How to Negotiate Your Rented Condominium Lease

While some condominium are going to be the ones that look like they belong on magazine covers, are always full and have waitlists, and even just sound luxurious from their names alone, the fact of the matter is there are too many apartments out there. Too many landlords even right now are panicking because they just don’t know how they can get additional tenants into their units, and so when it comes time to rent you may just be able to secure a property with a bit of negotiation on your side instead of just accepting the initial price. Think about the following options in order to lock in a great price at a great place.

Longer Term

As the Christian Science monitor lists, there are many ways to lower your apartment rental rate. However, while many strategies work for some people, others can be uncomfortable with complete haggling situations. One of the easiest ones to deal with is to simply put the efficiency and convenience back on the landlord by letting them know you would be willing to sign a longer lease if they were to drop the price. This might not be a major concession for you especially if you want to live there for a few years. However, for your property owner, they can avoid having apartment turnovers and minimize the amount of time that the unit sits empty or needs repairs if you were to move out.

The number one thing you need to keep in mind when it comes time to actually looking at properties to rent is the person on the other end will not only appeal to reason, but that they have a motivation as well. If you can find out what is driving their operation and know what their goals are, then you can capitalize. The interesting thing is that for the most part property manager and landlords just want to get people in units and avoid any additional hassle. If you tell them you will stay longer, the decreased turnover and stress might be enough to drop the rates.

Find a Property Off the Beaten Path

Another major point of view that you have to be aware of when you are searching for an condominium with PropertyGuru Singapore is that while everyone loves to live where the action is, you can save money by opening up your search and by trying to find properties that are just a few minutes outside of the fun. When you consider the landlords who have to try and fill units away from the fun, they may just be desperate enough to listen to reason and be flexible. They know they have an inferior product in that they are located far away, so as long as you are able to appeal to their reasoning skills and tell them you need a slight discount, they might just do it if it makes sense and they have vacancies.

Put Down a Higher Security Deposit

One of the biggest things you can do is to try and establish yourself as a more attractive renter up front. Whether that means putting down additional cash, showing your employment status and how it has been consistent, or even showing off your credit score, all of these things could make you look like less of a risk. If a landlord doesn’t want to deal with a deadbeat who won’t pay, and doesn’t want to have a problem within their walls because it will just cause more work for them, then you need to show them right up front how you will never be much of a risk at all. Let them know you don’t like to go out and party, you aren’t in a band or don’t enjoy loud music, and your favorite activities are reading and meditation. Anything that paints you in a positive light as an easy tenant who won’t cause problems would be the best strategy for you to pursue.

Trading Work for Rent

An interesting article on Kiplinger suggests that you can live rent free, but you would have to exchange work and services in order to do so. It’s an interesting strategy and may not be one for everyone, but if you have a bit of free time, some extra skills that can come in handy, and you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves now and then to get work done then perhaps you can save on rent.

From a basic living point of view this doesn’t mean you should expect to work a considerable amount and you won’t wind up getting completely free rent either for smaller work. However, if you could simply agree to do something like water the flowers in the morning, take out the trash from all of the neighbors, or even drive a shuttle one or two nights a week for the tenants without cars to get groceries, you could see rent being kicked off of the list fairly quickly. It might be a bit outside of the box for some people, but why not help out a bit with any of the duties or amenities that a potential apartment owns if it means you can save some cash in the process and keep more money in your pockets?

The key to getting ahead when it comes to finding a tremendous rental opportunity is just knowing to ask for more. There are more opportunities to negotiate in life than many people realize, and until you feel comfortable doing so then you will never be able to start racking up the major savings. If you are going to look for a new place (or even stay where you are currently), then you just need to become more comfortable with trying to think outside of the box and making sure everyone wins. Come up with a strategy that actually seems like it is beneficial to the landlord, and then you have found a way that you could potentially get the apartment you want for far less.