How To Lower Your Rent
Thinking whether you are paying a fair rent to your landlord, the following tips help you intelligently negotiate to hopefully reduce it.
RESEARCH YOUR MARKET
The most important factor is to know how much if any negotiating room you have with your landlord. This knowledge is key to getting reasonable concessions.
- Craigslist.com: You could find comparable properties on Craigslist.com. While some prices might not reflect the true rental market value, by looking at several properties, you will get a realistic picture of what other people are paying for relatively comparable properties.
- RentoMeter.com: This site provides you a comparative analysis of residential rental properties.
CONSIDER YOUR QUALIFICATIONS
Think about whether you have:
- Paid your rent on time;
- Kept the property in a good shape; and
- Not had complaints from other tenants.
If that is the case, your negotiating leverage is relatively good, since your landlord wants you to stay and has an incentive to keep you reasonably satisfied.
CONSIDER YOUR ALTERNATIVES
Think about how you could move beyond only reducing your rent. Think about:
- Getting more storage space;
- Getting a parking space;
- Reducing your security deposit;
- Including utilities in your rent.
- Moving out, if the price is not reasonable and you have considered the costs of moving out.
LOOK AT YOUR SURROUNDINGS
Look around you. See if your building is looking more like a ghost town. Ask questions of people moving out. Your chances are much better if people are leaving. It costs money to find new tenants and maintain an empty place while money is not coming in.
Asking whether you could pay lower rent for your apartment or business, Do this: Educate yourself about your neighborhood; consider what kind of tenant you have been; consider other alternatives, and track vacancies.
