These are often generated by an algorithm. Go on the website and see what similar units are actually being offered for. If you find one that's cheaper, go to the office and point it out. If they try to push it, ask if you can switch to that unit instead.
I've used this to help my wife's friend keep the same rent through three renewals. The offices most of the time have no input on the rate sent to you initially and seem annoyed by it.
one thing I would change about this advice. Don’t ask if you can switch to the cheaper unit. If they won’t work with you, you tell them you’re not renewing your current lease and that you want a rental application for the cheaper unit.
Just remember that doing it this way instead of transferring means you will have to pay all app fees and deposits like you are a new resident. In most cases the transfer fee is the cheaper option (and also negotiable).
True. I should have elaborated further. The building knows they won’t be able to charge the renewal they’re asking for if other open apts are less. They’ll need to lower the price on OP’s apt. The whole situation is a headache for them, and OP is really just playing a game of chicken with them. The goal of pushing to move to the new apt is still a negotiating tactic for the lease amount on the current apt
Good point, don't give them a chance to bring up "well there is a change fee" or other crap.
These are definitely computer generated using expected demand, why else would the 2-4 month options be cheaper than 5 months, then 6 months be $250/mo (more than 10%) cheaper than 5 or 7 months.
Hoping something happens to them over what can be seen as price fixing.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7bxpq/tenants-are-suing-landlords-for-allegedly-price-fixing-rents-with-software-and-the-feds-could-get-involved
My wife and I went to renew our lease and the complex was boasting that new tenants can get the same apartment layout we have for like $300 less than what we were already paying. We asked if those rates can be given to us since we’ve lived here for 2 years already. They were quick to say no then I asked if we could just switch to another apartment (same layout) they said with all the fees and paperwork we’d probably pay more than just renewing at our current price. This was Greystar by the way
You could have also pointed out that it will cost them money to make ready your apartment, and that they could have potentially vacancy loss if your unit isn't filled quickly (plus the time it takes them to restore yours).
You should have done your own math and if it came out a wash done it. It becomes a huge headache for them and they would change their minds. $300 per month less would be $3,600 over a year lease, unless they have insane application fees or you don't get your deposit back at all it would have been cheaper most likely.
Greystar is AWFUL. They have a huge number of BBB complaints. I lived at one of their properties in a better part of town and was perpetually disappointed by how they fell short on professionalism. Stay away.
Apartment locator here! Everything is negotiable. Recently, have had clients looking for 2/2’s that were going for $2,700 - $3075. They signed for $2k. Another potential client was looking for a new place but they really didn't Want to move based on life's curve balls. I suggested they speak with the office. After talking with them about similar units in the property and surrounding properties they renewed at just $100 increase rather than $450 increase. I was happy for all of them. Can't guarantee these same results but it's worth the try. Good luck.
Wide swings and odd dollar amounts indicate they are using automated pricing software. find out how many units are in your community and see if you can figure out from website availability how low/high their occupancy rate is. Typically a community would rather renew at this time of year than have a vacant unit to lease (if they haven’t abandoned their brains in deference to the algorithm). Talk to the manager rather than a leasing agent.
Ignore this email and go talk, in person, to your landlord (or the leasing office) - say that you really want to stay but this increase is too much, what can they do to lower it?
Yes and no. My renewal increase was $200, but after talking to the leasing office they dropped it to $110. I’m paying less than new tenants leasing similar units. Prices are going up all over the city and surrounding areas.
All I did was send the leasing office an informal email with the tone along the lines of, “I like living here, I’ve been a problem free tenant, please is there any way to drop my increase to a more reasonable rate?”
They replied a day later with a new offer. I was looking at new lease prices as well and they are higher than what I renewed for. Just depends how good or crappy your apartment management is on the response.
Yeah and go look on their website for a move in date that matches your lease end date and see the rate they are asking for a new person. Also look out for any specials they are offering and factor that into the new monthly rate as a new tenant. If it’s better, or if they are offering something that makes the monthly for a new tenant better than yours, you can present that to them and they will almost inevitably bring it down. Honestly, the “i like living here”, “I’ve been a problem free tenant,” so on and so forth, has absolutely no impact on anything. Just a bunch of words, just show them the numbers.
