Finding a rental property for investment purposes is one of the crucial steps that any beginner investor should learn about.
There are many methods that real estate investors use for finding a rental property for investment purposes. And while some might think the process is simple and straightforward, in reality, there are several aspects that you need to take into consideration.
For this reason, the best and most reliable method for finding a rental property is to use digital software that utilizes search customization and filters to help you find the property that suits you and your investment goals the most.
In this article, I will be talking about the most important filters that you will want to use during the process of finding a rental property for investment purposes, as well as suggest a tool that includes all the filters you need to narrow down your search and find the perfect investment property.
Finding a Rental Property with the Use of Filters
There are hundreds of thousands of rental properties for sale in the US housing market. In order to find the one that suits you best for your investment needs, it would be unrealistic to go through all of these properties and inspect them one by one. You will certainly need to use search filters in order to narrow down your search.
To start looking for and analyzing the best investment properties in your city and neighborhood of choice, click here.
Whether you want to filter out properties based on their location, price, type, or characteristics, these are the most important search filters for finding a rental property:
Location Filters
Location filters are without a doubt the most important to use when searching for rental property. Simply, a location filter allows you to narrow down your search based on the market/s that you’re interested in.
Instead of searching for rental properties nationwide before filtering out properties that are in undesired locations, you should always begin your search by identifying a location for your search before moving forward to using the other search filters.
Related: 10 Most Profitable Locations for Cash on Cash Return
Listing Price Filters
Similarly, when searching for a rental property that you want to purchase for investment purposes, it’s always a good idea to have a price-point in mind based on the budget that you have available for investing.
Whether you’re using cash or mortgage, having an idea of the budget that you can spend on a property can help you narrow down your search and filter out any properties that you can’t afford or properties that are listed at a price that is too low for their market (which typically means the properties aren’t in a good condition).
Using a listing price or a budget filter allows you to do just that. You can simply set your exact budget or a budget range, and the properties you will find will be properties that you can afford and that fall within your set price range.
Related: The Best Real Estate Markets to Invest in the US for Price to Rent Ratio
Property Type Filters
Another important aspect that most investors account for when finding a rental property is the type of property they want to invest in.
This is because the type of the property can play a major role in its performance depending on the market that you want to invest in. For example, if you have a certain rental strategy that you want to use (short-term vs long-term rentals), you might want to focus your search on property types that match your rental strategy and that will perform well for that niche.
Using a property type filter, you can set the exact property type or a number of property types that you’re interested in. For example, you could set the filter to only show you multi-family homes, or you could set it to only show you single-family homes as well as condos.
Property Characteristics Filters
When it comes to property characteristics, there are several filters that you can use, and not all of them might be relevant for your type of search.
However, it normally doesn’t hurt to have the option to filter out properties based on certain characteristics.
So, what are the property characteristics filters that you can find? Here’s a list:
- Age of the property (year built)
- Size of the property (square footage)
- Number of bedrooms/bathrooms
- Parking lots
- Heating/cooling systems
- Swimming pools
These are some of the most commonly used filters when searching for rental properties for sale. While you might not be using all of them during your search, some of these filters are absolutely crucial and will directly affect the performance of the property, so you should take them into consideration.
The most important of these filters is the number of bedrooms/bathrooms as well as the age of the property, as the number of bedrooms will determine the amount of rental income the property can generate, while its age will determine the costs of renovating and maintaining the property as well as its price.
Other Filters
Some of the other filters that can be used when finding a rental property for investment purposes include:
- Property Status
- Rental Strategy
- Projected ROI
The property status filter can tell you whether the property is currently up for sale, recently sold, or pending. This can help you look for properties that were recently sold to see the price at which they were sold, or to limit your search for properties that are currently for sale.
The rental strategy filter can help you filter out properties that can’t be used for the rental strategy that you want to use. For example, you can filter out properties that can’t be rented out on Airbnb if that’s the rental strategy that you want to use.
Related: Real Estate Investing: Traditional vs. Airbnb Investments
The projected ROI filter is unique to Mashvisor, and it will allow you to filter out rental properties based on their projected return on investment, which is perfect for investment purposes as you will always want to invest in a property that will generate the amount of money you’re hoping for.
Finding a Rental Property Using Mashvisor
As you can see, search filters can make it much easier for you to find the perfect rental property to invest in. If you’re looking for a digital platform that has all of these filters and more, then Mashvisor is the tool for you.
To start your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor and subscribe to our services with a 20% discount after, click here.
Using Mashvisor, you will gain access to a wide selection of search tools and filters that you can use to customize your search and find the perfect investment property, in addition to several other features that can turn 3 months of research into 15 minutes and help you make wise investment decisions and become a professional-grade real estate investor.