Negotiate Rent

You have to figure out your bottom line, and ask for better. Figure out exactly how much is worth moving.

I would take the verbal approach first, but (assuming you are doing this on the phone) have your printouts handy. Many rental listings include floorplans; see if you can figure out what is roughly the price per square foot for similar rentals, taking into account any building amenities (pools, for example, are both rare and expensive), and figure out what a reasonable market price would be for your apartment. Always be friendly. If management refuses to deal, be prepared to move. No negotiation has teeth if you aren't prepared to walk away.

The management company is in our building, so all negotiations are done in person.

If one beds are $2600-2800 and you have a junior 4 for $3200, why do you think your rent should be lowered? Do you have a junior-4 or do you have a junior one bed?

I thought it was a junior4, but maybe not. It's had one bedroom, but the bedroom has no closet. The one closet is outside the bedroom in the living room. It is also not updated at all! I've seen one bedrooms in other buildings listed for $2600-$2800 which I would like to use to reduce my rent.

I think what you have is a junior 1. A junior 4 is a 4-room apartment, with a compromise second bedroom (usually small without a closet). If your single bedroom is compromise, then its like a junior 1...And yes, $3200 sounds expensive for that.

Ah, thanks for the clarification!!!! And yes $3200 is high! But what is reasonable? I would love it if the management would love my rent to $2600 or even $2700. I would happily stay for that price. But if they say no, then I have to factor in moving costs, which are nothing to laugh at.

Its tough to know exactly what you have... but if its not even a true one bed....Its hard for me to see how your rent EVER was $3200. You really just need to factor the cost of moving and ask for a bit better then you need and hope to get there.

yeah, that sounds very high. We rent a true 2-bed, 2-bath w/doorman on UWS for $3500 (and I even think THAT'S highway robbery).

If the mgmt co is unreasonable and refuses to lower your rent, you'll likely do much better (bigger space for less dough) by moving--the moving costs will easily be absorbed by your significant reduction on the new place.

A true 2/2 for $3500? WOW! I've seen some 2/2 in The Concorde for $3995 and I thought that was a good price.

I have a friend paying $2500 for an alcove studio so $3200 for a jr. 4...well it sounds pretty good.

$3200 isn't high for a one bedroom depending on the type of space you have. I thought a junior 4 was a one bedroom w/ a separate dining room/area from the LR (then the kitchen makes room #4). If you have that, then your price isn't necessarily unreasonable. If you have a LR, a small kitchen, and a bedroom w/o a closet, then you're talking about something different entirely. You need to compare apples to apples.

As for negotiating a lower rent, I see two strategies: first you ask, quoting other similar places that are lower than your place and if that doesn't work you could threaten to leave, but i wouldn't do that unless you mean it.

Squid - your price seems low to me for UWS. Yes, in the grand scheme of life, it's high; for UWS, not so much IMO.

"I have a friend paying $2500 for an alcove studio so $3200 for a jr. 4...well it sounds pretty good."

*I* have a friend on the UES who's renting his alcove studio for $2800.

I think 1234 doesn't realize what a good deal he has.

Ok this is getting dumb. $3200 for a Junior 1 is NOT a good deal. NYCApt1234 misspoke - they do not have a Junior 4. $3200 for a junior 4 would be a good deal. $3500 for a 2 bed/2 bath on the UWS is a great deal if its a decent size. $2500 for an alcove studio in a luxury building is pre-Lehman. That should be $2000-2100 today. That person could only have signed that a year or more ago, and should be looking for a new price.

Matt, your friend is on crack for have agreeing to that price for an alcove studio in any market. In 2006 I left a luxury alcove studio in hells kitchen. I was paying $1950 and they wanted to raise me to $2350. I found a luxury one bed for $3200. $2800 for an alcove has sucker written on it at the tippy top.

Do you guys think $3250 is a fair price for a decent-size 1-bedroom
on a high floor with good views in one of the 6th ave buildings in
Chelsea (Archstone, Capitol, Vanguard, Towers, 777)?