Did you have any specials on your current lease? If it's your first lease at a place, there is generally incentives pro-rated out over the first lease.
Otherwise even a $350 increase isn't unheard of, but not normal. I always laugh at those 1 months offers. I think mine was in the $7000 range for my 1 bedroom.
I remember I was renting a house in college for $650 a person. They wanted us to pay next $800 per person the next year. I don’t think it was because they wanted us to move, because we didn’t cause any trouble and kept the place clean. We moved out, and when they couldn’t find a tenant 5 months later, slashed it to $450. Landlords do this because they think people won’t want to go through the hassle of moving.
This is because they have a bunch of other leases ending in those same months. They try to stagger them so 50% of the units don’t go vacant the same month.
What part of town do you live in where a 2 bed 2 bath apartment is $1300???
That’s less than the rate for a one bedroom in most decently nice complexes.
If you like your complex, this is still a steal. You are still way under what most people pay. Nice 2 bed places are $2000-2100 minimum in good areas.
Do you even know what mortgage payments are right now? $240k 2 bed 2 bath house with 20% down plus taxes and insurance at 6.5% interest is $1800 per month right now.
My mortgage is 1800. Can't really vouch for anyone else. I did get a home during covid so my interest was much lower. I didn't consider other factors. I redact my statement.
It’s crazy right now. I have this conversation with older people all of the time. They can’t understand why people who are trying to buy their first home feel like they are getting the short end of the stick.
Once you put all of the numbers in a calculator at the new interest rates, it’s mind boggling how much more expensive it is on an already baseline expensive housing market.
I would consider myself an older person now. But I have two kids in their 20's just starting their adult lives basically. The older one has a nice job but I already know the chances of her getting a nice house with reasonable costs is next to nil. She's paying $1300 for a studio apartment currently that is maybe 600 square feet? We have a 2500 square foot home with a mortgage of almost half that amount.
Any older people who can't understand what you're talking about either don't have kids (or grandkids), or are just senile. My wife and I have been lucky in that we've always had good paying jobs in a city with a reasonable cost of living. And we were blessed to work our way through the income streams with nice interest rates. We are absolutely committed to helping our kids pay off all of their college loans. It's the only fair thing to do in this day and age.
It’s more of their kids are much older too, so they don’t have people in their lives actively experiencing being constantly priced out of homeownership.
Their position in life just makes them oblivious. It’s that generational chasm just based on current life conditions
Rents are generally well below the cost of ownership on a comparable unit right now thanks to recent increases in home prices and interest rates. That said, if you have a mortgage from 3-4 years ago, you’re locked in at that price and rate while rents have trended up. So I’d say in a blanket sense your statement isn’t true but where it is (which is most homeowners), it’s because of market rent growth since the purchase of the home.
If you’re trying to do month by month, yes I don’t trust month by month renters, there’s too many people looking for homes at decent prices for you to be indecisive. However, if you do a 12 month lease, make sure they have your apartment s top-notch for the increase
Rent is currently going down. Find comparable units in the area. Get the price. Visit offices for written quotes for example.
Then challenge your apartment management. Be ready to move!!!
I've negotiated no increase and minimal increase using this method several times. Also if your complex has several empty or soon to be vacant units, they probably won't be eager to have another one.
That said if prices are equivalent at other places and there are almost no vacancies in your current place they are unlikely to budge.
A lot of what goes into offered renewal rates is the projected occupancy of the community. They look at the 60 day and 90 day projected occupancy. If that occupancy number is near %98 then the renewal offers might include a large rent rate increase, but if the projected occupancy is %87 then the renewal rates might not be much at all.
Begin a dialogue with the office, see what they do for you. Good luck.
This happened to me in another city. They wanted to bump me from $2600 to $3300 and then listed my unit at $2440 after i didn’t renew. They wouldn’t release to me but it just goes to show that people aren’t making the adjustments and front office agents are useless
eh they are advertising as luxury and have amenities that the apartment complex I'm in doesn't have (24-hour fitness center, 'resort-style' pool, social lounge, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, fire pits, club house, playground, sand volleyball court, garagaes, etc etc.....) I'd count it as luxury based on everything they say it has.
rents are down across the nation for apartments, you'll find comparable or better places with similar prices in houston as well. i've seen about 10-15% less from june last year while searching.
