Thursday, July 9, 2009

Rentometer - You Sure your Rent is Reasonable?

Difficult economic situation and high level of unemployment are driving multiple families into the tight financial conditions. The regular expenses might become of too much burden for the weakening budgets. Therefore RentoMeter related searches were on the top list today. People want to be sure that they are not paying too much monthly rent, in comparison with the average monthly housing rent for the similar apartment in the neighborhood area.


Rentometer is a simple Google mashup that can help you see if you're spending too much or too little on your rent, if you are a tenant. It will also help landlords to verify if their rents are adequate to the current real estate situation. It's very easy to use; just plug in your ZIP code, the size of your dwelling, and how much you are paying, and Rentometer will cross-check your price with local property listings pulled in from parent company iiProperty. Results show up on two screens, one that's a little bit like a speedometer (illustrating your payment as compared to others in your local area), and another that is simply a Google Map with nearby property listings.

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This is a great service if you're apartment hunting, since you can see if the price is higher or lower than others in the area. It's also helpful if you want to see if you're getting a deal, or paying too much for your current living situation.

Of course, the system is inherently flawed, since landlords and property owners who get wind of this system can jack up their rates accordingly. Likewise, it doesn't take into account things like parking spots, security, and whether units are standalone, or part of complexes. Also, newer buildings, and units with more square footage can sometimes create huge price differentials, even on the same block.

RentoMeter Feature Overview
  • Currently supported locations: USA, Canada and UK (London only).
  • Looking for tenants? RentoMeter lets you post a listing.
  • API: integrate RentoMeter into your website.
Note, that enormous interest and service exposure can be destructive to the Website. While the post will be published, the site is inaccessible due to the huge incoming traffic (its giving an internal 500 server error…prolly overloaded with visits since it was featured on CNN today).

Come and visit it, when it recovers from the “web invasion”. You will have a best informative position, while searching for new apartment or bargaining with your landlord on the reasonable rent for your current one.

Video Presentation:


1 comment:

Dugdale said...

If you want something else to compare rentometer to I created a average rental tool if anyone is interested giving it a try.
http://www.rentvine.com/blog/index.php/find-the-average-rent-for-your-city/

Dave Dugdale