How much should I charge for rent in Austin, and how do I know what's competitive?

My philosophy is "best quality, best price."

"Best quality" means that, compared to what's out there, ours is simply the best place. Whether it's the biggest, the nicest, the prettiest, whatever it is, we want it to be a no-brainer. If something is the same price, and they are looking at our property and another property in the area, they are going to choose ours. That's best quality.

"Best price" means the lowest price for that category of what we're looking to lease out. So, if we have a single-story, three-bed, two-bath home, 1,500 square feet, in a neighborhood that has a few more of those, we want ours to be the best price out of all the competition out there.

Competition means what's active on the market right now. So, if we have a few homes similar to ours, we want ours to be priced right below the lowest one. It's all about being a no-brainer. That's what makes properties lease quickly.

You also want to check what things have actually leased for (Lease price vs Asking price), because if everyone is asking some crazy rents and you list right below them, it may still be a crazy rent that no one's willing to pay. There are a few resources to see what things have leased. There are websites that will have some estimate that could be ok, or I've used a website called rentometer before that did an okay job, especially if in neighborhoods where everything is similar.

The best way, though, is to have a realtor look through comps and see what the homes actually leased for. That way, you have real data and can price accordingly.

If you have any other questions or want to work with us, email me: greg@gregorygrouptx.com.