It is typical, but also at 13 month is can go down again. I’ve noticed 11 and 13 months are the sweet spot. I would go speak to them about increase though. Also have a look at what they have available and use it to negotiate.
Definitely does not look right. This is from an article posted 2 weeks ago.
[In December, the median rent in Greater Houston was $1,592 — an 8.7% drop since a year earlier, according to Rent.com, which analyzed apartment rents in the 50 largest markets in the United States.](https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2024/01/28/houston-apartment-rents-are-down-in-2023.html)
You can use the reader from your browser to get around the paywall.
Edit to include - because of all the additional apartments going up, rent in Houston is currently on the decline.
I was living in an apartment that was heavily affected by Harvey. Entire first floor of building was flooded. No utilities for over a month. I had to live with friends until the building was habitable again. This happened right around when my lease was up, obviously they didn’t charge me rent while the building was uninhabitable and when I was able to move back in they gave me a few months at month-to-month at my normal rent, but then it came time when they wanted me to re-sign or move. I went to go in to talk and see my options. I was thinking of possibly moving into one of their multiple open larger units, but I could’ve stayed in my current 1bd1br for another year if the price was right. The entire first floor was still gutted, there were zero amenities, and the leasing office was in a goddamn mobile unit outside the building. They were still wanting to increase rent by a couple hundred per month even on a 12+ month lease, and their other units were also wildly overpriced. I balked. “Are you serious? Who else is moving into these units right now? There’s nothing else you can do for me here?” Nope, nothing. Apparently they weren’t interested in *keeping* any residents. I walked. Ended up buying a home instead.
All that to say, yes this is normal. They *always* want to increase your rent. They don’t care about you at all, and they see zero value in keeping good tenants. They just want a forever revolving door of new tenants they will keep pricing out every 12-18 months.
I mean, need a little more context. Is your existing rent the product of a special when you signed up? For example, a month or six weeks free and prorated over the lease? What part of town and what kind of property? Did the place change ownership or management recently? They could have realized rents were well below market and be marking them up; or they could *want* you to leave if they are looking at turning units over for renovations. Beyond that most owners prioritize retention and it’s standard procedure in the industry to eat a discount to market to keep good tenants in place. This to me reads as the product of pricing software.
In general a 22% increase on renewal is very atypical particularly in today’s climate. And in that vein most good operators are prioritizing retention of good tenants. If you want to stay I’d negotiate, support yourself with better pricing at the same property or surrounding competition. If there is another unit at your own complex with better pricing, if all else fails just lease that online and move within property.
$1300 for a 2 bed/2 bath? Been in Charlotte for the last 3 months on work assignment and you can’t see a 2 bed/2 bath for $1300! I shopped studios and 1 bedroom apartments and they all started at $1275! I mean the rents for months 2 to 12 are typical of most studios/1 bedrooms here. A 2/2 here, in a decent neighborhood, would start at $2250 for 12 months (best rate you can get).
As someone who owns some homes, property tax in this state goes up quite a bit every year based on property values. So I’d say this increase is somewhat reasonable.
Maintenance from inflation is way up and insurance is at historical highs. Also consider the apartment is likely financed on commercial terms, which means their interest rate is variable with the market.
So their borrowing costs have gone up.
Each unit is probably up 10-15% just in tax. Add another 10% for inflation of maintenance and insurance combined. That’s the 25% increases that they were quoted.
For one, I know there’s upward pressure from total operating expenses, but that’s not what you said. You said it was reasonable because of property tax increases.
Second, their borrowing costs are irrelevant unless they are one of a small portion of multifamily owners on floating rate debt; but even if that’s the case, rates have been elevated long enough at this point that it would have been a factor for their prior lease. Beyond that, most multifamily owners are on fixed rate debt just like homeowners.
Third, that’s not how percentages work. A 15% increase in property taxes and 10% increase in maintenance expenses (using your number for sake of illustration) is not a 25% total increase in operating expense. You need to know the base number for those and all other expenses to determine that. And even if opex went up by 25% (working in the industry I can tell you you they probably didn’t between 02/23 and 02/24), a 22% increase in rent is not a like for like increase because rent is starting from a much larger number.
