Does anyone have any advice on negotiating rents?
I am going to check out a rental where the rent being asked is crazy high, but there are very few comps, so I'm not sure what the landlord is thinking or how they are pricing. As will be clear from the figures in my post, we live in M-HCOL.
Facts:
-it's an 1100 sq ft 3 br SFH in a place where SFHs sell/rent at a premium over multi-families.
-the rent per square foot is more than double the rent per square foot of a comparable apartment ($3.45 vs. $1.50ish)
-there are no other similarly sized SFH rentals in this neighborhood. The only other SFH rentals are HUGE (like 3000+ sq ft)
-based on Zillow history, it looks like it hasn't been rented since early 2018, possibly mid-2017
-during the time it has been listed, the rent has been as high as $5k/month and as low as $2800/month. It is currently listed at $3800/month.
-the finishes look very nice in the pictures, and it has a nice yard, but only street parking
-my sense is $2800 or so it a fair market rent, which is why it hasn't rented for all this time
We are very interested in renting a SFH, which is why I'm contemplating negotiating the rent. We don't have any particular timeline to move, so I don't have much to lose by proposing a lower rent. But I'm not sure how to go about it in a way that makes the landlord likely to take me up on my offer. We are attractive tenants - high income, stable jobs, excellent credit. We'd be willing to sign a 2 year lease if that helped our case. Anything else that might make us more attractive tenants?