If you’ve been looking for accurate real estate data that you’ll utilize to invest in real estate in 2022, you might have come across a website known as Rentometer. If it has gotten your attention, you might be wondering, is Rentometer accurate?
So, what is Rentometer?
Rentometer is a real estate website that gives its users estimates of what rent prices in the neighborhood of the subject property are. The tool uses various calculations to figure out what the current market rental rate for a specific property should be. This information is based on recent listings in the area so that users can get accurate and up-to-date data.
Due to this, this tool is helpful for landlords. If you want to be a landlord and you’re struggling with setting a realistic rental rate, or you feel like you’re missing out on the rental income other landlords in your area are making, this tool might be a great starting point.
In today’s article, we look at an in-depth comparison between Rentometer and Mashvisor platforms, so that you can select the best real estate data analytics platform for your real estate needs and investment goals. We’ll also seek to answer the question; is Rentometer accurate?
Investment Property Search
Most newbie real estate investors don’t know where to start when it comes to searching for property and making money in real estate. We live in a technology age. Driving through desired neighborhoods and looking for “for sale” signs is no longer tenable.
Also, many beginner real estate investors may find it better to first invest in their local market. However, this strategy may make them miss out on major investment opportunities since potential properties located elsewhere may offer a lower buying price but a higher return on investment.
The best real estate platform should offer real estate investors an opportunity to efficiently conduct property searches nationwide.
Mashvisor Property Search
The Mashvisor makes investment property search available through the following tools:
Property Finder
Beginner and experienced real estate investors can use the Property Finder to search for traditional rentals, as well as Airbnb rental properties. You can search for investment properties in up to 5 real estate markets simultaneously.
The Property Finder makes it possible for you to narrow down your search using the following filters:
- Property price
- Property type
- Number of bathrooms
- Number of bedrooms
Once you’ve set up these filters, Mashvisor uses machine-learning algorithms to provide you with a list of available properties that match your search criteria. The best thing is that this tool lists them in decreasing order, based on the Airbnb cash on cash return they offer. In short, the most profitable properties offering the highest return on investment are listed at the top.
If you click on any of these properties, you’ll find a detailed analysis of the investment potential of the property.
Search Engine
As an aspiring landlord or Airbnb host, you can use the Mashvisor search engine to search for MLS listings, foreclosures, and off-market properties in any housing market in the US. This real estate investment tool gives you access to a wide range of filters so that you can find exactly what you’re looking for. The filters in the Mashvisor search engine include:
- City
- Neighborhood
- Property price/ budget
- Property type
- Minimum number of bedrooms
- Minimum number of bathrooms
- Financing type (cash or mortgage)
- Airbnb rental income
- Airbnb cap rate
- Airbnb cash on cash return
Just like the Property Finder, clicking on any of the properties will lead you to a detailed page where you can carry out an in-depth property analysis.
Rentometer Property Search
Rentometer for houses doesn’t have a property search feature. Rather, they only have a property listing feature that may be helpful if you’ve exhausted all other listing platforms on the internet.
While they may have a listing feature, there’s pretty much nothing to write home about. To start with, it may take you ages to find where rental listings are posted on the Rentometer website. Even after all your effort, you might still end up not finding a single one.
You can find their property listings on the Classified section, which also doesn’t have a single listing. All you’ll find are generic Craiglist-like ads for local businesses and services.
So, is the property search and listing feature on Rentometer worth it? In my opinion, it’s not particularly outstanding.
Rental Property Analysis
When it comes to rental property analysis, both Mashvisor and Rentometer offer this feature. However, there are a few key differences.
Mashvisor provides you with an in-depth investment property analysis. The platform is designed to give you the most accurate and effective rental property analysis to help you make data-based business decisions.
This platform was developed having in mind how tedious it can be trying to manually compile and analyze all the data on a spreadsheet. That’s why we have the property analysis calculator.
This tool helps you find accurate real estate data when carrying out property analysis and calculate all vital metrics. The metrics are provided for both traditional and short-term rental strategies to help you identify the best real estate investment strategy for the property you’re interested in.
This tool uses machine-learning algorithms, as well as predictive analytics to provide you with readily calculated property metrics. It also allows you to carry out investment property analysis in just a matter of minutes on your laptop or smartphone.
This feature on Rentometer is referred to as Rentometer Property Report and comes with the Pro version. Most of the data it provides is available for free online. However, there are some data that could be extremely helpful if you’re looking to evaluate and eventually purchase a property. It includes:
- Rental history (from the Rentometer database)
- Sale information (including last sale date and sale amount)
- Deed information (including mortgage amount)
While you can find this information pretty much everywhere online, Rentometer packages it neatly in the Property Reports.
In some instances, some of the crucial numbers may come back as “unknown” which can be frustrating. This may happen even for properties whose rental data is well-known and have a long history of being rented out.