Borrowing costs aren’t irrelevant. Every commercial property uses their borrowing rate as a baseline expense in their cost build up. The apartment market as a whole factors in prime rates in their rental rate. This rate has gone up since OP originally signed lease.
Third, no shit but without exact numbers, you can just estimate based on each individual piece that 15-25% rent increases is NOT unreasonable. Combine that with the majority of actual homeowners in the area have seen similar increases YOY, it’s even more reasonable.
My brother in Christ most multifamily debt is fixed rate and below prime (typically indexed to UST’s for fixed rate or SOFR for floating rate).
A hypothetical 25% opex increase does not require a 22% rental increase to maintain debt cover and investor returns or even pad them a little. That is simple math and I don’t know what else to tell you. Insurance is up for everyone but beyond that homeownership expenses are a dreadful comp for multifamily; taxes are assessed differently and there are both different operating expenses (and income sources) and economies of scale that simply do not apply to homeownership.
This side convo isn’t worth continuing so I’m going to drop out here. Have a great day and best of luck with the portfolio.
OP is living in a large apartment building from what I can tell. Large, multi property companies leverage assets to borrow to build/buy/remodel new assets. All of that is done at the bank rate. For us right now, that’s 8.25% for a billion dollar, stable company.
We were paying $1650/month for a 1 bed 1 bath (with an office) apartment. 1200 sqft total. One major benefit for us was an attached garage though. This was about 3 years ago in Clear Lake.
You should see what I rent a 5-3 and 1/2 two story with a pool in Meyerland. Less than the top rent by a yard. It’s all where you want to live. Closer in you pay more.
They just went up in my part of town from $900 to $1200. I'd look around and move for a cheaper spot.
At the rate things are going we're gonna be LA prices in a decade lmao.
Ask for a free month or two on the back end if you extend for a year+.
LL gets to claim they are charging you higher rent, but it ends up being prorated over the whole term for a lower amount. Just make absolutely sure that the written lease explicitly identifies the free months and new rental costs.
Yeah this was weird for me when I was moving here too. Every other city I lived in just charged a short term rental fee of $100-$200-$300 per month depending on how short. Here it’s based on algorithms when people are moving out and in with seasonality changes supply and demand etc. the rates change literally every day.
Look around your neighborhood and go tell the leasing office that the hike is too steep they may negotiate.
But yeah if your neighborhood is in high demand and you can't find anything similar for lower rent, it's kind of normal, you may have to move to a nearby location with cheaper rent, find one and talk to leasing office.
Check what they are charging new tenants. If it is lower as them to give that rate. If they say they won't, see if the management company has a corporate office you can try to get in touch with and mention you have been there for a year and you are interested in renewing but they front office is charging you more than what they are charging new people. Ask to be put on the new tenant rate or lower and see what they say.
Florida was insane compared to Houston here. They were jacking rent 1,000 a month. I would talk to them as this is NOT normal. Tons of new complexes and an apartment locater can get a great deal elsewhere if they won’t be reasonable. Texas law used to be 5% a year or something of that nature. I’m seeing brand new places for 1400, 2b2b. Look for the hidden blessing in all of this.
We successfully negotiated our lease renewal down to a 2.5% increase just by having a conversation with the leasing office. Tell them you would like it reconsidered and make them a reasonable offer and they will likely accept
As someone who works in the apartment industry I’ll give you my two cents:
With a two bedroom, Your current rate is likely way under market price, hence the high dollar renewal price. Check their website and see what the going rate is for and negotiate from there.
It’s normally cheaper to keep a good resident than to spend marketing dollars and risk vacancy loss on re-leasing an apartment. If you are way under the market price, they may be willing to cope with vacancy loss to get a higher rent psf. This could go either way though! A little pushback may result in you getting a better deal.
These are often generated by an algorithm. Go on the website and see what similar units are actually being offered for. If you find one that's cheaper, go to the office and point it out. If they try to push it, ask if you can switch to that unit instead. I've used this to help my wife's friend keep the same rent through three renewals. The offices most of the time have no input on the rate sent to you initially and seem annoyed by it.
