How to Determine Rental Rates

Timothy Zielinski on April 7, 2025

How to Determine Rental Rates

Learn how to calculate rental rates for your investment property with this step-by-step guide. Explore market research tips, cost breakdowns, and pricing strategies.

One of the best financial decisions someone can make is to invest in property that they can then rent out to tenants. The acquisition and rehab process can be long, taking months to find the perfect property in the right location and for a reasonable price. After purchasing your property comes the question of, how much should you charge? And here’s how to calculate the rent of your newly acquired property.

Every real estate market in the United States is different and it is important to research the local market. From income levels, average house size, location, and amenities. Online real estate platforms can be an excellent source of information regarding local markets, as well as local real estate agents.

Assessing the features, size, and amenities of your property is another vital step in evaluating how much the rent should be for the newly acquired property. You should consider features such as the size of the home, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and location. More unique features can also increase the rent, such as a swimming pool. An important element of pricing the rent of a property is its costs to you. You will need to factor in property taxes, maintenance, insurance, mortgage, and property management software costs if you are using a company like Rezedent.

Speaking with local real estate agents and brokers can give you great insight into the local real estate market and what to expect when it comes to rental rates and tenants. You may also consider conducting surveys or speaking with potential tenants to understand what they are willing to pay for similar properties.

Factoring in utilities is another aspect that will need to be taken into account. Some landlords do not pay any utilities in a rental property and leave it to the tenant and how much they use utility services. Others cover the costs of only some of the utilities. It is important to do all of your due diligence before investing in a real estate property and setting the rent before entering the market. By following the right procedures, you will be able to remain competitive in the market, while also having the correct rental rate.

About Rezedent:

The Ultimate Online Platform For DIY Rental Property Management for Small To Mid-Size Landlords. Simplify All Time-Consuming Tasks And Enhance Resident Satisfaction With Modern Tools For Payments, Tenant Screening, Maintenance, Best Of All, Rezedent Offers Affordable Pricing.

The platform is free to use if you have one property and if you have between 2 and 10 units, the price becomes just $10 per month. After the 10 units, the pricing is just $1 more per unit. The services offered by Rezedent are plentiful, online rent payments, tenant screening, expense tracker, reports, and more, all of which are included.

Landlord Life Made Easy: 5 Essential Tips for Managing Your Rental Properties

Timothy Zielinski on March 21, 2025

Landlord Life Made Easy: 5 Essential Tips for Managing Your Rental Properties

Managing rental properties doesn’t have to be a juggling act. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, these tips will help you stay on top of your game—and make property management a breeze.

Streamline Rent Collection
Forget chasing checks! Switching to online rent payments saves time, reduces late payments, and keeps everything organized. With REZEDENT, tenants can pay securely online, and you get real-time updates—no more guessing games!
Screen Tenants Thoroughly
A great tenant makes all the difference. Use background checks, credit history, and references to ensure you’re selecting reliable renters. Think of it as setting your rental up for success from the start.
Stay on Top of Maintenance Requests
Addressing maintenance issues quickly keeps tenants happy and prevents small problems from becoming expensive repairs. REZEDENT’s maintenance tracking system helps you prioritize and resolve issues with ease.
Keep Communication Clear and Professional
Set clear expectations with your tenants and provide them with an easy way to reach you. With REZEDENT, tenant communication is centralized, so nothing slips through the cracks.
Know Your Local Laws
From lease agreements to eviction procedures, staying informed about landlord-tenant laws is a must. It protects you and ensures a fair rental process for everyone involved.

Managing properties doesn’t have to be stressful. With tools like us to handle payments, communication, and maintenance requests, you’ll have more time to focus on growing your business—and enjoying your free time!

Why Rezedent is Better Than Appfolio

Timothy Zielinski on January 31, 2025

Why Rezedent is Better Than Appfolio

Keeping track and monitoring your residential real estate portfolio is vital for every investor and one of the largest companies that helps landlords manage their rentals is Appfolio. The real estate software allows landlords to screen their tenants, collect rent, and other vital services landlords require to manage their properties.

Although Appfolio is used by countless landlords in the United States, it does come at an incredibly steep cost. The cheapest package Appfolio has a limit of just 50 units and landlords are required to spend a minimum of $280 per month on the platform, even if they have just 5 units to manage. The basic package that Appfolio offers is quite bare when compared to other companies and smaller landlords are forced to pay much higher management costs on a per-unit basis than other companies.

The problem with such a pricing model is the vast majority of DIY landlords in the United States do not manage 50 units or more. In fact, the average landlord is only managing 5 units and they typically self-manage. This would equate to almost a managing cost of $100 per unit when using the basic Appfolio package. However, there is a rising alternative to Appfolio and Rezedent is the answer.

Unlike Appfolio, Rezedent puts the landlord first, especially when it comes to its introduction package. Landlords can try Rezedent for free for up to a month. After the free trial is over, they have the option to onboard all of their properties and units at a starting cost of just $10 per month with the minimum unit count being 1 unit and the maximum number of units are unlimited at a cost of $1/unit over 10 units ($15 for 15 units and so on). Rezedent’s basic package essentially allows landlords to manage all of their units at a small fraction of what Appfolio charges their clients.

Although Rezedent is significantly cheaper than Appfolio, there are no compromises. Rezedent allows landlords to collect rent, manage units, and maintenance requests, screen tenants, and manage all of their communication on one platform. The company has even partnered with several companies to help landlords find perfect tenants to fill their units by working with companies like Realtor.com, HomeAdvisor, Zillow, Hotpads, and Renters Insurance and many more on our strategic partners page.

About Rezedent:

Why Rezedent is Better Than Buildium

Timothy Zielinski on November 30, 2024

Why Rezedent is Better Than Buildium

There are many platforms landlords can use to help streamline their real estate portfolio, especially when it comes to collecting rent, maintenance requests, and tenant screening such as Buildium and Rezedent. Buildium is one of the most popular platforms that landlords use is Buildium. Despite being used by countless landlords in the United States, it is not the best.

The Buildium platform allows landlords to organize all of their tenants into one portal, allowing tenants to pay their rent, request maintenance, and have resident/board member communication. The biggest drawback to using Buildium is simple. The cost.

The cheapest plan that Buildium offers landlords starts at $55 per month which has the basics and what landlords would expect. The $55 per month figure can quickly increase as landlords subscribe to new services that are essential to managing their real estate properties and tenants.

Rezedent on the other hand, is more landlord-friendly for many reasons and the first reason is the price. The platform is free to use if you have one property and if you have between 2 and 10 units, the price becomes just $10 per month. After the 10 units, the pricing becomes just $1 per unit extra. The services offered by Rezedent are plentiful, with accounting services, tenant screening, digital online payments, reports, and more, all for free.

In essence, Buildium offers the following in their basic package for free:

Accounting, maintenance, tasks, violations, and board member communications
Tenant screening

The following is offered by Rezedent for free on their most basic package:

Digital payments
Automated Maintenance Requests
AR/AP expense tracker
Tenant screening.
Tenant communication
Reports

Taking into account the price for the same amount of units and services, Rezedent would cost less than half of its competitors. This is vital as the majority of landlords in the United States own 3 properties. Smaller landlords are no longer forced to pay for features and units that they will not use. With Rezedent, small to medium landlords can now pay significantly less than they normally would.

About Rezedent: