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March 24, 2009
Renegotiating Rent in PK Slope
My lease is up for renewal in a couple of months; my rent was a little on the high side even before the recent slump, but now quite clearly needs lowering. My landlord has hinted that he is amenable, but it will be up to me to suggest a new rent. I've seen places listed nearby at 20% of my current rent, but on the other hand the landlord just rented a similar apartment to a new tenany only minimally below the previous rent- but since the new tenant is an executive in town for 1 year whose company is likely paying the rent, so it may have been a fluke. So my question: What is the typical discount for a typical 2-bedroom apartment lease renewal in an average center-slope (8th street)
apartment these days? Thanks in advance!
Comments
It depends on amenities: size of your apartment (it could be big 2br with dining and office, etc. or small 2br) number of bathrooms, wd, dw? apartment condition? typical is a very broad description to put a price tag on it.
Posted by: moskow_on_gowanus at March 24, 2009 1:03 AM
You said "...seen places listed nearby at 20% of my current rent"
Did you actually see them or just the listings?
Do some research/legwork. Go look at some places. Find a close comp and then you can better assess.
Moskow is right, "typical" can mean many things. You haven't told us what you are paying or given more specifics about your place.
The only real way to judge the market for the sake of rent reduction is to see what directly comparable apartments are renting for and do the math on moving. If the comps are $100 less is it worth moving, with all the related expenses and hassles, for that $100 less a month?
Posted by: christopher at March 24, 2009 9:05 AM
me and roommate's lease is up i believe in a few months in the same location. we pay 2400 for a 2 bedroom duplex in a large walk up apartment building (we live in the lobby tho). the last time my roommate signed the lease it went from 2100 to 2400. for some reason i dont expect rent to be lowered when and if we renew. i think people are jumping the gun thinking their landlords are just going to miraculously lower their rents by hundreds and hundreds of dollars, but i guess it's possible. it would be nice, right? :)
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at March 24, 2009 10:00 AM
Just check craig's list and a couple broker's sites every few days for a month or so and you'll get a sense of what places are being advertised at.
rob -- your place sounds pretty cheap for the neighborhood (although I have no idea what you mean by living in the lobby...).
Posted by: northsloperenter at March 24, 2009 10:10 AM
i mean it's on the ground floor... there's a few apartments on the ground floor.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at March 24, 2009 10:17 AM
I am in same situation in north slope. LL and I are in agreement that rent needs to go down 15%. don't shortchange yourself! there are a lot of people down-scaling right now. it's a hard conversation to have, but don't forget how expensive a vacancy can be for your landlord.
Posted by: joe_the_bummer at March 24, 2009 10:49 AM
Definitely negotiate with your landlord, regardless of what their initial offer is. My lease just came up & my lanlord's initial offer was for unchanged rent. This would have put it on the high end of area comps. I offered c.20% less, they have come back with an offer of a 12% reduction. Not sure what I am going to do yet but I am glad I called them.
Just have to be prepared to move elsewhere if you lowball and your landlord doesn't accept it!
(I don't live near you, so not sure what the right absolute level of rent should be).
Posted by: etson at March 24, 2009 10:49 AM
I also live on 8th st and curious how this turns out as our lease is up in mid-June. Maybe by then even Brooklyn will be seeing the effects of the downturn and we will have some leverage. The apartment next to ours is for rent and I recently saw the broker outside waiting to show it though it didn't seem like the people ever showed. I asked her and she said the rent in the next door apt. is going to be the same as what we pay. That could be the reason the prospective tenants didn't show. I was hoping to keep the rent the same, never thought a decrease was feasible. Any other info on this kind of wrangling would be appreciated!
Posted by: quamzibo at March 24, 2009 10:49 AM
I'd say we're definitely feeling the effects of the downturn on both the supply and demand side.
hearing stories of jobless and bonus-less financial folks downsizing, and also actually seeing some nice new construction for rent in low price ranges (1BR on 12th street never lived in for 2K/month)
probably goes without saying that rents should be expected to reflect the conditions way before selling prices do.
Posted by: joe_the_bummer at March 24, 2009 10:56 AM
I would definitely try to get a rent reduction if I were going to stay in my place, but I expect to move when my lease is up or possibly ask to go month-to-month for a while (in which case I wouldn't ask for a reduction).
Posted by: northsloperenter at March 24, 2009 10:56 AM
check out http://www.rentometer.com/
Posted by: bren at March 24, 2009 10:58 AM
been living in a small 1 br (bedroom just fitted a bed and dresser) on President St (7th & 8th Ave) for around 1900... going to sign a lease today for a real 2 br /2 bath (living room a little small) on Union St on 3rd floor (2 flights up) walkup with recent renovations for 2375 starting May 1st. Owner wanted 2500 but was willing to listen to lower offer.
it's definitely a renter's market out there. you have to do research on craigslist and be willing to move if you're asking for a reduction from your current landlord.
Posted by: ZooLander at March 24, 2009 11:38 AM
I moved into my place in Williamsburg back in september and signed a one-year lease. The apartment across the hall has been vacant since mid-january with an asking rent below mine. Because it is nearly identical, I call the landlord, asked for a reduction and got it. I admit, I was a little surprised that he went for it but I am now paying 275 bucks less a month. It really is a renters market, and probably will remain that way through the summer. Don't be afraid to ask for the stars. I did it, mid-lease, and it payed off.
Posted by: king of the burg at March 24, 2009 12:49 PM
If your landlord won't agree to a reduction, would you be willing to pay your current rent elsewhere but for a better apartment? That's how we made the current market conditions work for us - we went out and got more for our money. A few months before our lease was up and unsure of our plans, we started looking at comps in the neighborhood. We did not limit ourselves to rental listings. Instead, we went to open houses for condos that were for sale and asked if the owner was willing to rent. We found a large 2 bd, 2 ba in a new construction building with an elevator and outdoor space on a quiet block just steps to the subway. It costs the same amount of rent we were paying at our old apartment - a 1 bd, 1 ba third floor walk-up on a noisy, commercial block. So, instead of asking for a rent reduction to renew the lease at a place we weren't nuts about, we went through the hassle of moving in order to upgrade our living conditions. Our rent is the same, but our total expenses are reduced because the new place comes with more utilities included and is much more energy efficient. In the end, it was worth the cost of moving to land in a place where we're happy to stay for a long time.
Posted by: trophywife at March 24, 2009 3:44 PM
When one of our apartments was up for renewal at the end of Feb '09 we agreed a 6.5% reduction for a 12 month renewal. Perhaps our tenant could have gotten a similar apartment 10-12% lower but any saving would have been offset with moving costs (not to mention hassle and they know they have an attentive landlord).
For us it was a no brainer as although we've never had a problem renting it before a bird in the hand......
Posted by: 99luftballons at March 24, 2009 3:58 PM
Thanks for all the comments. And a correction: Christopher raised an eyebrow at my comment that I've seen places at 20% of my current rent. Sorry, that was a typo. I meant "20% less than my current rent". Thanks for pointing that out, Christopher.
Will keep the list posted.
-Mark.
Posted by: booksin at March 24, 2009 4:05 PM
my lease is up this summer and i would not even think of staying without a 20 percent reduction. My brother just got 25 percent off in Manhattan.
Posted by: brickoven at March 25, 2009 3:36 PM
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