How do you deal with people who answer your ad but want to negotiate lower rent?

[Zamboni]

For context, this property is in the USA. The advertisement is for rental of my furnished home while I am overseas for 6 months.

I've had a couple of people who have contacted me who want to rent for shorter timeframe (3-4 months) and/or for a substantial discount on rent (25% off). Since I don't want the hassle of reallocating the utilities, that would put me at a loss.

How would you respond to these types of inquiries?

[PMJL34]

Depending on where your property is located, finding tenants for a 6 month lease can be very difficult. You could obviously negotiate or hold firm. That's up to you.

I would instead do a program like traveling nurses or monthly airbnb/vrbo.

Best of luck!

[clifp]

The universe of folks looking to rent a 6 month FURNISHED place is much smaller than renters looking for a week or two or 1+ years.  Of course, so is the supply of rentals.  A craiglist search for Honolulu went from 83 to 8, when I selected furnished  and monthly.

My negotiation strategy would be very much dependent on the competition in the city.  If only a couple stick to your price, otherwise be prepared to drop your price.

[Zamboni]

Okay, this is all good info, thanks folks.

[chasesfish]

Another vote....this is a limited supply market, that can work for or against you.

We had to pay a premium to secure a 6mo furnished rental in July of 2022.   Our landlord gave us 45 days notice to leave and we wanted to move geographically, so we put our stuff in storage and got a furnished rental in our new location while we searched for a house.

[iluvzbeach]

In addition to traveling medical professionals, you might check with local insurance offices about the need for rentals for people who have been displaced from their home due to damage. A family member of mine has a furnished rental that is paid for (at quite a premium) by an insurance company for homeowners who need housing due to a fire, flood, tornado damage, etc. It’s been a very profitable business for her and the insurance company always pays - no deadbeat tenants!

[GilesMM]

When I had an adequate supply of potential renters I always refused to negotiate one iota.  I found that the people who wanted to negotiate things almost always also ended up being very difficult renters.  I was happy to be able to screen them out.

[Freedomin5]

I don't negotiate either, especially for requests that put me at a disadvantage. If you capitulate to their request, you're potentially setting a precedent or expectation that the landlord will agree to whatever "reasonable" demand the tenant might have in the future. Also, one does have to wonder why they can't afford to pay the going rental rate and whether this might impact their ability to make monthly rent payments in the future.

[clarkfan1979]

When I list my rentals, I try to be $100 under market rent and I typically get a large pool of interested renters. Because of this, I don't negotiate on price.

It's pretty normal to have 5 applications from people willing to pay asking price because they know it's a good deal and one person upset that I won't lower the rent. I try my best to avoid that one person. I have never had direct experience from renting to someone who wants me to lower the rent. However, I would be very concerned that they would make unreasonable requests as a tenant.

When I advertise for showings, I do individual 30 minute appointments on Fri, Sat & Sun (10:00-4:00). When I get a request to see the rental outside of this time, I decline their request. By declining their request, I weed some people out who want and expect special treatment.

[Zamboni]

Thank you for all of the different perspectives. I think I'm going to pass on the people who want to negotiate rent amount lower or shorter lease. I really wasn't expecting to get those, but I guess I should not be surprised. If we were in another country I would be more open to it, but it's just not American culture to ask for lower rent or shorter term with nothing offered in return (like I'll pay all up front, or I'll do XYZ thing not normally expected.)

It seems like a red flag to want so much lower of an amount . . . I would personally never go into a rental negotiation with a lowball offer on rent as a tenant myself.  25% below asking, which is already lower than market value considering the location and condition of the house is kind of asking to be ignored.

One time I had a landlord try to raise the asked monthly rent by $400 when I wanted a shorter lease than their advertised 18 months. So, after complimenting their apartment extensively, I offered to pay the entire lease up front if they were willing to write a shorter lease for 6 months for the amount of rent in the online advertisement. I offer something I think you may want because I am asking for something I want . . . that's how negotiations are supposed to work. This seemed to solidify their interest in renting to me, and I ended up paying monthly anyway for their advertised amount, not the higher amount, because that is what they put in the lease. But, I'm sure my offer to pay 6 months up front made them feel like I was (a) serious and (b) well off. Plus, the 6 month term I needed had me moving in during winter and out during prime summer when they will be able to rent that location more easily (Probably why they wanted 18 months to avoid trying to rent in winter in a spring/summer tourist area again).

It looks like I will be able to rent it to qualified applicants for the full amount and I asking and the exact length of lease I prefer.

[clifp]

It looks like I will be able to rent it to qualified applicants for the full amount and I asking and the exact length of lease I prefer.

Congrats, obviously if you can find buyers who pay what you are asking you choose them.   The question is only interesting if you had no applicants at your price, and then the decision is to I rent it for 6 months at 25% less than asking or risk losing a month or maybe 2 months to get full price, one month is 16.7% discount, 2 is 33%.  It sounds like you were insulted they offered you less?

More than 1/2 the time I've rented I negotiated. I did the same thing you did. If I pay you all 6 months upfront, will you take $1,000 off.   "No pets allowed", I have cat so that will be deal breaker, won one lost one.

