Rental Comp Guide
Nov 8, 2025
How to run rental comps that actually work
Most landlords check Zillow, pick a number, and hope for the best. Here is how to run rental comps properly, and how to skip the manual work entirely.
Why it matters
Pricing your rental wrong costs real money
$2,400+
Lost per year if you underprice by just $200/month. That is money you never get back.
30+ days
Average extra vacancy when you overprice. One month vacant at $1,500 wipes out a year of $125/month overpricing.
5 to 10
Comparable properties you need to analyze for an accurate rent estimate. Fewer than 5 and your data is unreliable.
The manual way
How to run rental comps step by step
This is the process professional appraisers and experienced property managers follow. It works, but it takes time and judgment.
Search for nearby rentals on Zillow or Apartments.com
Start by searching for active rental listings within a half mile to one mile of your property. Filter by bedroom count, property type, and recency. You want at least 5 to 10 listings to get a meaningful sample.
The hard part:This alone can take 30+ minutes per property, and you are working with whatever happens to be listed right now.
Record the details for each comp
For every listing, note the asking rent, square footage, bed/bath count, year built, and key amenities like parking, laundry, AC, and pet policy. Screenshots help, but you will need a spreadsheet to keep things organized.
The hard part:Most landlords skip this step and just eyeball prices. That is how you leave $100 to $200/month on the table.
Adjust each comp for differences
This is where most people get it wrong. A comp with in-unit laundry renting for $1,800 is not a true comp for your unit without laundry. You need to subtract the value of that amenity. Same goes for parking, AC, renovations, square footage differences, and pet policies.
The hard part:Knowing how much each amenity is worth in your specific market requires experience or data most landlords do not have.
Account for property condition
Two identical floor plans can command very different rents based on condition. A unit with granite counters, stainless appliances, and fresh paint will rent for more than one with laminate counters and dated fixtures. You need to factor this in.
The hard part:Condition is subjective and hard to quantify. Most comp analyses ignore it entirely.
Calculate your adjusted rent estimate
After adjusting every comp up or down for their differences from your property, average the adjusted prices. Weight more recent and closer comps more heavily. This is your market rent estimate.
The hard part:Even experienced property managers admit this process is more art than science when done manually.
Common mistakes
Where DIY rental comps go wrong
Comparing unadjusted prices
A 3BR with in-unit laundry, AC, and a garage is not comparable to a 3BR without those things. Raw asking prices mean nothing without adjustments.
Ignoring property condition
A renovated unit with quartz countertops commands $150 to $300/month more than the same floor plan with original 1990s finishes. Zillow does not tell you this.
Using too few comps
Three listings is not enough. One outlier skews your average. You need 5 to 10 comps to see a reliable pattern, and they need to be recent.
Confusing asking price with market rent
A listing sitting vacant for 45 days at $2,200 does not prove the market rent is $2,200. It proves it is less than that. Stale listings signal overpricing.
Adjustment guide
How much each amenity is worth
These are typical monthly rent adjustments by amenity. Actual values vary by market, but this gives you a starting framework.
In-unit washer/dryer
+$50 to $150/mo
Highest value amenity for most renters
Central AC
+$25 to $75/mo
Higher value in hot climates, less in the Pacific Northwest
Dedicated parking
+$50 to $200/mo
Varies wildly. $200+ in urban cores, near zero in suburban areas
Pet friendly
+$25 to $50/mo
Separate from pet deposits and pet rent
Renovated finishes
+$100 to $300/mo
Granite/quartz, stainless, modern fixtures vs. original
Furnished
+$200 to $500/mo
Only relevant for short to mid term rental markets
Figuring out these adjustments for every comp in your specific market is the hardest part of running comps manually. It is also where most landlords give up and just guess.
The real problems
Two flaws that break manual rental comps
Even if you follow every step above perfectly, the manual approach has two structural problems that no amount of effort can fix.
Zillow only shows asking prices
When you search Zillow or Apartments.com, you only see units that are currently listed. These are asking prices, not leased prices. A unit listed at $2,000 that sits for two months and eventually leases at $1,800 after a price cut tells a very different story than $2,000/month.
The listings you see on Zillow right now are the ones that have not yet rented. That means they are disproportionately overpriced. The units that were priced correctly already leased and disappeared from your search results.
RentJudge solves this. RentJudge includes closed historical listings in its comp set, showing the last listed price before a unit was taken off the market. That price reflects any cuts the landlord made to actually get the unit rented, not just the original asking price.
Adjustments are gut feeling
Look at the amenity table above. "In-unit laundry: +$50 to $150/mo" is a 3x range. Is it $50 in your zip code or $150? What about a unit that has laundry but no AC and is 100 sqft smaller? How do all those adjustments interact?
When you do this manually, every adjustment is a guess informed by instinct. You might be close, or you might be $200/month off. There is no way to know, and the errors compound across multiple adjustments on multiple comps.
RentJudge solves this. RentJudge uses machine learning models trained on real listing data to calculate what each amenity and condition difference is actually worth in your specific market. Not a range. A precise dollar figure for each comp.
The faster way
RentJudge does all of this automatically
Every step in the manual process above is something RentJudge handles for you in seconds. No spreadsheets, no guessing, no Zillow tabs.
Enter your address and property details
RentJudge pulls real comps near your property automatically, including closed historical listings with their last listed price before being taken off the market, not just inflated asking prices from units still sitting vacant. Filtered by bedroom count, property type, and proximity.
Upload photos for Visual AI analysis
Our AI scans your property photos and detects finishes, renovation quality, and condition. Granite countertops, stainless appliances, hardwood floors, modern fixtures. It sees what Zillow listings cannot tell you about competing units.
ML models adjust every comp for you
No gut feeling required. RentJudge uses machine learning models trained on real listing data to calculate the precise dollar adjustment for each comp based on differences in AC, laundry, parking, pet policy, square footage, year built, and condition. Each comp gets its own adjustment, not a blanket average or a rough estimate from a table.
Get a precise rent recommendation with a shareable report
You get a data backed rent estimate with full transparency into each comp, every adjustment, and the reasoning behind the final number. Share the report with clients, partners, or use it to set your listing price with confidence.
Compare
Manual comps vs. RentJudge
Finding comps
Listing data
Amenity adjustments
Condition scoring
Structural differences
Shareable report
Cost
Stop guessing. Start comping.
RentJudge runs rental comps the way a professional appraiser would, with AI that adjusts for amenities, condition, and structural differences. Free to use, no credit card required.
Run Your First Comp FreeRentJudge provides automated rent estimates for informational purposes only. Amenity adjustment values shown are general market ranges and will vary by location. Always verify with local market data before setting final rent prices.