Mortgage Calculator
One of the main differences between Mashvisor and Rentometer is the mortgage calculator. The latter doesn’t have one, while the Mashvisor investment property calculator has a mortgage calculator.
With the Mashvisor rental property calculator, you’re able to carry out a more comprehensive investment property analysis since it also factors in the financing method. As a real estate investor, you know that your investment property will yield different results depending on whether you paid for it by cash or took out a mortgage.
This means that Mashvisor rental property calculator lets you know exactly how much return on investment you can expect from your property, while Rentometer doesn’t.
Rental Comps
Rental comps are important when carrying out investment property analysis. Basically, rental comps refer to other comparable properties within the same neighborhood as your property. How other properties of the same type and within the same area perform indicates how your property will also perform. You could also use rental comps to determine how much to charge as your rental rates.
Mashvisor ‘s rental property calculator allows you to find real estate comps for rental properties in any US housing market quickly and efficiently. All the rental property data provided by our rental comps software is accurate since it comes from reliable platforms, such as Zillow, MLS, and Airbnb.
Our rental property calculator gets you rental comps for any rental property listed on the Mashvisor platform. If you want to get rental comps for any property not listed on the platform, simply enter the address and other basic property info. You can then find a list of traditional comps and Airbnb comps in the Rental Comps and Insights tab.
On the Rentometer platform, you can find rental comps in the Neighborhood and Zip Code Reports. You can use this feature if you don’t have a specific property in mind, but you have a neighborhood or zip code where you’d love to pursue investment property opportunities.
However, the Rentometer Neighborhood and Zip Code Reports outline the comparables based on neighborhoods and zip codes, instead of basing it on one specific property profile, as Mashvisor does.
Where Does Rentometer Get Its Data?
Is Rentometer accurate? Before we can look at Rentometer’s data accuracy, it’s important to first answer this question; Where does Rentometer get its data from?
When you dig through their website, it’s difficult to find any information seeking to answer this question. While this is disappointing, it’s understandable since they’re providing the data for free for most users.
However, they do try to explain a bit in the Rentometer Help Center. They claim to collect rental listing data and rent data from a variety of sources including bulk syndicated data, proprietary rental data survey, and user-generated input and listings of rental data.
Further, they say that new data is added every day including new records and updates of existing records as they become available. Rentometer also claims to have some landlords and property owners providing them with the actual data.
While we don’t have the exact answer about where specifically Rentometer gets these numbers from, it looks like most of it is being aggregated from public listing data, and a small segment of it coming from individual landlords who submit this information manually.
Using this as a source of data has a downside. Public listings only represent what a landlord is hoping to earn from their property, not the actual rent prices they’re getting.
Rentometer Data Accuracy
Rentometer is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to access information about rental rates in areas of interest. However, is Rentometer accurate? How reliable is this information? Can you have 100% confidence in the data you get from the platform?
The short answer is that you can’t trust this platform 100%.
The biggest issue is that it’s a very oversimplified version of reality. You can only enter a few pieces of data, such as property address, number of bedrooms, and rental income. This isn’t enough to work with.
While each of these items does have a significant effect on how much a property can be rented out for, there’s still a lot of information that needs to be accounted for if you want a more accurate reading, that you can rely on.
For example, here are other variables that will have an impact on the rent prices for an individual unit:
- Property type (single-family home, condo, townhouse, or apartment)
- Age of the property
- Number of bathrooms and bedrooms
- Condition of exterior
- Condition of interior
- Yard size
- Walk score
- Appliances available
Mashvisor Data Accuracy
Mashvisor gets its data from reliable and trusted sources. For example, Airbnb data is obtained from the Airbnb site itself as well as other short-term rental platforms. Also, only verified Airbnb listings with a minimum of 3 Airbnb reviews are used. This means that you get the data only from Airbnb hosts who’ve actually rented their properties for a while, and not property owners who might have tried a hand in the business and failed.
Another reason why Mashvisor demonstrates a high degree of accuracy and reliability is that the platform pulls property data (such as the number of bathrooms and bedrooms) directly from the MLS. As we’ve seen, Rentometer doesn’t put such data into consideration. This puts Mashvisor miles ahead of its competitor.
This approach makes Mashvisor accurate, reliable, and robust.
Pricing
Pricing is a primary factor to consider when looking for rental property data in the US market.
Rentometer offers some of the data for free. However, soon enough, real estate investors realize that the data they get isn’t sufficient or reliable enough to make smart business decisions. While the Pro version can offer more numbers for you to evaluate, it’s still not sufficient enough to offer some clarity on the particulars of a property. The Rentometer cost doesn’t give you value for your money.
On the other hand, Mashvisor is considerably affordable and offers you value for your money. After this in-depth Mashvisor vs. Rentometer review, we can see that the former takes the lead even when it comes to pricing.
The Bottom Line
While the decision on which platform to use ultimately lies in your hands, we recommend you use Mashvisor for your real estate needs.
Sign up today and receive a 7-day free trial, plus 15% off for life!