Content Writer, Stacker

GM of San Diego

Editor in Chief

Are San Diego rental property prices up or down? Forget the news and see what happens when you take a real-world approach to pricing a San Diego rental home.

Forget the News: This is How You Should Price San Diego Rental Homes

San Diego ranks as one of the best places to raise a family, making it a popular rental market for single-family homes. So if you own a home in “America’s Finest City”, how should you expect to price your San Diego rental property? 

If you’ve been following the news, you’re not going to get many helpful clues on how to evaluate your rent. In June 2022 alone, The San Diego Union Tribune reported that rents for single-family rentals increased by 10% this year — while Fox 5 says that rents have cooled and are even falling this month.  

The truth is that all these reports are flawed, because they’re based on a very broad data-set of asking rents for available properties. They also incorporate high-end luxury properties that may not be comparable at all to your single-family home in San Diego. Bottom line: these stats don’t really reflect what is being paid in the market here and now. 

Even the property management approach of looking at homes in your neighborhood may not be the best way to decide what to charge for your home. There’s wild fluctuations in the market, inflation and interest rate changes. Other homes could have rented out a year ago when the market was a different place. 

So what’s the alternative? Belong has found a way to price San Diego rental homes based on real-world demand, not just what’s in the news. 

How to price your San Diego rental property with real-time demand

The best way to stay in step with the market is to price your San Diego home right from the start. When helping owners price homes in San Diego’s rental market, Belong uses technology to blend live market data with an all-important metric: real demand for each home. We determine the right price for your home that will maximize rental income and keep vacancies low, long-term. 

Once your home is on Belong, we get a true measure of the market by looking at impressions, clicks, tour sign-ups and how many people have started applications. With all that data at our fingertips — plus real estate benchmarks for the San Diego region — we can work with homeowners to react quickly and maximize rental value, while minimizing vacancy. 

And because we have ditched the property management model to create a residential network that is inclusive of residents, we attract the best of the best to place in your home. 

As a result, we trump the property management industry with 66% less vacancy. And our residents want to stay, with 71% renewing their 1-year lease (and unlike property management companies, this is done at no cost to homeowners). 

If you’re looking for a guide that covers the ins and outs of how to price a rental, we’ve covered 12 of those common pricing factors here. Or you can see if your property is eligible for Belong. 

With a unique approach and live insights from the San Diego rental market, Belong addresses the complexities and shifts in the rental market to determine exactly what high-quality, long-term residents are looking for and what they are ready to pay, right now. 

The result is fewer vacancies, great people caring for your home, profitable rental income, and no tricks or compromises that could devalue your home as a rental investment. 

Find out how Belong would value your SD rental at https://belonghome.com/homeowners/san-diego 

Many Americans are resigned to a lifetime of renting. Learn how Belong is using innovation to change this paradigm, and transform renters into owners.

How Belong is Breaking the Perpetual Rental Cycle and Turning Residents into Homeowners

Right now, in America, yet another generation is finding itself resigned to a lifetime of renting their homes. This blog discusses how Belong is using innovation to change this paradigm, and transform renters into owners.

On one hand, when you look at Belong, you’ll find two distinct sets of people: landlords – or as we call them homeowners; and tenants (ugh) – or as we call them, residents.  

But as different as these groups seem on the surface, the interesting thing about the people on our platform is that, in actuality, there isn’t that much of a difference between them. They both love the house that, on an emotional level, they share, and they both care about the neighborhood and community that surrounds the house.

At Belong we see the dichotomy between homeowners and residents as artificial and outdated; in today’s world, people should be able to move fluidly from renting to owning. 

That’s why we’re working so hard to accelerate the ramp to ownership – to shorten the rental period and extend the ownership one.

That data shows that the American Dream of homeownership isn’t going anywhere. In fact, 89% of Millennials – and this was before the pandemic – want to own a home.

But it’s harder than ever to achieve that dream. Housing prices have increased over the last decade-plus, while supply has slowed to a trickle. What’s more, cash-rich, opportunistic investors have moved into the market, sucking up supply. That’s why economists predict that even with rising interest rates, housing prices will not fall significantly.

As our founders observed in a recent blog post announcing our Series C raise, “The last ten years saw a significant concentration in ownership of the housing supply. As a result, individual homeowners and renters now compete with prominent hedge funds to access homes to live in and build long-term wealth.”

