The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: Chrissy on March 30, 2015, 03:22:29 PM
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Called the building manager about the rent increase for the new term, and she knocked $10 off. It was a 5 minute phone call that kept me from losing $120 unnecessarily.
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Nice going! That's like $1440 per hour after taxes.
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Good work! It's amazing how many people never even try to negotiate a rent increase.
Several years ago my apartment complex tried to hit me with a $100 per month increase. This was late 2009 when the economy stunk. I knew there was a very similar complex (I'd looked at it when renting the apartment) about a third of a mile away struggling with their occupancy due to the economy so I made a quick call to find out their rate on a similar apartment. I took that down to the leasing office hoping to negotiate, but they said I'd have to deal directly with one of the owners of the partnership that controlled the complex and gave me the email of the lead partner.
I took about 10 minutes writing a polite email explaining that I had been a good tenant, and while there was some value to me in not having to pack up and move, there was value to him in not having a vacancy and a tenant that paid on time. I asked if he'd be willing to meet somewhere in the middle between his offer and the rates down the street. They came down $50 a month for about 20 minutes effort on my part.