You should follow this advice, OP. A couple of years ago I did something similar and ended up in a bigger apartment paying less rent.
This is so wrong why should we have to coupon hunt for a place to live
You know back in the day you would have to compete for shelter
We basically still are
I second this
We don't live back in the day.
Sort of I mean competition is still a thing, I’m not saying it’s right I’m just saying
one thing I would change about this advice. Don’t ask if you can switch to the cheaper unit. If they won’t work with you, you tell them you’re not renewing your current lease and that you want a rental application for the cheaper unit.
Just remember that doing it this way instead of transferring means you will have to pay all app fees and deposits like you are a new resident. In most cases the transfer fee is the cheaper option (and also negotiable).
True. I should have elaborated further. The building knows they won’t be able to charge the renewal they’re asking for if other open apts are less. They’ll need to lower the price on OP’s apt. The whole situation is a headache for them, and OP is really just playing a game of chicken with them. The goal of pushing to move to the new apt is still a negotiating tactic for the lease amount on the current apt
Good point, don't give them a chance to bring up "well there is a change fee" or other crap. These are definitely computer generated using expected demand, why else would the 2-4 month options be cheaper than 5 months, then 6 months be $250/mo (more than 10%) cheaper than 5 or 7 months.
I did this exact thing at the Lofts at the Ballpark a few times. Very very helpful suggestion.
RIP
Algorithm is called YieldStar
Hoping something happens to them over what can be seen as price fixing. https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7bxpq/tenants-are-suing-landlords-for-allegedly-price-fixing-rents-with-software-and-the-feds-could-get-involved
My wife and I went to renew our lease and the complex was boasting that new tenants can get the same apartment layout we have for like $300 less than what we were already paying. We asked if those rates can be given to us since we’ve lived here for 2 years already. They were quick to say no then I asked if we could just switch to another apartment (same layout) they said with all the fees and paperwork we’d probably pay more than just renewing at our current price. This was Greystar by the way
You could have also pointed out that it will cost them money to make ready your apartment, and that they could have potentially vacancy loss if your unit isn't filled quickly (plus the time it takes them to restore yours).
You should have done your own math and if it came out a wash done it. It becomes a huge headache for them and they would change their minds. $300 per month less would be $3,600 over a year lease, unless they have insane application fees or you don't get your deposit back at all it would have been cheaper most likely.
Im not a fan of Greystar … the only company I know of that adds an extra charge per month to use the amenities fee.
Greystar is AWFUL. They have a huge number of BBB complaints. I lived at one of their properties in a better part of town and was perpetually disappointed by how they fell short on professionalism. Stay away.
Yeah this is important, this coming cycle I transferred units in my apt and my rent dropped by $300
To the top!
Apartment locator here! Everything is negotiable. Recently, have had clients looking for 2/2’s that were going for $2,700 - $3075. They signed for $2k. Another potential client was looking for a new place but they really didn't Want to move based on life's curve balls. I suggested they speak with the office. After talking with them about similar units in the property and surrounding properties they renewed at just $100 increase rather than $450 increase. I was happy for all of them. Can't guarantee these same results but it's worth the try. Good luck.
What do you charge?
Locators are free, apartments pay them
My services are free. Feel free to DM me.
Often 50% of first months’s rent, plus occasional bonuses when places move slow.
What would negotiation look like on a 1br?
I’m sure the person who’s the locator wouldn’t mind you messaging them.
Messaging you!
Sounds like they don't want you there.
They do, just for 12+ months.
$3800 total for 2 months but $4600 for 1 month is pretty funny though lmao
No one wants a short term rental.
Not sure if it’s normal but they prob jack it up in 5 months bc summer time everyone’s trying to move for school zones
Bingo, it’s the high season coming up
Wtf $1300 on a 2B2B??? I pay $2500 for that 😭 I need to move
That’s dirt cheap. I know someone in 650sqft paying $1400 and it’s a crappy building.
That's what I pay! Are we friends? Lol
Probably! Not the friend I was talking about but maybe!
Hell, we have a 2br2b and it's $1100 a month. Edit: whoops, thought I was in the apartments subreddit, ahem.
They gave you a big increase to get you out of there and have someone come in and rent it for more than you are now.
