If you have little experience with renting properties, finding the right price can be a challenge. This guide will help you calculate the best rental price for your place.
Not everyone has the financial setup to be able to buy their own home, leaving renting as their only option. Whether it’s renting land, houses, or tools, profit can always be made. Many people choose to rent their houses or rooms to either save money, pay debts, or just have some extra cash flow. While the reasons may vary, renting is still one of the best ways to take advantage of something you already own. But if you have little experience with renting properties, finding the right price can be a challenge. Going too much above the market price will make finding a renter difficult while going below will cost you potential earnings. To help you find the perfect balance, we’ve created a guide that should help you calculate the best rental price for your place.
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Considerations Before Renting Your Home
If you’ve decided to rent out your place instead of selling it, you need to know what you’re signing up for. Whatever the reason is, whether the asking price is high or the property isn’t visible enough, being a potential landlord isn’t necessarily easy. There are a few risks that you need to make sure that you understand well. No matter how good your eyes are for tenants, they can still damage and decrease the overall value of the property. You’ll also want to provide a flexible schedule for your tenants in case any emergencies occur, like pipes bursting or the AC breaking down. Before you turn it into a great investment opportunity, you might have to do some investing in its infrastructure as well if you would like to increase your earnings.
If you agree to the risks, then you’re in for a pretty lucrative investment. You should know that you may need to spend a little on property taxes, maintenance, and insurance. But the good news is that there are multiple tax breaks for landlords. You can use this opportunity to pay for the mortgage of your home, wait for the property’s value to increase, or have a stable cash flow that can improve your quality of life.
Use Comparables
One of the first things you should be looking out for in the rental real estate business is competition. In order to get within the right rental range of your property, use similar rented properties as a reference that can guide you. If you live in a place where the closest neighborhood differs greatly in prices, you need to make sure you’re checking out properties that are in the same section of the city or town. More space means higher prices, so the rented properties should also have similar specifications. Lastly, you should consider the age of the house; if it’s too old, it’s bound to have less value than newer ones, unless it’s completely revamped.
Fortunately, it’s not hard to view the comparables and rental prices of homes around you. Keep an eye on online marketplaces to study how quickly apartments or houses get rented and figure out the common factors between them. If you’re ready to get up close and personal, you can knock on a few doors around your neighborhood and ask about the rental prices. But it can get a bit hard to determine the prices of rental units if you own multiple ones. Hot renter spots like Alexandria, Virginia, where even the tiniest differences can make huge slides in rent prices. When in doubt, you can read more about how property management services can help you land the best prices for your unit while affording yourself peace of mind. Some property management companies provide free consultations, including market analysis, for new clients, so you can take them up on that and see how it goes from there.
Never Ignore Amenities When Renting
Standardization of bedroom prices can hurt your potential profit more than you think. Unless the properties or units are similar, you adjust the prices of different bedrooms, houses, and apartments. The desirability of the unit has a say in the adjustment of the rental price. For example, an apartment with a garden view is generally more in demand than an apartment that overlooks cement lots. If your unit is well-renovated with new appliances and perhaps some hardwood flooring, you have a great advantage over the competition. Big bedrooms are also desirable by renters, especially if you’re only renting out a room or two. The rental prices of rooms on second floors should be higher because it’s more desirable, especially if there is a balcony or a walk-in closet.
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Expenses
You can’t properly determine if you’re making a good profit or not from renting your unit if you don’t include expenses in the calculations. Landlords rent their properties for different reasons, but the common denominator is setting a minimum rental price that can help them achieve the goals they have in mind. If you still have a mortgage, your rent should at least cover it completely. You also need to deduct maintenance and repair costs from the rent you get. Sometimes you may have to wait a month or two to find a renter for the labeled price of the unit. The rent money you make should help you cover these costs in the long run, not to mention allowing you to pocket a small percentage of the rent after covering it.
Some property owners may realize that they’re in a predicament when they start thinking about renting their unit. This often happens when they have expensive mortgages or construction loans that they can’t cover with the rent money. Their only solution would be waiting long enough for the property to officially be theirs over a long-term period. This is why it’s important to gauge how beneficial the unit is to you because over-investing in your property may make it hard to profit from renting it.
It’s hard to say no to passive income, especially one that almost requires no effort on your part. Almost 40% of households renting their homes and investors lining up to open up rental projects. You should definitely have a piece of this pie. The easiest route for new investors would be through using the services of professional property management companies, which will help you learn the ropes as your profit.
