I came across a website called http://www.rentometer.com/ that is designed to give you the “going” rental rate for a specific type of rental property anywhere in the U.S. 

When I first visited the site back in February I was seriously disappointed at its performance.  I typed in a couple addresses of places… and NOTHING CAME UP!  But, in hopes of seeing this site meet its potential I bookmarked it to come back to later.

So… I decided to pay ol’ rentometer another visit yesterday…

… and was pleasantly surprised.  It seems the guys (and gals) over at rentometer have been doing a bit of work and crammed a bunch more data into their system to make it more usable and accurate. 

Rentometer is pretty damn simple to use.  Right on their home page you input the basic info like:

• Address
• Bedrooms
• Number of units in the building
• Amount of current rent

Then click the “analyze my property” button. Then the analysis screen will come up. Just like with a bunch of Web 2.0 sites, Google Maps is used to show your property and others around it.  On the left side of the page is the “rentometer” that shows the price of your rental versus others in the area with similar criteria.

Here’s a quick screenshot of it.  It’s kind of a crappy shot… but you get the idea.

I plugged in one of my units to see how accurate it was.  Going in, I knew that my unit was undermarket… but that is what I am willing to trade to keep the renter in there (he’s been there for 10 years and is a dream tenant).

So… my unit is renting for $475 and rentometer says that it is a “good deal”. They show the average for a 2 bedroom in the area is about $525 and the high end up over $600.

Overall, I think this tool is pretty cool and a decent guage for rental rates.  Of course, just like with zillow.com there are some faults that go with the technology.  It doesn’t take into account the condition, upgrades, etc. of the property.  I would just use rentometer as a quick guide… but wouldn’t make hard decisions based on it. 

One cool thing about rentometer is that it actually had information on the property I input.  The property is in a town of less than 40,000 people and doesn’t even show up on zillow.com!  So, rentometer has done a good job of getting a wide spread of geography into their databases. 

The question does beg to be asked?? Where do they get their data? I have no clue.  But… that may be my next “investigative” project and I will report back to you in a later post.

Go check http://www.rentometer.com/ out! It’s kind of cool and may be a useful tool for you.

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