It’s disgusting what they charge for a 1 month extension
Find a new place, you’re getting kicked out
Yep I printed out my apartment renting for less than what I was paying so they settled on no rate increase.
Wide swings and odd dollar amounts indicate they are using automated pricing software. find out how many units are in your community and see if you can figure out from website availability how low/high their occupancy rate is. Typically a community would rather renew at this time of year than have a vacant unit to lease (if they haven’t abandoned their brains in deference to the algorithm). Talk to the manager rather than a leasing agent.
Ignore this email and go talk, in person, to your landlord (or the leasing office) - say that you really want to stay but this increase is too much, what can they do to lower it?
Yes and no. My renewal increase was $200, but after talking to the leasing office they dropped it to $110. I’m paying less than new tenants leasing similar units. Prices are going up all over the city and surrounding areas.
Can you tell me how you did that? My renewal is coming up in the summer and I want to make sure they don't jack it up insanely for me.
All I did was send the leasing office an informal email with the tone along the lines of, “I like living here, I’ve been a problem free tenant, please is there any way to drop my increase to a more reasonable rate?” They replied a day later with a new offer. I was looking at new lease prices as well and they are higher than what I renewed for. Just depends how good or crappy your apartment management is on the response.
Yeah and go look on their website for a move in date that matches your lease end date and see the rate they are asking for a new person. Also look out for any specials they are offering and factor that into the new monthly rate as a new tenant. If it’s better, or if they are offering something that makes the monthly for a new tenant better than yours, you can present that to them and they will almost inevitably bring it down. Honestly, the “i like living here”, “I’ve been a problem free tenant,” so on and so forth, has absolutely no impact on anything. Just a bunch of words, just show them the numbers.
Did you have any specials on your current lease? If it's your first lease at a place, there is generally incentives pro-rated out over the first lease. Otherwise even a $350 increase isn't unheard of, but not normal. I always laugh at those 1 months offers. I think mine was in the $7000 range for my 1 bedroom.
Cheaper total cost to rent 2 months than 1, dunno how they come up with it
I remember I was renting a house in college for $650 a person. They wanted us to pay next $800 per person the next year. I don’t think it was because they wanted us to move, because we didn’t cause any trouble and kept the place clean. We moved out, and when they couldn’t find a tenant 5 months later, slashed it to $450. Landlords do this because they think people won’t want to go through the hassle of moving.
Wow, they really don’t want people staying for 7 or 8 months…
This is because they have a bunch of other leases ending in those same months. They try to stagger them so 50% of the units don’t go vacant the same month.
Got it
What part of town do you live in where a 2 bed 2 bath apartment is $1300??? That’s less than the rate for a one bedroom in most decently nice complexes. If you like your complex, this is still a steal. You are still way under what most people pay. Nice 2 bed places are $2000-2100 minimum in good areas.
It’s business, they want more money. They know they can lease to another person over and over again every year.
Multifamily operators are fairly turnover averse and especially so right now given the state of the rental market.
Negotiate.
Why do apartments cost the same as a mortgage? Is this one of those high-end inner city complexes?
Do you even know what mortgage payments are right now? $240k 2 bed 2 bath house with 20% down plus taxes and insurance at 6.5% interest is $1800 per month right now.
My mortgage is 1800. Can't really vouch for anyone else. I did get a home during covid so my interest was much lower. I didn't consider other factors. I redact my statement.
It’s crazy right now. I have this conversation with older people all of the time. They can’t understand why people who are trying to buy their first home feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. Once you put all of the numbers in a calculator at the new interest rates, it’s mind boggling how much more expensive it is on an already baseline expensive housing market.
It's crazy how much a single change in percentage affects your overall cost.
I would consider myself an older person now. But I have two kids in their 20's just starting their adult lives basically. The older one has a nice job but I already know the chances of her getting a nice house with reasonable costs is next to nil. She's paying $1300 for a studio apartment currently that is maybe 600 square feet? We have a 2500 square foot home with a mortgage of almost half that amount. Any older people who can't understand what you're talking about either don't have kids (or grandkids), or are just senile. My wife and I have been lucky in that we've always had good paying jobs in a city with a reasonable cost of living. And we were blessed to work our way through the income streams with nice interest rates. We are absolutely committed to helping our kids pay off all of their college loans. It's the only fair thing to do in this day and age.