So what’s the solution? To create new opportunities for renters to become owners – and for owners to enable that transfer.

Belong is proud to be helping to break the perpetual rental cycle by innovating the Karma Wallet. Here’s how it works. Every time a resident on our Belong platform pays their rent on time, a portion of that money is stashed away in the wallet, for residents to apply to a future home purchase. 

When the resident decides to buy the property, and has reached an agreement with the homeowner, Belong provides residents with a Home Purchase Specialist who will guide them through the process. 

Of course, it might be a while before residents reach the point of being ready to buy a home, which is why we allow them to apply their Karma to the rental process as well: once you’ve built up enough Karma they’re given priority access to rental properties on the platform. 

Think of it as a twist on the classic “Rent-to-Buy” concept: residents are effectively building up equity in homes they want to call their own, while homeowners have built-in, on-demand buyers they know and trust.

We believe this is what residents want, to have the flexibility to buy with a helpful Belong boost.  And we believe that our homeowners want to see the houses they hold so dear end up with someone who will have the same kind of relationship. 

But we also know that all homeowners are different. Some may want to work through Belong and sell their home, others may choose to sell the home directly, or with a broker of their choosing.

That’s cool with us. Unlike property managers who have strict lock-in contracts, we give our homeowners the ability to sell their homes in any way they choose.

It is ideas like these that will help shift homeownership back into the hands of people, instead of hedge funds — and that will help working Americans “break the perpetual renting cycle,” to borrow a phrase — plus some inspiration — from our founders.

We know that just about all of the homeowners on our platform aren’t professional investors.  Many have moved out of their home but aren’t ready to sell it. Others are what we call “accidental homeowners,” people who’ve unexpectedly inherited a property and aren’t exactly sure what they want to do with it

These homeowners can provide the on-ramp to a generation of renters who want to become owners themselves. Being able to participate in the evolution is something that makes us happy every day.

Want to learn more about what Belong is doing for homeowners? Click here. Or if you’re a potential resident and want to learn how we’re helping people like you, click here. 

How Belong is Breaking the Perpetual Rental Cycle

Forget the comps and stats, pricing your LA rental home isn't that simple. See what happens when you take a real-world approach to pricing Los Angeles rentals.

How to Price Your LA Rental Property To Attract Long-Term Residents

The City of Angels, La-La-Land, The Big Orange. Call it what you like, there’s one thing that always springs to mind when talking about LA and that is expensive. Los Angeles rents are often reported to be among the highest in the nation. But with rent control laws, coupled with wildly contradictory forecasts on the LA housing market, how should homeowners go about pricing their homes on the rental market? By ditching the property management model for a future-ready alternative. 

Rents have skyrocketed across LA neighborhoods, but that doesn’t mean it’s all Flowers and Sunshine for homeowners in Los Angeles. For the past two years, homeowners have had to freeze rent and deal with an eviction moratorium. Some also dropped rents in 2020 when vacancies spiked. 

According to RentCafe, the median rent in LA neighborhoods is anywhere between ~$1,500 per/month in Vermont Vista up to more than $4,500 per/month in Santa Monica neighborhoods like North of Montana. When looking at the stats available online, it’s worth remembering that these are asking-rents for available properties only and aren't reflective of what is actually being paid in the market. 

These medians often incorporate high-end luxury properties that aren't indicative of all rents, especially with LA’s rent control laws in effect. 

How to price your LA rental property with real-time demand

The best way to stay in step with the market and rising costs is to price your Los Angeles home correctly from the start. But looking at stats and comps alone isn’t enough when things get this complicated. Yet that’s exactly what real estate agents and property managers do, because it’s the way it’s always been done. 

“The way it’s always been done” is exactly why Belong has ditched the property management model to offer a completely unique service that takes a humanized approach to the rental market —  including pricing.

When helping owners price Los Angeles rental properties, Belong uses technology to blend live market data with an all-important metric: real demand for each home. We determine the right price for your home that will maximize rental income and keep vacancies low, long-term. And because we extend our services to renters as part of our community, we attract the best of the best to place in your rental property. 

Once your home is on Belong, we get a true measure of the market by looking at impressions, clicks, tour sign-ups and how many people have started applications. With all that data at our fingertips — plus local-market benchmarks — we can work with homeowners to react quickly and maximize rental value, while minimizing vacancy. 

