Rental Comp Data for August 2015

I last did rental comps in May 2015.

It seems rents haven't changed much at all for our properties in the past 3 months.
Unless rentometer is broken or something.

	A	B	C	D	E
	3bed	3bed	1bed	1bed	3bed
	house	house	apt	apt	house
10%	$766	$731	$374	$403	$1,014
20%	$865	$812	$411	$444	$1,099
median	$1,000	$975	$490	$540	$1,225
80%	$1,245	$1,117	$555	$600	$1,424
90%	$1,345	$1,197	$592	$641	$1,509
# prop	34	35	34	35	35
dist	0.5	1.1	0.9	1.8	0.4

And the changes over time:

	A	B	C	D	E
Nov-11	$895	$875	$495	$495	$1,095
Jan-13	$900	$995	$510	$460
Aug-13	$905	$925	$500	$480	$1,095
Feb-14	$985	$900	$485	$478	$1,097
Aug-14	$950	$1,025	$485	$565	$1,195
May-15	$995	$975	$490	$540	$1,225
Aug-15	$1,000	$975	$490	$540	$1,225
YOY	5.3%	-4.9%	1.0%	-4.4%	2.5%

This time I just figured the year over year (YOY) difference between August 2014 and August 2015.

I'm starting to trust the usefulness of the Rentometer data less and less.    I did a quick search in Craigslist for 3 bedroom houses in the area for property E and I couldn't find anything at all comparable under $1400.   Hard to believe the median is just $1225 like Rentometer says.   I assume this is because Rentometer doesn't differentiate between houses and apartments.  But even if I broaden the search to all 3 bedrooms including apartments, condos, etc then I still dont' see properties under $1200 level.     The rent Zestimate from Zillow is over $1500 for the E house which seems a lot more in line with what I'm seeing in the active market on Craigslist.


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Is a $49 Monthly Lease for a Fiat 500e a Good Deal?

I heard a radio ad from a local car dealership leasing Fiat 500e electric cars for $49 a month for 24 months.   Sounded like an awesome deal but of course theres a minor catch revealed in the fast talking legally required disclosures at the end of the ad which is that it has $3400 due at signing.    Still that seems like a decent total cost.    You'd be paying $49 x 24 + $3400 for $4,576 total in two years.   Thats $2,288 a year.   Most new cars are going to depreciate that amount in a given year plus the 500e is electric so you'd save on fuel costs.

The 500e gets 87 miles out of a full charge.    The battery is 24 kWh.   At 11¢ per kWh that equates to $2.64 for a full charge and about 3¢ per mile.
A reasonably good MPG gas engine car might get 40 MPG.   With gas costing $3 per gallon that comes out to 7.5¢ per mile.
If I were to put 1000 miles a month on the car then I'd be paying $30 in electricity for the 500e versus $75 in gasoline for a gas car.

In total I might save up to $45 a month in fuel costs driving the electric 500e versus a gas car.  However thats the maximum savings assuming you hit the 1000 mile limit on the lease so your actual savings would be less or you risk paying extra on the lease for going over their 12,000 mile per year limit.

The net cost including fuel savings would end up at $2,288 for the lease minus $540 a year or $1,748.   I think thats a pretty good cost for driving a new car.  If I was in the market for a new car and a small car like the Fiat 500e would work for me I might consider such a lease.    However I might be better off buying a slightly used 2012 or 2011 Nissan Leaf for $10,000 to $12,000 range.

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$5 off at Outback via Discover

There is a deal right now in Discover Deals for your Discover card to get $5 off of lunch or dinner at Outback Steakhouse.    $5 off is nothing amazing but there is no minimum spend so you can use it for a cheapish lunch out.    You have to print out a coupon for the deal and of course use your Discover card to pay.   You can find the deal in the Discover Deals section on the Discover site.    Their lunch options seem to start around $9-10.

fine print :

VALID THROUGH 8/31/15 FOR LUNCH OR DINNER (Dine-In or Curbside Take-Away®) at participating Outback Steakhouse® locations in the US. Discover® card must be used for payment. Get $5 off entire guest check (excluding alcohol, applicable taxes and gratuity) with show of coupon. One coupon per check, per table. Not valid for AARP® Membership Discount, Bloomin' Monday™, No Worries Wednesday or in conjunction with any other offer, discount or coupon. Coupon is not valid after valid date. No cash value. Void where prohibited by law. Prices, product participation and restaurant hours may vary by location.

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Don't Expect To Post Much For July and August

I'm pretty busy this summer with work, vacation and various personal activities.    Because of that I don't expect I'll be able to post much to this blog probably until around September.   I might post an occasional article when I've got the chance but I expect articles to be less than weekly if that.

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