All Forum Posts by: Colby Brown

More than a dozen regions around the United States use Mahan Group’s real estate market simulation models to pinpoint where development will occur in the next 30 years. We took our methodology and streamlined it to create a powerful, intuitive web app—which we've named LLAMA—that lets you:

• Estimate the market value of rental housing.

• > Calculate lease rates based upon actual demand--not comps.

• > See what happens to rates when you make a change, like adding bedrooms

• Explore and understand tenant demographics.

• > Identify your best markets to help you ll vacancies faster.

• > Assess potential for special housing types (e.g., affordable, senior, student).

All available from an easy-to-use, simple interface that makes rental market analysis a breeze--even fun!

Right now I'm giving away access to this highly advanced, one-of-a-kind tool that I built--completely FREE!

The catch?  I want you to tell me how I can make it better so I can make you richer, FASTER!

Sounds to good to be true?  What do you have to lose?  DON'T WAIT--try it out now at this link: http://bit.ly/2OXktXh

Then, direct message me on BiggerPockets or email me at [email protected] and give me your feedback.  Or, if you're interested in a guided tour of how the app works, visit this link to schedule a demo via webinar: http://calendly.com/manhangroup

Thanks in advance!

Having a hard time finding usable lease rate comps when analyzing deals?  Want to test "what-if" scenarios like converting a family room into an additional bedroom?  Curious about tenant demographics like household size and income level?  Then join our public Beta test program for FREE early access to the new LLAMA Real Estate Analytics platform--an alternative to Zillow, Rent-O-Meter, and/or scouring Craigslist listings that offers all these features and more!  Just reply to this message or visit llamaplatform.com to sign up and we'll send you an e-mail with details.

Hello all, Brandon's webinar a few weeks ago on deal analysis left me with some questions about rental rate assumptions to which I've been trying to get answers using this forum, but I'm bumping up against the limitations of the posting format when it comes to getting the information I need.  Would anyone be willing to hop on a phone call for a brief interview on this topic?  NOTE TO MODERATORS: the purpose of this request is NOT to sell anything, nor exchange deals, nor lend money, etc.--I am simply an inexperienced newbie (with one bad experience as an accidental landlord under my belt) looking for insight on deal analysis techniques from more experienced professionals.  Thanks in advance for your time and assistance, --Colby

Hi all, many housing markets appear to be entering a downturn--or at least some form of correction to the rental bubble that emerged in recent years.  How are you taking this into account when analyzing deals, particularly when it comes to the rental rate assumptions in your cash flow analysis?  Of course there is a similar problem when a market is on the rise--you would under-price your property if basing the rental rate strictly on comparables--but isn't the risk associated with this more acute in a downward-trending rental market?

Hi Andrew, thank you very much for the thoughtful response and helpful link; however, I noticed that the file addresses resale value, not rental rate. Just to clarify, I'm specifically curious about how experienced investors and landlords set rental rates after renovations and improvements are made... obviously this factors into cash flow assumptions, which would affect an income-based appraisal of resale value, so do people just make adjustments to rental rates that are proportionately similar to the relationships they can see in the sale price history data from MLS comps? Or are you saying folks are applying a similar analysis to that which J Scott lays out, but using some source of rental rate data, rather than publicly recorded property sales?

Greetings all, in Brandon’s analysis webinar last week, he hit a point where the deal he was looking at didn’t pencil out using the rental rate suggested by Rent-O-Meter, but then he suggested that renovating the unit might allow you to increase rents, at which point the deal suddenly looked much better.  Yet there was no source for the amount by which the rent was raised—it was just a hypothetical amount based on some assumptions (and maybe Brandon’s experience).  Is this a problem that you often face, and if so what tools or methods do you currently use to estimate rental rates after rehab/renovation?

Thanks, —Colby