Is it too crazy to try to renegotiate my rent given this market? I'm in a 3 year lease with 2 years

A lease is a binding contract. Why would your landlord want to negotiate? If you bail early he can sue for the remainder of the lease.

Look at it this way - what would you do if your landlord came to you mid-lease and said "gee, expenses have gone up recently. I want you to start paying $3900 per month even though we have a signed agreement for $3700"? You'd say no f-ing way, right? Well, there's your answer.

IMO it's never a great idea to lock yourself in with multi-year leases. Too much can go wrong.

Yes, your landlord could sue.
It might threaten to sue.
You might get a nasty letter and another letter.
Then you might get another letter from a lawyer, and perhaps a second one.
But no landlord is filing in NYS Supreme Court for a broken contract and damages against a tenant renting a 1 or 2br apartment.
Not going to happen.

Play the game. You may fail to renegotiate, but if you do leave, you run little risk as long as you don't run and be scared.

ootin is correct that the landlord likely won't go to the trouble of suing (although, one never knows). BUT--if you want to stay in your apartment, as you indicate in your post, why on earth would you get into a pissing match with your landlord?

There is likely no harm in having a friendly chat with him but threatening to break your lease gets into adversarial territory, which is never desirable. Personally I like maintaining a good relationship with my landlord.

Ootin i agree 100% maintaining good credit history is essential now that lending standards have changed. You may want to play the card of your company cutting your pay and you can only pay x amount of dollars/month. However, if he threatens legation I would back off.

i think your chance of success is under 10% of getting a concession. if you signed a binding agreement, you're landlord is not likely to let you out of it unless he/she knows you are in financial distress. and if that were the case, would he even want to rent you the place?

you signed a binding agreement. you wanted to get a better price by signing a 3 year lease and now, you realize that was a mistake. you're an adult so just suck it up. i agree that your landlord will likey not sue you in court (as long as you keep paying some rent - even if its the reduced amount). but they will threaten legal action and could absolutely trash your credit score. on top of that, you won't be able to use them as a reference for the future. he's really got all the cards and you have very little (if you truly can afford the place and want to keep your credit score intact).

Thanks everyone - you have been very helpful. I'll sit tight and suck it up.

Think of it this way: How much are you going to save compared to the hassle you are potentially going to face?

Dealing with your landlord and potentially a lawyer not only costs money, but time (which also has some sort of value).

As Special K stated, you signed the lease and probably are just going to have to live with it.

Not sure, but can the landlord screw with your credit rating?

""Not sure, but can the landlord screw with your credit rating?""

Of course! If you don't pay your bills/pay late, your creditors (ie: landlord) can report it. That's a sure-fire way of marring your credit score.

Landlord has no access to your credit report.

Nice response overall - if you don't ask, you don't get

Hardass response - Do not consider any contract as non-renegotiable, bargain hard, don't be afraid of threats of lawsuits

OntheSideline
about 3 hours ago
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Thanks everyone - you have been very helpful. I'll sit tight and suck it up.

DO NOT SIT TIGHT AND SUCK IT UP. Why would you effectively negotiate against yourself? Why would you do what is in the landlord's interest and not in yours?