I received this rental negotiation success story from a reader via email, and thought it was worth sharing:
As a long time reader of your Seattle Bubble Blog, I knew that rents on their way down in King county. My Equity Residential owned apartment building in Redmond has experienced some huge increases in recent years, causing my rent to go up from $950 a month in 2001 to $1265 per month this year. Yesterday, I was sent a letter regarding my lease renewal. I was offered a relatively anemic rent decrease to $1209 a month, so I decided that I would haggle with them to get it lower.
I checked the Equity Residential website and found they were advertising a larger unit with 1 more bathroom for $997 a month, so I used the handy form on the website to express my interest in the unit, noting that I was a current resident and that I would like to move into this unit instead of paying more for renewing the lease on my current unit. I hoped that this method of sending a counter offer would be more effective than a verbal negotiation, and I was right. First thing this morning, I received a call from the apartment manager offering to renew me at a rate of $940 a month, a decrease of over 25%.
The nice thing for the local economy is that this gives me $325 a month extra in disposable income, which is better than any stimulus I have seen from the government so far. I thought I’d write you and let you know of my success so you could pass on my 21st century method of haggling to your readers. The market has definitely shifted back to favor the renter again.
The current rent price trend in Seattle is clear. If you’re not negotiating a lower rent when your lease comes up for renewal, you’re leaving money on the table—potentially a lot of money.