All Forum Posts by: Mimi Zhu

 Yes, you can just put it on the market right after closing. Just state in the description  that it's under renovation and include a few renderings of the new kitchen/bath or pics of the new cabinets materials etc. It'll not be as good and the pics of a half done renovation but if you want to rent it for April it's still better to start advertising right away rather than in mid March when the reno is half done.  

its a high absorption market so you should be fine to get tenants in 30-60 days, especially when you're coming into the rental season which is June-Aug. 

It really depends on the exact location, the rent and the time of the year. I'm a local real estate agent and do a lot of rentals in Cambridge and Somerville. In these areas It's best to start advertising the property about 90 days before the move-in date if you can. For 4+brs you can increase it to 120-150 days out. A properly priced apartment would typically rent within 1-3 weeks but pretty often it rents within days. 1-2brs are less affected by cycles but the summer cycle is still the best. For 3+brs it's important to keep them on the summer-Sep 1 cycle. If it's a new purchase and you're doing a renovation you can start advertising when the renovation is half done. You can PM me if you want me to give you an estimate of how much you could get for your rental. 

The vacancy rate in Cambridge is currently .54% but you can find out what the vacancy rate for your specific area is by doing a Google search:

vacancy rate [name of city]

BostonPads has real time vacancy rates for all the areas in and around Boston. For instance, Somerville's current vacancy rate is .26%. 

They also have the average rent and average number of days on market. A lot will depend upon the exact location of your duplex and the rent amount.