P.S. NOT the Chelsea Landmark as it is nicer, with W/D in its units.

Rhino, $2800 for his alcove studio -- in a luxury building -- is pretty much in line with what YOU are paying, square footage wise.

Sucker.

Matt, WTF are you talking about? His place is probably 550 sqft, my one bed was 800 sqft. Are you math challenged? At his square foot price mine would have had to cost over $4000.

Why are you defending your friends bad lease? Polydoa here is about to get a one-bed for a few hundred bucks more....And Polydoa, that sounds ok, maybe you could do a couple hundred bucks better but not much more...You can easily sanity check it on this site.

Matt, are you 'your friend' you dumb ass?

Rhino, there's no need to get vulgar.

My friend is my FRIEND -- and his very large alcove studio is 700 square feet.

Matt, I have never heard of or seen an alcove studio that large in Manhattan. If there is any truth to your fantasy, its still only in line with mine. Pardon me for disparaging your fantasy studio. 450-600 is standard Manhattan alcove studio size...and the 600 is usually really 550.

I guess there's a first time for everything, Rhino.

It's a big city.

Post the floorplan. I still call bullshit. Or name the building. Units in new construction are usually made small. In any event, you are a lippy little shit. If you even new the slightest thing about general Manhattan apartment sizes, you wouldn't be crying so loud. $2800 is still a high price for a studio of any kind. Look around before you open your mouth.

Actually, his apartment is very similar to this: http://www.corcoran.com/images/media/ListingFloorplans/1305457.1.gif

He has a huge foyer that actually has its own mini-alcove big enough for a desk, file cabinet, and bookcase for an "office". Then there are those two steps down into the sunken living room, which is a touch bigger than this one. PLUS he has that "dining alcove" that sits above the living room with the railing.

If I ever had to live in a studio, that's the kind of "studio" I'd love! It *feels* like a Classic Six (only minus the three bedrooms!).

Wow. That is a rare studio... I don't think its the studio to make a basis for popping off at me or giving advice to someone about what they should be paying for their Junior one bed.

Um, you're the one who started the "popping off", Rhino.

everyone pops off at you, matt. and you know why.

Well in this case it was having no idea what a benchmark alcove studio was, so as to advise someone in a junior one what the market is or isn't.

matt's knowledge base is limited to his own self importance. he is the master of making it up as he goes.

My Jr1 is about "700 sq ft" (which means it's really about 650 sq ft). Friends of mine just rented a comparable apt on 86th st (in between 1st and 2nd) for $2600. I would imagine that the fact that there are about 3-4 vacant identical apts to mine in the building help my case for staying in the building with a rent reduction. Why would the management want more empty apts?

sometimes mgmts are a pain. they refuse all renegotiations and roll the dice on ppls inertia

try to get 2800

"sometimes mgmts are a pain. they refuse all renegotiations and roll the dice on ppls inertia"

As is their option.

You want to rent, you relinquish the upper hand in "negotiating" rent, because the apartment is never really yours.

whatever douche. go buy a $1mm one bed condo and call it your own.

as opposed to negotiating the maintenance increases with the co-op board? or the insurance costs? or the property taxes? or the capital loss if you have to sell at the wrong time in the cycle? how do you negotiate those, you idiot?

or did you already and that's your axe

***as opposed to negotiating the maintenance increases with the co-op board? or the insurance costs? or the property taxes? or the capital loss if you have to sell at the wrong time in the cycle? how do you negotiate those, you idiot?***

Property taxes are passed on to renters in the rent.

There's very rarely a "wrong time" to sell. We're in the middle of an aberration we haven't seen in decades.

Insurance? You should be carrying that as a renter, as well.

And how do you negotiate maintenance increases with the co-op board? BECOME the board, that's how.

become the board? you already have the brain of a plank so you're well on your way.