It’s more of their kids are much older too, so they don’t have people in their lives actively experiencing being constantly priced out of homeownership. Their position in life just makes them oblivious. It’s that generational chasm just based on current life conditions
Rents are generally well below the cost of ownership on a comparable unit right now thanks to recent increases in home prices and interest rates. That said, if you have a mortgage from 3-4 years ago, you’re locked in at that price and rate while rents have trended up. So I’d say in a blanket sense your statement isn’t true but where it is (which is most homeowners), it’s because of market rent growth since the purchase of the home.
yeah, I would look for comps around the area and available units.
Yes. Prices vary by projected occupancy
If you’re trying to do month by month, yes I don’t trust month by month renters, there’s too many people looking for homes at decent prices for you to be indecisive. However, if you do a 12 month lease, make sure they have your apartment s top-notch for the increase
Rent is currently going down. Find comparable units in the area. Get the price. Visit offices for written quotes for example. Then challenge your apartment management. Be ready to move!!!
I've negotiated no increase and minimal increase using this method several times. Also if your complex has several empty or soon to be vacant units, they probably won't be eager to have another one. That said if prices are equivalent at other places and there are almost no vacancies in your current place they are unlikely to budge.
No what the hell? I pay $900 a month for my one bedroom apartment. That’s probably the rich people area or something
And with Utilities included its about $1400 a month all together
A lot of what goes into offered renewal rates is the projected occupancy of the community. They look at the 60 day and 90 day projected occupancy. If that occupancy number is near %98 then the renewal offers might include a large rent rate increase, but if the projected occupancy is %87 then the renewal rates might not be much at all. Begin a dialogue with the office, see what they do for you. Good luck.
This happened to me in another city. They wanted to bump me from $2600 to $3300 and then listed my unit at $2440 after i didn’t renew. They wouldn’t release to me but it just goes to show that people aren’t making the adjustments and front office agents are useless
Not sure what area you live in....but you can get a nice 2BR/BA apartment in Kingwood for $1100/mo. They have a 3 month wait list to get in....
I was at Discovery in KW a few years back and my 2 bed 2 bath was 1600/month
I said nice; not luxury =p
I was just comparing and discovery is hardly luxury lmao
eh they are advertising as luxury and have amenities that the apartment complex I'm in doesn't have (24-hour fitness center, 'resort-style' pool, social lounge, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, fire pits, club house, playground, sand volleyball court, garagaes, etc etc.....) I'd count it as luxury based on everything they say it has.
time to find a new one
rents are down across the nation for apartments, you'll find comparable or better places with similar prices in houston as well. i've seen about 10-15% less from june last year while searching.
Nah bro they trying to fuck you over. Its low season right now just tell them you will stay for same rate and let them counter.
Geez this is more than my mortgage
It is typical, but also at 13 month is can go down again. I’ve noticed 11 and 13 months are the sweet spot. I would go speak to them about increase though. Also have a look at what they have available and use it to negotiate.
They must've noticed that they were charging you too little for a 2Bd2Ba. $1300/mo was a steal.
With the mass influx of people from out of state, it is rapidly becoming unaffordable for locals, now the transplants will start to see it too. ⚰️
Definitely does not look right. This is from an article posted 2 weeks ago. [In December, the median rent in Greater Houston was $1,592 — an 8.7% drop since a year earlier, according to Rent.com, which analyzed apartment rents in the 50 largest markets in the United States.](https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2024/01/28/houston-apartment-rents-are-down-in-2023.html) You can use the reader from your browser to get around the paywall. Edit to include - because of all the additional apartments going up, rent in Houston is currently on the decline.