How to price rent in compliance with Los Angeles rent control laws

Speaking of lease renewals, when pricing a home in LA for rent, be aware that it may be subject to the LA’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO). The RSO governs allowable rent increases and evictions. 

Single-family homes are almost never subject to rent control, but if you have a duplex, townhouse, subdivision or ADU, the RSO may apply. 

Rules vary across California, but generally you can only increase the rent once every 12-months by 3-8% in accordance with the annual rent increase percentage, based on CPI. If you need to raise the rent to cover costs for improvements, major renovations, or the inflation rate is not enough to cover your operating expenses, you can apply to the LAHD for approval of a higher rate. 

Before making any decisions on rent hikes, check with your local city for rent-controlled laws specific to your home’s location:

You can learn more about cost recovery and rent adjustments at the Los Angeles Housing Department website. 

Goldilocks rental pricing that is just right, for right now.

With a unique approach and live insights from the Los Angeles rental market, Belong addresses the complexities and shifts in the rental market to determine exactly what high-quality, long-term residents are looking for and what they are ready to pay, right now. 

From Adams-Normandie to Baldwin Hills, Venice to Woodland Hills and everything in between, find out how Belong would value your LA rental at https://belonghome.com/homeowners/los-angeles

Forget the comps and stats, pricing your LA rental home isn't that simple. See what happens when you take a real-world approach to pricing Los Angeles rentals

Pricing your Bay Area rental isn't about comps anymore. See what happens when you take a new approach to pricing your rental home in SF's sought-after Bay Area

Bay Area Prices are in Flux: How Much Rent Should You Charge?

They’re up, they’re down, they’re back up again. Bay Area rents are some of the highest across the country — and the most unpredictable. With prices bouncing around after the pandemic, you don’t need a crystal ball to price your home in the Bay Area rental market. You need Belong. 

Like all major cities, Bay Area rents suffered a big blow during the peak of the pandemic in 2020-2021. And while prices are on the rise again, the Bay Area is unique in that in May 2022 it was reported to be the only major metro area where prices have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.

Of course, that isn’t the entire picture. Nor is it doom-and-gloom news for owners of rental properties in San Francisco’s Bay Area. Given that the pre-pandemic rents were some of the highest in the country after years of astronomical growth, today’s market isn’t exactly soft. 

San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose remain among the top 10 most expensive cities in the country to rent, despite being down on pre-pandemic levels. 

With this state of flux, coupled with rising interest rates and troubling inflation, homeowners could be forgiven for thinking that you need a crystal ball to price your Bay Area rental. But Belong has a better solution, based on real-time demand.  

How to price your Bay Area rental property with real-time demand

Looking at hard numbers and comps alone isn’t enough when the market gets this complicated. Or looking to outdated models such as asking for 1-2% of the mortgage rate or property value. Yet that’s exactly what real estate agents and property managers do, because it’s the way it’s always been done. 

But we’re playing a different game now. Property values have changed from that once-neat sum. And as workers return to the city, the wish list of amenities has changed. People have become accustomed to more space. They want outdoor areas, fast wifi and home offices. Studios and 1-bedroom apartments are still trickier to shift, while roomier homes are being snapped up soon after listing. 

Belong addresses these complexities and shifts by taking a modern approach to pricing homes on the rental market. In fact, Belong has ditched the property management model to offer a completely unique service that takes a humanized approach to the rental market —  including pricing. 

When helping owners price rentals in SF’s Bay Area, Belong uses technology to blend live market data with an all-important metric: real demand for each home. We determine the right price for your home that will maximize rental income and keep vacancies low, long-term. And because we extend our services to renters as part of our community, we attract the best of the best to place in your rental property. 

Belong averages 66% less vacancy than property managers

SF is one of the biggest tech hubs in the country, isn't it about time you start using first-class technology to power your rental investment? With a unique approach and live insights from the local rental market, Belong knows exactly what high-quality, long-term residents are looking for and what they are ready to pay, right now. 

Find out how Belong would value your Bay Area rental at https://belonghome.com/homeowners/bay-area 

Belong

Ashleigh Graf

Andrea Vale

Brett Jaffe

Annalise Mantz

Adam Hanft

Ashleigh Graf

Andrea Vale

Brett Jaffe

Annalise Mantz

Adam Hanft