You’re considering renting out your home, but you want to ensure you’re getting a fair price. This is a big decision, and you want to be sure you’re making the most of your investment.
You’ve probably heard of Rentometer, but did you know there are several different tools you can use to evaluate rental prices in your area? This blog post will explore some of the most popular options, what makes them unique, and how they work.
Shortcomings of Rentometer
Rentometer offers a free, 7-day trial plan with limited options and 3 paid plans with pricing ranging from $29 a month to $99 a year. The free version gives you a broad overview of rents in your area, while the paid version provides more accurate, constantly updated data about rents in a specific area.
When using the free version, your searches are limited, and you may only be able to access data from 12 months ago or earlier. With the paid version, you can change the date range of the data and always have access to the most up-to-date information. You can use data that is 3 months old or one month old in the paid version.
You can find much of the information available with the free version by instead researching local listings on sites like Craigslist, Zillow, or Apartments.com.
10 Rentometer alternatives
Here are 10 Rentometer alternatives every landlord should know.
1. Stessa Rent Estimate
Stessa, a Roofstock company, provides free asset management software for landlords with residential rental property. The company also offers optional premium services for real estate investors for a fee, including Stessa Rent Estimate reports.
Stessa’s 4-page Rent Estimate report recommends a specific asking rent for your unit, based on an analysis of current listings, recent rent comps, market trends, and neighborhood demographics.
To recommend an asking rent, the report uses detailed data, including:
- Median rental analysis across the local market
- Rental unit comparables by property address
- Rent trends over the past 5 years for one- to 4-bedroom units
- Changes in median rents for the ZIP code, city, county, and state over the past one, 3, and 12-month periods
- Full map view of all comps in relation to your rental property
Here’s a sample first page of the Rent Estimate report:
Stessa Rent Estimates cost $19.99 per report and are available for all single-family homes and multifamily units with one or more bedrooms. After signing up for a free Stessa account, go to the Rent Estimates page to learn if a report is available for a specific property or rental unit.
2. ATTOM Data Solutions
ATTOM Data Solutions offers a product for rental market data called the ATTOM Rental AVM (Automated Valuation Model).
To learn more and apply for a free trial, landlords can contact an ATTOM representative by phone, email, or online contact form.
3. My Rent Rates
My Rent Rates provides tools to help landlords understand the market rent for their property and track and manage their rentals.
Landlords can enter a property address, current or projected rent, and number of bedrooms and receive a free rental analysis with data provided from the Zillow Zestimate application programming interface (API).
4. Redfin Rental Estimate
Redfin offers a free rental estimate. To learn how much homes are renting for, enter the property address online to receive an estimated rent range.
Redfin notes that its Rental Estimate is not a formal appraisal or substitute for the in-person expertise of a property manager or professional appraiser.
5. RentFax Pro
RentFax is a tool for investors, lenders, agents, property managers, and others who want to assess and compare income risk, determine rents, and forecast gross and net income.
RentFax provides 5 different reports:
- RISC Summary
- RISC Detail
- Rent Report
- Rent Package
- ProForma Package
You can run your first report for free. Monthly subscription plans range from $19.99 to $199.99 per month, with discounts for subscribers who pay annually.
6. RentRange
RentRange provides 2 reports to help landlords analyze rent. Property reports give a complete rent rate analysis of any address. Market metric reports show you how various regions are performing.
Pricing begins at $14 a month, with no annual subscription required. Metrics are available for one-time purchase, or you can subscribe on a biannual, quarterly, or monthly basis.
7. RentCast
RentCast provides rent estimates, market analysis, and portfolio tracking.
The company offers 2 pricing plans and a free 14-day trial:
Free
- Nationwide rent prices
- 5 nearby rental comps
- 5 properties in a portfolio
- Rent alerts
- Market updates
Pro
- $19 a month or $12 a month with annual billing
- Nationwide rent prices
- 20 nearby rental comps
- 50+ properties in a portfolio
- Rent alerts
- Market updates
- Rental market insights
- Market performance trends
- Custom PDF report branding
- Notifications
8. RentSpree
RentSpree Rent Estimate Reports provide a comprehensive rent analysis and rent rate estimate. Each report includes:
- Rent estimate tools
- Comprehensive market data
- Local rent comparables
RentSpree Rent Estimates are $19.99 per report. The company also offers a free Starter plan and a paid Pro plan.
9. TurboTenant Rent Estimate
TurboTenant offers customized Rent Estimate Reports as part of its suite of services.
You can generate a free rent estimate on the TurboTenant website by entering the property address and number of bedrooms and receive an estimated average rent and range of rent prices in the area for similar properties.
10. Zillow Rent Zestimate
Zillow’s Rent Zestimate is a free service that uses millions of data points to give you a starting price point for rent.
The company looks at:
- Physical attributes and amenities of the property
- Comparable rental properties and market rental rates
- Owner-updated home facts, plus other public data
To receive a report, you’ll need to enter the property street address and unit number (if applicable), along with a valid email address, and agree to receive promotional and marketing materials from Zillow.
Closing thoughts
It’s important to research rent prices in your area and use a reliable rent estimation tool when setting rent prices for your property. The Stessa Rent Estimates report can help you do just that.
The report takes into account several factors, including the location of your property, the size of the unit, and short- and long-term market rent trends. This information is used to generate a realistic estimate of what you could expect to charge for rent.
