Created in 2012, Rentometer is on a mission to make rental market data accessible to all. Their platform tracks and analyzes residential and commercial rental rates, occupancy trends, investing metrics, and more across the United States and Canada.
Rentometer gathers rental listing data from a vast array of sources across the web. Their algorithm then filters, processes, and standardizes the information into their customized database. Users can easily search and compare rental rates by city, neighborhood, property type, size, and more.
Beyond just rent prices, Rentometer provides sales history, rental growth trends, cap rates, cash flow projections, and other analytics. The platform aims to help users make smart real estate decisions grounded in real-world market data.
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Key Features and Tools
Some of the features that make Rentometer valuable for real estate professionals include:
- Granular rental rate comparisons – Comprehensive data across cities, neighborhoods, property types filtered by beds, baths, size
- Custom reporting and analysis – Export tailored reports with only the most relevant data points for decisions
- Occupancy and vacancy tracking – See real-time occupancy rates to gauge demand and optimize pricing
- Rental growth analysis – Understand annual rent appreciation by market to project incomes
- Investment metrics – Cap rate and cash flow modeling helps investors analyze deals
- Competitive intelligence – Research what competitors are renting or listing comparable properties for
- Email alerts – Get notifications when rental rates hit desired thresholds in defined areas
- Transparent data sources – Filter based on listing provider (Zillow, Apartments.com etc) to see variances
- Mapping visualizations – Interactive maps present insights in intuitive graphical formats
- Downloadable data – Export spreadsheets to manipulate data for further analysis
These capabilities make Rentometer a versatile tool for various real estate applications.
Using Rentometer as a Property Manager
For property management companies overseeing portfolios of rental properties, optimizing rental rates is crucial for generating stable income for clients. Rentometer empowers property managers to:
- Benchmark their portfolio rents against current market rates in the surrounding area
- Make data-backed decisions when setting and adjusting rents on vacant units
- Determine optimal rent premiums for upgraded units or those with special features
- Identify emerging hot neighborhoods to target for new acquisitions
- Monitor occupancy rates relative to comparable properties to determine if rents are too high
- Create customized reports for owners showing how their rental rates rank in the market
- Set rent increase amounts on renewals based on market growth rates
- Evaluate capital investment decisions by projected impact on achievable rents
For multi-unit residential and commercial property managers, Rentometer is an invaluable tool for maximizing rental incomes while maintaining healthy occupancy.
Rentometer for Real Estate Investors
Investors evaluating rental real estate deals can also gain unique insights from Rentometer during underwriting. Investors can leverage Rentometer to:
- Estimate achievable monthly rents for underwriting projections
- Gauge rental rate growth year-over-year to predict income appreciation
- Assess how vacancy rates impact projected cash flow margins
- Model cap rate projections based on market rent comps and sales data
- Determine market-supported purchase prices based on rent roll and expenses
- Identify cash flowing investment opportunities in up and coming areas
- Vet listing agent projections against actual current rental data
- Compare potential multifamily, retail, office and industrial acquisitions across markets
- Monitor investment markets for changes in rental rates and occupancy over time
For buy-and-hold real estate investment analysis, Rentometer equips investors with critical rental market data to make fully informed acquisition decisions.
Landlords – Setting Optimal Rents
Individuals and small firms who own and lease out investment property can also harness Rentometer to maximize their rental income. Landlords can use Rentometer to:
- Search recent comparable rents in their area when acquiring a new property
- Price units appropriately to find tenants quickly in a given market
- Benchmark their portfolio rental rates to see if any units are underpriced
- Analyze rental appreciation by year to determine optimal renewal increases
- Create custom reports validating their asking rents against direct comparables
- Monitor occupancy rates in nearby buildings to avoid pricing above market
- Evaluate a property’s rent potential before purchasing as a rental investment
- Determine which upgrades or renovations could justify higher rents
For hands-on landlords, Rentometer provides the context needed to confidently set and adjust rents based on real-world data.
Empowering Renters in Lease Negotiations
Rentometer isn’t just for real estate professionals. It also provides renters unique insights to negotiate better deals. Renters can use Rentometer to:
- Look up a unit’s reasonable market rental rate before touring
- Arm themselves with comparable rents when negotiating lease rates
- Verify rents for specific features like parking, appliances, amenities
- Avoid overpaying relative to nearby identical or similar rental units
- Assess if leasing a particular property represents a good value
- Determine reasonable rent increase percentages for lease renewals
- Search optimal neighborhoods offering the best rents for housing needs
While renters are often at an information disadvantage, tools like Rentometer enable renters to make empowered leasing decisions anchored in real rental market data.
Rentometer Alternatives
While Rentometer provides robust rental market information, it is not the only data source available. Some other rental market data tools to consider include:
Zillow Rent Zestimates – Rent Zestimates provide estimated market rents for a given property. Limited to Zillow’s own limited listings data.
RentHop Rental Data –Tracks rental listings in many major metros. Data may not encompass full market as comprehensively as Rentometer.
CoStar Information – CoStar focuses specifically on commercial real estate data. High subscription costs limit access.
Localinvesting Data – Primarily focused on helping investors evaluate rental markets. Limited customizable analysis features compared to Rentometer.
Mashvisor Analytics – Airbnb data-driven platform for vacation rental investing. Does not cover residential/commercial rentals.
RealPage Analytics – RealPage drives analytics from its property management software user base. Mostly large multifamily focused.
While the competitive landscape continues to evolve, Rentometer remains an industry leader in holistic residential and commercial rental market data with robust tools for analysis. The platform aggregates the widest breadth of rental rate information from the most extensive sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some of the most common questions real estate professionals have about Rentometer:
How often is Rentometer data updated?
Rentometer refreshes its rental data continuously from sources across the web. Listing updates stream in daily to provide real-time market visibility.
What are some best practices for using Rentometer effectively?
Take advantage of custom reports, use filtering capabilities, compare similar properties in the same areas, leverage mapping visualizations, monitor trends over time, and export data for additional analysis.
Can I get rental comps on a specific property address?
Yes, you can search for a particular address or filter by street, neighborhood, zip code and other geographic criteria to pull tailored rental comps.
Is Rentometer data accurate?
Rentometer uses an algorithm to gather and confirm rental data from a wide array of sources to maximize accuracy and transparency into the methodology. Users can filter by source.
Does Rentometer offer API/CSV access?
Rentometer has an API for accessing rental market data in bulk for custom integration needs along with ability to export full datasets as spreadsheets.
Can I get a custom Rentometer report?
The platform allows creating fully customized reports with only the most relevant rental market data points for your particular needs. These can be easily exported.
What are Rentometer’s pricing/subscription options?
Rentometer offers monthly and annual subscription plans for individuals and businesses with pricing scaled based on number of users and report volume. Custom enterprise pricing is also available.
Final Takeaways
In today’s data-driven real estate landscape, leveraging powerful tools like Rentometer provides professionals, investors, landlords and renters an advantage in decision making. Granular localized insights into rental rates, growth trends, occupancy metrics, investment returns and more enable optimizing financial outcomes. While alternatives exist, Rentometer stands out for the unmatched breadth of its crowdsourced listing data, ease of use, customizable analytics, mapping capabilities, and applicability across multiple real estate use cases. Utilizing these impactful resources can mean the difference between average and exceptional performance.
disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional financial advice. Consult with a financial professional before using these tools or making any real estate decisions. Rental markets involve risks of fluctuations in incomes, expenses, and values. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
