Mining Craigslist for Market Data

For years now I have had a date with Craigslist every Thursday night. I pull up the local housing ads and look for everything posted for our target neighborhood.

What I saw this week:

• 1 bedroom house, in a better area than our 1 BR duplex, for $240/month more than our units. Unit has been on Craigslist for a month now. It’s a house, has a fenced yard and a storage shed, so not quite comparable. Allows pets, ours doesn’t.
• 2 bedroom duplex, almost identical in location and layout to ours, with more upgrades, for $15/month more than ours. Unit was on CR for the first two weeks of February, dropped off, and now is back. One pet allowed; we charge $25/month more per pet.
• 3 Bedroom Duplex, on Craigslist for a month now, for $5/month more than our nicer 3 BR duplex in a better area.
• 2 bedroom house, new on Craigslist this week. Was last rented October 2013 for $50/month less. Rent is $345/mo higher than our crappier unfenced duplexes in a worse area, not really comparable. Small pets allowed; we charge $25/month more per pet.
• 3 Bedroom Duplex, on Craigslist for over a month now, for $100/month less than our comparable 3 BR duplex in a better area. Offered by a property manager tenants complain about with an 11 month lease rather than M2M. Allows pets, ours doesn’t.
• 3 Bedroom Duplex, on Craigslist since mid January, for $100/month less than our comparable 3 BR duplex in a better area. Allows pets, ours doesn’t.
• 3 Bedroom House, on CR for 9 days (and advertised as coming soon), for $100/month more than our comparable 3 BR house in a comparable area. This unit does have a garage rather than storage shed. Pets allowed; we charge $25/month more per pet.

As usual, the conclusion is a mixed bag. The fact that only nine properties (I excluded two from my tracking, one an apartment complex and one with no address listed) are listed for rent in our 40 block target area speaks to low housing inventory. Some of the higher prices speak to upward pressure on rents. But the long periods that the units are listed and the lower prices speak to the fact that our target neighborhood is not a desirable place to live and doesn’t have enough qualified applicants. No strong evidence to suggest that our rents are not at market, but time to recalculate regardless.