I'm glad we don't negotiate the price of every dress or six pack of beer at Walmart as a society.  But it is common in many societies to negotiate a lot more than we do.  It seems to me that negotiating on housing, and cars is still common in the US.   I think a bit of humility is in order for our ability to know the market price.   Of the hundreds of thousands of items that have been offered to buy, I have yet to be told by a seller this item is above market price.  In fact, it is just the opposite, everything is a bargain, on sale, below market, or "an amazing deal".   It is like almost everyone thinks they are an above-average driver.  Statistically, 1/2 are not.

There is now software, like Realpage,   which does deep data mining to help big landlords maximize prices.  Like Clarksfan, and virtually every landlord I know I try and keep my rents 5-10% below the market to avoid turnover.  But how do I know really know? My property managers give me 4 or 5 comps, but more often than not they aren't the same neighborhood or the same floor plan, and that is in Vegas, where development projects of hundreds of housing with three or four plans are common.  In KC where the housing stock goes back 100 years and cookie-cutter houses are rare, it is even harder to make a comparison.  There are roughly 17,000 housing/apartments for rent in Vegas and 11,000 in KC.   Statistically, 4 or 5 comps have a very slim chance of giving you an accurate estimate of the market.

Why I can see the logic of a tenant is going to bargain on price, he'll be difficult. You would have been wrong about me, in 8 years of renting. I think I asked the landlords to fix two things.

[draco44]

I could see someone asking if you'd be willing to rent for shorter than 6 months, still paying your advertised full rent rate for each month they'd be there, but asking for a shorter time period than you want AND a 25% rent reduction seems like too strong an opening bid for my taste.

[clarkfan1979]

It looks like I will be able to rent it to qualified applicants for the full amount and I asking and the exact length of lease I prefer.

Congrats, obviously if you can find buyers who pay what you are asking you choose them.   The question is only interesting if you had no applicants at your price, and then the decision is to I rent it for 6 months at 25% less than asking or risk losing a month or maybe 2 months to get full price, one month is 16.7% discount, 2 is 33%.  It sounds like you were insulted they offered you less?

More than 1/2 the time I've rented I negotiated. I did the same thing you did. If I pay you all 6 months upfront, will you take $1,000 off.   "No pets allowed", I have cat so that will be deal breaker, won one lost one.

I'm glad we don't negotiate the price of every dress or six pack of beer at Walmart as a society.  But it is common in many societies to negotiate a lot more than we do.  It seems to me that negotiating on housing, and cars is still common in the US.   I think a bit of humility is in order for our ability to know the market price.   Of the hundreds of thousands of items that have been offered to buy, I have yet to be told by a seller this item is above market price.  In fact, it is just the opposite, everything is a bargain, on sale, below market, or "an amazing deal".   It is like almost everyone thinks they are an above-average driver.  Statistically, 1/2 are not.

There is now software, like Realpage,   which does deep data mining to help big landlords maximize prices.  Like Clarksfan, and virtually every landlord I know I try and keep my rents 5-10% below the market to avoid turnover.  But how do I know really know? My property managers give me 4 or 5 comps, but more often than not they aren't the same neighborhood or the same floor plan, and that is in Vegas, where development projects of hundreds of housing with three or four plans are common.  In KC where the housing stock goes back 100 years and cookie-cutter houses are rare, it is even harder to make a comparison.  There are roughly 17,000 housing/apartments for rent in Vegas and 11,000 in KC.   Statistically, 4 or 5 comps have a very slim chance of giving you an accurate estimate of the market.

Why I can see the logic of a tenant is going to bargain on price, he'll be difficult. You would have been wrong about me, in 8 years of renting. I think I asked the landlords to fix two things.

@clifp You make some great points about negotiation and offer some good "give and takes". When I say, "I don't negotiate because they are probably a bad tenant" the majority of my experience has been from people who ask for some sort of adjustment in their favor and they offer nothing in return. If I'm offering slightly below market rent why would I agree to get less and then get nothing in return? I think people who offer those types of deals are going to be difficulty tenants because they lack basic logic. As a tenant, I think it's reasonable to negotiate, as long as you are offering something in return.

I had a couple in their mid to late 20's want to rent my house in Fort Collins about 5 years ago and they asked to turn my house in a "marijuana grow house" They offered nothing in return. Why would I agree to that? I have a nice house close to CSU Fort Collins with tons of demand. Logically speaking, if you want a rent a house and turn it into a marijuana grow house you need to go to the bad part of town that landlords struggle to rent and you need to offer 25% above market value and double security deposit, IMO. People who do the large ask with nothing in return scare me.   

[JAYSLOL]

When I had an adequate supply of potential renters I always refused to negotiate one iota.  I found that the people who wanted to negotiate things almost always also ended up being very difficult renters.  I was happy to be able to screen them out.

This.  I don’t have any rental properties, but I do sell things on Facebook marketplace pretty often and I’ve noticed the folks who want a 25-50% discount right off the bat on the first message are the ones who, even when you agree to their price, don’t show up, show up late, just come and kick tires and not buy, or are generally obnoxious and a waste of time to deal with.