Rental analysis
What should your property rent for?
Every property we take on starts with a written analysis built from what comparable units actually leased for — not what they were listed at. It is the first piece of work we do for a new client.
What the analysis covers
A rent range, not a single number
With what each end of it likely means for time to lease. A rent set too high does not fail loudly — it just sits, and four weeks of vacancy usually costs more than the difference you were choosing between.
The comparable units it is built from
Actual recent leases in your submarket, with why each one is or is not a fair comparison to yours. You should be able to check our working.
What the property needs first
The make-ready items that will return their cost in rent, and — more usefully — the ones that will not.
Timing against the lease cycle
A very large share of Greater Boston tenancies start on September 1. When your unit should be marketed depends on that far more than on when it happens to become free.
The analysis is included for management clients, who start on a 12-month agreement. See how management is priced.
Talk to us about your property
Tell us where it is and what you want handled. We will come back with a written quote — free, and nothing to sign to get it. Your rental analysis follows once you become a client.
Questions about pricing a rental
It depends on the submarket, the floor, the light, whether there is parking and laundry, and how far the front door genuinely is from the station — not on a per-square-foot rule. The only honest way to answer it is from what comparable units have actually leased for recently, which is different from what they were listed at. That is what a rental analysis is.
No — it is part of what clients receive. It is the first piece of work we do once a management agreement is signed, because doing it properly means pulling comparable leased units and walking the property. What is free is the quote: a short conversation and every fee that would apply, in writing, with nothing to sign to get it.
Listed rent is what somebody hoped for. Leased rent is what a tenant actually agreed to pay. Pricing off listings systematically overstates the market, because the units that sat at an optimistic number are still visible while the ones that leased quickly have disappeared from the search results.
The address, and whether the property is currently tenanted and on what terms. Photographs or a walk-through help, because condition moves the number materially. If it is tenanted we will also want the lease end date — the timing against the September cycle changes what is achievable.
Only where it pays for itself. The more useful half of that conversation is usually the other one — which improvements owners commonly make that do not return their cost in rent. We will tell you both.