I'm still looking at houses to buy for rental property, with the plan to have for myself to move into in the future (maybe 5 years, maybe more). Because I will be planning to move into it, neighborhood is very important to me.

I would just caution you that the neighborhood you see now may not be the same in 5 - 10 years. For instance, has the % of rentals in the neighborhood been going up? Is the neighborhood a starter home neighborhood where if current owners move up, they tend to keep their initial home as a rental? Is it a neighborhood where there are a lot of original owners, and they are starting to sell? Any of those trends could mean a signficantly changed neighborhood in a few years.

The listing agent showed me comparables to the house I was very interested in, but her comparables just didn't seem, well, comparable. The one I'm looking at is 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1216 sf, and others on her list had 2 bathrooms, even if they were of somewhat comparable size, and in the neighborhood. So naturally, sale prices were quite higher, at least $10,000 - $15,000 higher.

If she actually was showing you houses, it sounds more like she was trying to get you interested in buying a more expensive house, rather than trying to show you actual comparables. (And I will say, 3/2 homes generally deserve a higher price than 3/1 homes, as they are more 'livable' for almost everyone, except for a single person who is very reclusive....) Unless the comparable was a house that I had happened to already see with my realtor, I have never actually been taken to see comparables - my realtors have just given me the information about the sales/listings.

I ran my own comps, going from recent sales listed on realtor.com. (my office has access to the online clerk of court property records). So now, what's the best way to use this info? Should I do an average, or per square foot price analysis? I'm sticking to properties of the similar square footage and having only one bathroom. I've also made a list of houses that I've been tracking for sale, with their original list price and the reductions over the last few months.

For sold comps, I have looked at price per sq foot over time since the sale, to see if the trend is up, down or flat. I have also looked at the % of list price (both final and initial, if there were changes) that the house sold for, to see if there is a 'typical' range for the neighborhood. However, since list price is usually based more on seller's desires than on actuality, I take that figure with a big grain of salt.

What you will miss by using only comparables from the county clerks' office is the details of the contract, such as seller concessions. In the past, my realtors have been able to give me information on seller concessions, based on what is in the MLS. Especially in starter home neighborhoods, sellers often will pay closing costs for buyers, so the net for the buyer could be 3% - 5% lower than what the county clerk records show. If you are not planning on asking for these concessions, it would probably be worth it to get comparable information from MLS, too.

AJ