Renting Budget

yourdeadwright

Hey folks
One last question today, if i have a budget of 850 a month for rent alone, that i am not willing to go any higher on, would it be worth my while looking at apartments that are advertised as 900a month,in hope i ca et it cheaper.

Really what im trying to say is do people find they can get apartments for 50 or 100 less a month than they are advertised at, or will the landlord hold out for the price its advertised at

Thanks again for any feed back,

silja

It depends on the average rents in the area and the landlord of course, but in general, if you have good references and seem a good, stable tenant who will stay the year, you can often get 10-15% off the advertised rent, especially if the flat has been on the market a while. I'd wait until you see the property to ask though!

tonedef

You could also offer to sign a longer lease, say 18 months rather than 12, in return for a reduction in the rent.

Azureus

I always look at apartments listed slightly over my budget, asking price is nearly always higher than what they'll get and landlords/letting agents know this.

Personally, I wouldnt sign an 18 month lease in return for a rent reduction because there could be problems with the place that you are not aware of before you move in, and that way your locked in for an extra 6 months, but thats just me.

Ray Palmer

Some people advertise rents higher than they accept and others don't 50/50 really. Worth trying it but don't be surprised if somebody is insulted or annoyed by the request.

How would you feel if you were honest and somebody comes along who never willing to accept the advertised price? They should be reasonable but some people won't be.

who_ru

Ray you and I both know peoples incomes are falling ffs - too many LLs expect the tenant to cover the entire cost of the mortgage, as if they cannot be expected to bear any risk. well i'm afraid it's time to negotiate. my valuation of a particular good or service may not be yours, regardless of honesty, character etc. in fact given that many buy to let investors are now being forced off their I/O mortgages, there isn't a hope in hell many will be in a position to repay the capital.

now i ask you Ray, how many LLs out there do you think will voluntarily inform a prospective tenant that they are in fact insolvent, the property may be repossessed while they are occupying the apt.

i have a fair idea of how many LLs will be upfront and straight with prospective tenants on this issue - i only need 1 hand to count them. and there must be 100s if not 1000s of BTL mortgages out there in trouble.

Monife

I was recently apartment hunting (found somewhere now) and my budget was 700/month. I looked at places for 750 and a good few would not budge AT ALL. Really p*ssed me off with the current economic climate. Eventually found a place advertised for 750 but could only get it down to 720 so I went for it. Very hard to find decent places in Dublin for a good price. There is a WHOLE lot of cr*p out there and LL have the cheek to ask extortionate prices for them.

Ray Palmer

who_ru wrote: »

Ray you and I both know peoples incomes are falling ffs - too many LLs expect the tenant to cover the entire cost of the mortgage, as if they cannot be expected to bear any risk. well i'm afraid it's time to negotiate. my valuation of a particular good or service may not be yours, regardless of honesty, character etc. in fact given that many buy to let investors are now being forced off their I/O mortgages, there isn't a hope in hell many will be in a position to repay the capital.

now i ask you Ray, how many LLs out there do you think will voluntarily inform a prospective tenant that they are in fact insolvent, the property may be repossessed while they are occupying the apt.

i have a fair idea of how many LLs will be upfront and straight with prospective tenants on this issue - i only need 1 hand to count them. and there must be 100s if not 1000s of BTL mortgages out there in trouble.

What I know is many LL are not insolvent and don't have to reduce their rent. Advertised prices can be negosiated and some can't. Don't be surprised when somebody is annoyed when you come looking for a different rate to that advertised.

Just because you "reckon" somebody should negosiate doesn't mean they need to nor that they are desperate to rent in order to pay their mortgage.

All I was saying is some people will be angry about you trying to look for a different rate. Look at Monife there who is angry because LLs didn't want to negosiate. Expect the same from the otherside too.

Azureus

^ In response to above, landlords may get offended if people try to negotiate but so what? Landlords, especially in Dublin, are looking for extortionate rent and people dont need to sit back and take it for fear of 'offending' somebody. Its business.
As Monife said, a few weren't too happy about asking but at the end of it he got a €30 per month reduction. Not massive but over 12 months standard lease that is €360-not bad going and it definately adds up.

When landlords start asking reasonable rents, then people will stop expecting reductions, until then expect to get offended if Im renting from ya!

silja

I don't think a reasonable rent reduction (asking for 15% or thereabouts) will offend a reasonable landlord- they may say no, but that's different from being offended. And even if they are, you'll never have to deal with them again. Now if you are asking for a ridiculous reduction, that is different! Last time I was looking for a tenant for my Dublin city flat, I advertised at 850, and got an email asking if I'd take 500. I didn't even reply (I expected to get 800-820, but ended up taking 775 in return for a 2 year lease).