When you rent a place do you negotiate on the rent? (rentals, good credit)

[long101]

Title says it all... I have never done it in the past just because Im always the guy that is looking for a place right before my lease expires but now I have time to look around... For example there is a place that my girlfriend and I like which is 1500 a month and we would like to spend 1300. Im going to throw in the offer a possible 18 month lease so it sounds like a decent deal for both parties. Any suggestions or stories from anyone?

[Huckleberry3911948]

you can try. but dont do it when the rent comes due.

[long101]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

you can try. but dont do it when the rent comes due.

haha obviously this would before we sign the lease

[lincolnparker]

hell yeah, everythings negotiable these days, including the price on a senate seat. Far as longer lease goes, some landlords actually prefer one year lease vs a 18 months cuz they may have other plans for their properties. principles of negotiation:
1. Never make the first offer.
2. find out whats most valuable to the other party
3. leverage leverage leverage

Personally i think 1300 is totally a fair price for a 1500 asking price in this time of the year, but again, u never know. some landlords are just hangup on price

[long101]

Originally Posted by lincolnparker

hell yeah, everythings negotiable these days, including the price on a senate seat. Far as longer lease goes, some landlords actually prefer one year lease vs a 18 months cuz they may have other plans for their properties. principles of negotiation:
1. Never make the first offer.
2. find out whats most valuable to the other party
3. leverage leverage leverage

Personally i think 1300 is totally a fair price for a 1500 asking price in this time of the year, but again, u never know. some landlords are just hangup on price

agreed. They did say they preferred a 16 month or 18 month lease so we will see. I appreciate the comments, at least I know Im not being crazy cheap by offering that

[Avengerfire]

I do not see why you should not try especially with the economy as well as the housing and job market in the crapper.

[GoCUBS1]

Long101, Having been a landlord for awhile I think it depends on:

1. The current rental market - If you haven't already, call around to get prices for comparable rentals in your area and find out how long properties have been vacant. This will indicate whether the property is over or underpriced, what the demand is, and how much negotiating room you may have. There will be high demand areas where the rent price is firm as the landlord knows the property will have a waiting list. However, Dec. tends to be a slow time and may be better time to negotiate (than e.g. May or Oct.).

2. Your bargaining chips - Having the flexibility to sign a shorter/longer lease before or after a certain date helps. If the landlord can reduce advertising costs, # of days vacant between leases, or make the lease end date at a high demand time (e.g. May), they will more likely negotiate.


3. Your image as a tenant - E.g. if you have good credit, good rental history, stable job, etc. that will lower your "financial risk" for the landlord and help negotiation. Here are some things tenants have said to me that have helped their negotiations:

• "I'm not really around alot as I travel extensively" (indicates less wear & tear/maintenance issues)
• "I'm pretty laid back and pretty handy" (indicates they won't be calling you at 2 AM to change a furnace filter)
• "I love this area and plan on being here for awhile" (indicates they may likely renew w/you at an increased rent)

4. Your presentation - Having dealt w/many people trying to lowball me, it does not work when a prospect says this: "You are way overpriced and I can get the same place for $150 less and that's all I'll pay." First off, this is insulting as it implies the Landlord doesn't know what they're doing w/price and I always know the comps of an area. Secondly, it indicates the tenant is going to be a problem and will try to nickel & dime every aspect of the lease, maintenance issues, etc. I don't want a tenant like that and I always show them the door.

In your situation, the bad cop/good cop approach may work better: "We love your place, but my girlfriend thinks $1500 is over our budget and we should look at places that cost $1300. Is there anything we can do to lower the price (e.g. adjust lease dates, help provide routine maintenance, etc.)."

Just some ideas... Hope it helps. Good luck.

[long101]

Dilemma: help from lanlords would be appreciated haha
Ok well we did the above and they came to us and said that the best they could do would be 1500 w/ free heat. I was like wtf since they said the heat coming with the unit was negotiable to begin with. We said we would do 1400 w/ heat and that last offer. I told them to give us a call if they can not get it rented and if we are still on the market we can see if it works for us then. That being said we were both very friendly and said that she would love to have us as tenants yada yada. I still want the unit (want not need) and guess I would do their offer but would like to see them drop it to our offering. Would any of the lanlords call us back in say a week or so and accept lol? They said they wanted a 16 month lease which we agreed to so they would have the summer to rent it again. We would be moving in Feb 1st, and with the holidays coming up, the economy the way it is, and just being winter I dont really see them renting it in time. Sorry for the long post

[lincolnparker]

Like I said before, some landlords are very hangup on price, not realizing the reality of the current economic conditions, just like many sellers, oblivious to the market, still trying to sell their properties at or above the price they bought a few years back.

I'd say definitely getting a few backups. Never never get emotionally attached to anything, except for ur family:P

Originally Posted by long101

Dilemma: help from lanlords would be appreciated haha
Ok well we did the above and they came to us and said that the best they could do would be 1500 w/ free heat. I was like wtf since they said the heat coming with the unit was negotiable to begin with. We said we would do 1400 w/ heat and that last offer. I told them to give us a call if they can not get it rented and if we are still on the market we can see if it works for us then. That being said we were both very friendly and said that she would love to have us as tenants yada yada. I still want the unit (want not need) and guess I would do their offer but would like to see them drop it to our offering. Would any of the lanlords call us back in say a week or so and accept lol? They said they wanted a 16 month lease which we agreed to so they would have the summer to rent it again. We would be moving in Feb 1st, and with the holidays coming up, the economy the way it is, and just being winter I dont really see them renting it in time. Sorry for the long post

[weizilla]

Def keep us posted. I've never negotiated rent before so I am interested in how this turns out.