Success on neogotiating new rentals?

Slumdog, I can't say anything about the UES per se, but I was able to negotiate $100 extra off per month as well as an awkward move-in date (for them, not for me). I was looking downtown, though. I would find something you like and then start asking about concessions; if you don't ask, you won't get them.

Just rented my prewar UES 2BR between Lex/Park for $4.5K. Apt. went in a day w/o broker.

Ueside - may I ask how much the former tenants were paying?

We lived there before. Bought bigger place. We bought it quite some time ago so even in this market we could sell it for gain but didn't feel like dealing with depressed prices. Currently, the rental income pays maintenace plus mortgage and we get to keep some extra. Luckily we don't need equity out of the place so will most likely will continue to rent it out (we have 30 yr fixed mortgage on it).

Bumping this up, as we would also like to upgrade and want to know how flexible the "ask" on a rental is right now.
Thanks

We just negotiated on the West side and got our rent down 10%

We signed lease in early december. Agreed-upon price was 4% below ask, plus we got them to throw in the gym in the building.

I think rental buildings usually have a pretty good sense of the market, so ask prices are usually negotiable by a few percent at most. Condos for rent, on the other hand - anything goes. Many places we looked at, I got the distinct impression from the brokers that one could bid 15% or more below ask and get the place.

Before we renewed at our existing apartment, we spent a lot of time looking at larger 3BR/2BA apartments, and found the market to be quite weak. Units were sitting on the market for months on end, usually cross-listed for sale. I've never engaged in serious negotiations, but my impression was also that you could get interest at 15% under ask.

i know it's LIC, but we got a $2900 2BR in new development down to $2200.

its because it is LIc

This will hugely depend on how well the bldg. is doing. Some bldgs. really need to fill the spaces, while others don't (vacancy rates, desirability, comps, owner type--corporation vs. individuals, etc. will all need to be considered in UES, where these variables differ tremendously across bldgs. and neighborhoods w/in UES). I thus don't think there is a set % figure to aim for.

Withh this said, I have heard about a month free (for 1-yr lease), free movers, etc. being pretty standard.

ueside - your experience would seem to suggest we are basically at parity in terms of after-tax cost of ownership (25%) down to rentals. Compared to an apt we have discussed here previously:
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/364607-coop-151-east-83rd-st-upper-east-side-new-york
Also a pre-war elevator/doorman building in PS 6 in the 80s - 2bed/2bath. Currently asking 890k, but really 842k when you net out the maintenance buy-down. The owners just took the price down, so let's say you can only get another 2% off, and you pay 825k. With 25% down, your 618k mtge would cost 3560/month, and after mtge deductions would get you to $2400/month. Add in the $2200/month maintenance, and you are at $4600/month (which includes $660/month of principal repayment).

printer, shouldn't you pick an IO mortgage? The $600 of principal shouldn't count since it pays down your property. What is the math with a 5yr IO? My apartment is very similar to the one that you picked by the way.

Theoretically, yes, but realistically I don't think any decently respectable co-op would let you use an IO, and I personally don't understand the point of owning if you don't pay down the mortgage at all. But if you took a 7yr that is fixed at 5%, you'd pay $4500 after tax, of which $740 is principle - so really $3800 of money out the door.

paul10003 , can we ask what building?

printer, agree with you that that's what you would do IRL. But for owning vs rent analysis I would do it with IO. Your post makes me feel good, it kind of puts a bottom on my property at around $8ooK or so. Given that I paid less than $600K, I am fine.

I don't know about a base b/c of course rents can keep falling, and you can certainly get to a point where owning is cheaper than renting, but it certainly points to the fact that prices are not out of whack fundamentally.
Just out of curiosity, your case seems interesting - you're renting out a property which is roughly valued at the same price as the one you are renting - why did you go through that headache? Is it a school-district thing?

printer, sorry if my post was confusing. We are renting out old place and bought bigger place. We had of course meant to sell the 2BR but this is solution is fine as well.

ok - that makes much more sense. So if anything the $4500/month # is too low - I'm not trying to pick on you, just saying that if it went so quickly it must have been very well priced. Intuitively, if someone is happy to pay $4500 out of pocket for the apt, it does have a purchase value in the low 800s-mid 900s depending on how one looks at the principle re-payment, and what the maintenance is. And from what I can see, it seems that that is pretty much where places are transacting right now.

printer, agreed. It was more important for us to have a financially stable and responsible person than to get the last $ out of it.