to looking on Furnished Finder, I would look at rooms for rent on Craigslist in the housing section under Rooms Wanted, or Rooms Shared. On Craigslist, you should use the "Map View" so you can see what rooms close to you are charging (a room across town isn't a good baseline). Then you can see what renters are willing to pay, and way other people are charging for a room.

Another site to consider, since you are in a college town is roommate.com. They have postings for rooms, and people looking for rooms to rent.

In general, if you are furnishing the room, it will rent for more than if the room is unfurnished. The decision on furnishing depends on who you are trying to attract. If you are looking for college students, you can usually rent the bedrooms unfurnished and charge a portion of the utilities. Though, you should make sure the living room, kitchen and dining room are fully furnished. If you want to attract travel professionals like nurses or contract workers and digital nomads, they want everything to be furnished and utilities to be included in the price.

Best wishes for success,

Melissa

How To Get Rent Estimate of SFH When Using Rent By Room Strategy?

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