Rental Real Estate 101: The Ultimate Real Estate Match Up
Renting out your real estate properties is a great way to make money – in almost any market. But if you’re just starting out, there are some pitfalls you need to be aware of. One of the costliest is tenant turnover.
To keep your units rented (and your cash flowing), you have to keep your tenants happy – and that starts with charging realistic rental rates. So before you place your “For Rent” advertisement, there’s some easy market research you can (and should) do.
To make sure you aren’t asking too much, or too little, learn what similar units are renting for within about a half-mile. Check for units that are of comparable type (condo, house, basement suite, etc.), comparable size (1 bedroom, 2 bedrooms), and comparable quality. To get these figures quickly and easily, check out:
- Your local paper’s online classified section
- Craigslist (craigslist.org)
- Rentometer (rentometer.com) – an online rental comparison tool with great U.S. and Canada content
- Viewit.ca in Canada
Craigslist tends to have the most rental units advertised at any given time. Because it’s free, just about every landlord seems to post ads on Craigslist these days. The problem with using Craigslist as a comparison tool – for landlords and for renters looking for a new place to live – has always been its simple forum-like format. It’s a pain to sort through the long list to find available rentals in a specific area.
But now that’s no longer a problem. A clever developer created a program that plots the local rentals on Craigslist onto Google Maps. MapsKrieg www.mapskrieg.com/view/) is currently limited to the major cities in North America – but for those cities, you can search a specific area and see all the Craigslist rental ads. No more scrolling through lists, cross-referencing with other maps to find comparable units on your street or on neighboring streets.
[Ed. Note: Renting properties is a great way to make extra cash in any market. For more strategies to make money with rental property, sign up for Internet Money Club member and real estate investor Julie Broad's free monthly newsletter. Get your free report for making money with real estate here.]
Thanks Julie! You’ve listed clear ways to help us make sure we list rentals at the right price.
Wow, that is a great idea with the google mapping program. We will look at that for figuring out our rental units best value for renting out. Thanks so much! Very informative site!
Craigslist does cost money in New York, but not a lot. I know a lot of people who rent their places that are in the city through craigslist but just for “vacation” rentals. If someone is coming to the city for just a week or weekend. They charge a little less than a hotel and even though its not always rented, they make the same as having one steady renter.
Thanks everyone! Glad the article was useful @Lisa and @Chris.
@Stacey – thank you for letting me know that it costs to use Craigslist in New York. Is it just for rentals that you pay a fee or any postings?
I have no idea the MapsKrieg tool existed. That’s great. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the list of places to check out the rental markets. Very useful.
Unfortunately the smaller cities don’t always utilize the resources listed and we have to depend on the newspaper classifieds and the local internet real estate sites.
Another great article, thanks.
Always helpful. Thanks again Julie!
I wish I had this information when we rented out our basement. We may have avoided getting a tenant who left medical waste in the freezer of the apartment.
Thank you everyone for your great feedback! @ Kim – that sounds like a pretty crazy story! I’m not so sure this website tool would have helped you prevent that from happening! It’s sounds like quite the experience!
@ Anne, yes it is unfortunate that the smaller markets aren’t covered by many of these tools yet (especially in Canada!), but as these tools get used more they will likely expand their coverage to reach the areas where there is increasing demand.
Thanks again everyone! I really appreciate the feedback and comments.