Have you ever wondered what features and amenities are being offered in your rental market? Or what makes your rental market different from other rental markets?
We were wondering the same thing so we did a little research. We took a few days worth of rental listing data in 22 US rental markets, then created word clouds with the listing data. Word clouds highlight words that appear most frequently in a sample, so you can think of the resulting word clouds as a visual insight into the characteristics of the corresponding rental market.
We’ve posted some samples for your viewing pleasure. You’ll probably recognize neighborhood names — see if you can find other telltale signs of your city’s local flavor!
A couple of the things we’ve noticed:
1. Cities like Seattle, Topeka, and Los Angeles have a lot of emphasis on words like “house” and “home”, but those aren’t nearly as prominent in Chicago and New York. Our theory: Chicago and NYC have less standalone houses for rent and highrises and multiunit rentals.
2. NYC in particular has a heavy emphasis on indicators of size: “huge”, “spacious”, “large” — we found that funny because NYC apartments are almost certainly the smallest, so property managers are probably trying to lure renters with the promise of a big rental.
3. NYC — “renovated” was a popular word — New York probably has the oldest buildings, and apparently recently renovated units are a huge selling point!
4. Miami — “Beach” — The only city on the list known for their beaches!
5. Los Angeles — “Parking” appeared more prominently here than for any other city — Not surprisingly, absent from Chicago and NYC offerings. We suspect it’s missing from Seattle as well because parking availability is just assumed.
Guest post by Rocket Lease. Rocket Lease gives landlords and property managers an online rental application and credit checks for screening prospective tenants. Landlords often save time and money by making the switch to online applications.
