As a mortgage professional I'm constantly asked to determine if a property will cash flow. This is always a hard question to answer without knowing what the rent is or could be. If it's rented what would the market bear? In the past it's always taken a Rent Survey at a cost of around $250 to find out.

Another issue with the rise in property value's is what will the market now bear for existing rental properties. As an investor renegotiates a rental agreement what should he/she charge? I also have renters who think they are paying too much, or getting a great deal.

Now there's a tool that can help! I'm not sure how accurate it is yet, but it looks pretty close. As with any online service it cannot take into account the specifics of a particular property but averages similar properties. If your property is better then average, it would be in the top tier. If below average, then it would be in the lower tier.

Here's the link. http://www.rentometer.com/  Simply type in the address, number of bedrooms and your current rent, or the amount that you think it could rent for, and a chart will show how your rent stacks up against others. It also has a map with nearby rentals. Pretty cool!!

For those of you who are renting and being faced with a rent increase, you should look at what it would cost to buy your own home. Here's a link to my website for a "Rent vs. Buy" Calculator. Keep in mind that it will not allow you to factor in "seller concessions". These are closing costs taht the seller agrees to pay on your behalf. If you have insufficient cash to close add the difference to your cash to close so that you can make the calculator work. Make sure that you discuss with your Realtor and Loan Officer that you have minimal cash to close and that the seller would need to contribute to the closing costs.

While low down loans are harder to get, they are still readily available for buyers with adequate credit and fully documented income. If yu don't think that you qualify, you might be pleasantly surprised.