Whether you’re looking for your first apartment or renting for years, you want to make sure you’re finding the best deal you can afford. And a big part of this is knowing what the rents are going for in the area you’re looking to live in.

Before we tell you how to compare your rent with other neighboring properties, you should first know what you can afford to pay in rent. Let’s start here so that you have the right calculation.

How Much Can You Afford?

Before you even start looking for rentals (or also to check comps to see if you’re currently paying a fair amount),– first see what’s a reasonable amount of rent to pay in the first place. A good guideline is to spend no more than 30% of your income on rent. 

So take your net monthly income (and remember, the net is what your paycheck says after taxes are taken out). So, say your net monthly income is $3,000. Ideally, you only want 30% (or less) of this used for rent. To calculate this, take $3,000 and multiply by .30. This will tell you what 30% of 3,000 us. And this calculates to $900. So, you want your rent to be right around $900.    

Next up…Think About Where You Want to Rent:

Ideally, Where Would You Like To Live?

Think about your day to day life, commute to work, lifestyle, recreation, and even safety. Once you have a few places in mind, you need to check out current rents. 

So, write down a couple of your top neighborhood picks and even a few street names. If you have your list or are currently renting and have a specific address – you’re ready to research your rents. And that brings us to step 3.

Compare Rents on Rentometer.com 

Step three is to move forward and compare rents using Rentometer.com. This is the most reliable site for up to date rent data. 

And they have rent comps for all different properties, whether you’re looking to rent in an apartment building, two-family house, from the city to the suburbs – they have the data. 

A quick neighborhood search (or specific address search), if you have, it will tell you the average rent for the area. They even give you a breakdown of rents by specific property address with details like # of bedrooms bathroom and square footage. 

You can also see what the property look like by looking at their Google street view. So whether you are looking to see if you can afford a specific area OR you’re currently renting and want to see if your rents seem fair compared to other rentals in the area – Rentometer.com is the fastest, easiest way to check. 

There you go! A few tips to consider when checking to see if you’re rent seems fair compared to other rents in the area. 

Are you looking for more advice as a renter? Visit our blog at Rentometer.com to get helpful renter tips.

Thanks for joining us today. This has been a production of Rentometer.com

We do love all things rental data. You can learn more about us at www.rentometer.com.