When it comes to listing your rental, pricing it can be difficult. As discussed in this video, Chris and Eli do a comparison of the different sites that offer rental pricing services.
Eli used a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment unit to test these different platforms.
“My vacancy right now is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, in a building that was built in the 60s. So, compared to some of the surrounding older buildings, it’s got more generous proportions. Lots of closet space, rooms are just bigger,” Eli said. “So when it came down to filling it, I went through and ran the reports to help me decide how to list it.”
Also Read: How to Price Your Rental – Video Extra
Avail
Avail utilizes RentRange to help users find the correct pricing for their rentals.
“So it’s embedded in the Avail platform, which is a property management software platform. One of our partners. I use it for the whole gamut from advertising to screening, the rent collection, writing leases. So it’s just a piece of this. You know, I can go straight from my property detail and run a report,” Eli said.
Eli mentioned that this Avail report did not give him a very accurate pricing because it set a zero search radius. Therefore, it was showing broader comparables and telling him that his rent should be $1,972. Eli stated that this was too high for his unit, as he was previously getting $1,450 plus utility and parking fees. However, this was likely a glitch in this particular report.
To better showcase Avail’s services, Eli then got a report for a 1,700 square foot house. His search radius was one mile and Avail told him that it should be priced at $3,720. Avail also gives you visual information regarding other similar units in the neighborhood.
“You can see visually here in the neighborhood, you know, that the green is my listing. What else is out there? How big they are. Bedroom and bath count, square footage. You can see, where you are in that mix,” Eli said. “So, the first is a really small unit, but the rest of them are pretty close. Like these two, you know, B and C are in that same range. $3600 to $3900. You have a good idea of what the ballpark is and how to get your listing so that you’re in that ballpark so that people are contacting you so that you can show it and sell it.”
Chris mentioned that while Avail’s report is fairly simple, it doesn’t offer any information about amenities.
RentCast
RentCast offers a free report and gives you a price range. For Eli’s 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment, it was $1,540 to $2,000. All you need to do is input the square footage of the unit, as well as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
“I think it’s pretty accurate for the area in general,” Eli said.
It also gave you comps in the area, including the address, when it was listed, and a similarity rating. However, Eli only received five comps. For $12 a month, RentCast will give you other details.
Rentometer
With Rentometer, in addition to the size of the unit, you give them the rent price you’re seeking upfront. Eli’s report pulled 50 comps from nearby neighborhoods.
“And you can tell here what the percentiles are. So, the median is, the sample mean, $1,786, again is pretty similar to that. So it does suggest that they’re kind of getting some similar information, even though that RentCast estimate was much simpler than this,” Eli said. “You’re still in the same ballpark. Here’s a more detailed visual on where those comps are coming from and the breakdown of square footage, price per square footage, and kind of the nature and listing date.”
TurboTenant
The TurboTenant report is also free. You input the address and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Their report gave similar prices to the other reports.
“It doesn’t give you any more detail than this really. So you can’t go to the other listings and look at them. But, you do get some pretty good information still. Yeah, I think that’s all I had for that one. But, you can go directly from a listing on TurboTenant and then pull up this rent estimate report from there. So in the process of going to list your property, you can pull this up. Pretty simple,” Eli said.
Zillow
With Zillow’s Premium package, you can also get a rent pricing report. It also gives you more exposure in rental advertising, helping you to rent your unit faster.
“It gives you a pretty similar range. I guess the top end is a little higher here. But again, 1500 to 2000 basically is what we’ve been seeing,” Eli said. “Zillow, with this pro-level report, gives you quite a bit of information. It gives you the snapshot there, your median, 1800, is the highest. It gives you distribution on how many listings are out there and how you compare. So yeah the median of comparables is 1800.”
The Zillow report also tells you what amenities other listings are offering.
“This does bring amenities into the mix a little more. This is certainly true to my experiences. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you’re gonna lose a lot of potential renters,” Eli said. “So the units that I’ve had that I didn’t have dishwashers in, I’d put ’em in. This is validating there. Unfortunately, a balcony I can’t add. But, it tells you what people are looking for.”
Report Accuracy
In the end, Eli rented his 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment unit for $1,650.
When it comes to the comparison of the different rental pricing sites, “I think Rentometer is probably the best information. Zillow is pretty good. But as you know, Zillow has been all over the board with their pricing. So this used to be free and now you don’t get it unless you pay the $30,” Eli said.
Also Read: Rent Pricing: How Much To Charge For Rent?
Rental Pricing Sites: Landlord Gurus Takeaway
After doing a comparison of a few of the different rental pricing sites, while they are a good tool, Eli mentioned that using these reports is good for checking your thinking rather than giving you a price.
“I use this as very general information,” Eli said. “I’d say, using one of these is a good way to check your thinking. And maybe adjust your advertising approach. Maybe adjust your pricing and just know you’re in the ballpark, find where the ballpark is so you can be in it solidly.”
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