April 13, 2007
My Rent Is Too High, My Rent Is Too Low, My Rent Is Just Right
We can’t vouch for its accuracy, but as a “plugged-in” reader notes, rentometer.com might help shed some light on the question of what currently constitutes market rate rents. Potential landlords and junior analysts rejoice.
And as far as annual increases go (again, for what constitutes market rate), we’ve heard expectations of around 10% over the next couple of years in San Francisco. But that’s just one industry forecast.
UPDATE (4/14): If a couple of “plugged-in” reader’s suspicions are correct, the majority of data points used by rentometer are self-reported by previous users (rather than a mash-up of current listings). And if that's the case, then while rentometer might provide a fair measure of what people are currently paying in a particular area of San Francisco it’s not such a great measure of what actually constitutes a market rate rent (on account of rent control).
∙ To Rent Or To Buy, That Is The Question (That Only You Can Answer) [SocketSite]
First Published: April 13, 2007 8:47 AM
Comments from "Plugged In" Readers
I moved out of my apt in Pac Heights last month after having lived there almost a full year. When I moved out my LL raised rent from $1600 to $1850 which is a 15% increase.
Posted by: I S at April 13, 2007 9:48 AM
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it rented at the new rate in less than a week
Posted by: I S at April 13, 2007 9:49 AM
Very cool. Checked it here near Laguna -- and it was fairly accurate on what I know regarding rents paid for similar homes in our neighborhood.
Hope they keep this rento meter going.
Posted by: bob at April 13, 2007 10:16 AM
The rentometer works by first asking you what your rent is, then giving you nearby rents from what other people entered previously.
Posted by: fred at April 13, 2007 10:34 AM
Big variance between zip codes ... try 94103 vs. 94105, for example.
Posted by: Jamie at April 13, 2007 1:17 PM
Here's how I think this site works. Instead of telling you what the current rent level in your city/zip, it asks you for YOUR RENT first. Very smart approach as it'll then take your data into their database. People actually help them expand their data pool unknowingly!
If so then data manipulation will become a problem...
Posted by: Jon at April 13, 2007 5:07 PM
I wish it also asked for a square footage and gave you a rent per sq foot for true apples to apples. A large studio might be the same size as a small bedroom.
me:
location: bush/ hyde street
rent: 970
sq ft:400
rent/ sq ft=2.425$
I think anything less than 2.75$ is a good deal.
Posted by: michael at April 13, 2007 5:26 PM
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