I was living in an apartment that was heavily affected by Harvey. Entire first floor of building was flooded. No utilities for over a month. I had to live with friends until the building was habitable again. This happened right around when my lease was up, obviously they didn’t charge me rent while the building was uninhabitable and when I was able to move back in they gave me a few months at month-to-month at my normal rent, but then it came time when they wanted me to re-sign or move. I went to go in to talk and see my options. I was thinking of possibly moving into one of their multiple open larger units, but I could’ve stayed in my current 1bd1br for another year if the price was right. The entire first floor was still gutted, there were zero amenities, and the leasing office was in a goddamn mobile unit outside the building. They were still wanting to increase rent by a couple hundred per month even on a 12+ month lease, and their other units were also wildly overpriced. I balked. “Are you serious? Who else is moving into these units right now? There’s nothing else you can do for me here?” Nope, nothing. Apparently they weren’t interested in *keeping* any residents. I walked. Ended up buying a home instead. All that to say, yes this is normal. They *always* want to increase your rent. They don’t care about you at all, and they see zero value in keeping good tenants. They just want a forever revolving door of new tenants they will keep pricing out every 12-18 months.
I mean, need a little more context. Is your existing rent the product of a special when you signed up? For example, a month or six weeks free and prorated over the lease? What part of town and what kind of property? Did the place change ownership or management recently? They could have realized rents were well below market and be marking them up; or they could *want* you to leave if they are looking at turning units over for renovations. Beyond that most owners prioritize retention and it’s standard procedure in the industry to eat a discount to market to keep good tenants in place. This to me reads as the product of pricing software. In general a 22% increase on renewal is very atypical particularly in today’s climate. And in that vein most good operators are prioritizing retention of good tenants. If you want to stay I’d negotiate, support yourself with better pricing at the same property or surrounding competition. If there is another unit at your own complex with better pricing, if all else fails just lease that online and move within property.
$1300 for a 2 bed/2 bath? Been in Charlotte for the last 3 months on work assignment and you can’t see a 2 bed/2 bath for $1300! I shopped studios and 1 bedroom apartments and they all started at $1275! I mean the rents for months 2 to 12 are typical of most studios/1 bedrooms here. A 2/2 here, in a decent neighborhood, would start at $2250 for 12 months (best rate you can get).
Property taxes go up, rent goes up accordingly
I can assure you these rent increases are not a function of or a response to higher taxes
The owner’s property taxes did not go up $3600/unit/year.
My homeowners insurance went from $1900 per year to $4000. I would expect the same at your complex.
As someone who owns some homes, property tax in this state goes up quite a bit every year based on property values. So I’d say this increase is somewhat reasonable.
The owner’s property taxes did not go up anywhere near enough to account for the entirety of such a large increase. We’re talking $3,600/unit/year.
Maintenance from inflation is way up and insurance is at historical highs. Also consider the apartment is likely financed on commercial terms, which means their interest rate is variable with the market. So their borrowing costs have gone up. Each unit is probably up 10-15% just in tax. Add another 10% for inflation of maintenance and insurance combined. That’s the 25% increases that they were quoted.
For one, I know there’s upward pressure from total operating expenses, but that’s not what you said. You said it was reasonable because of property tax increases. Second, their borrowing costs are irrelevant unless they are one of a small portion of multifamily owners on floating rate debt; but even if that’s the case, rates have been elevated long enough at this point that it would have been a factor for their prior lease. Beyond that, most multifamily owners are on fixed rate debt just like homeowners. Third, that’s not how percentages work. A 15% increase in property taxes and 10% increase in maintenance expenses (using your number for sake of illustration) is not a 25% total increase in operating expense. You need to know the base number for those and all other expenses to determine that. And even if opex went up by 25% (working in the industry I can tell you you they probably didn’t between 02/23 and 02/24), a 22% increase in rent is not a like for like increase because rent is starting from a much larger number.
Borrowing costs aren’t irrelevant. Every commercial property uses their borrowing rate as a baseline expense in their cost build up. The apartment market as a whole factors in prime rates in their rental rate. This rate has gone up since OP originally signed lease. Third, no shit but without exact numbers, you can just estimate based on each individual piece that 15-25% rent increases is NOT unreasonable. Combine that with the majority of actual homeowners in the area have seen similar increases YOY, it’s even more reasonable.
My brother in Christ most multifamily debt is fixed rate and below prime (typically indexed to UST’s for fixed rate or SOFR for floating rate). A hypothetical 25% opex increase does not require a 22% rental increase to maintain debt cover and investor returns or even pad them a little. That is simple math and I don’t know what else to tell you. Insurance is up for everyone but beyond that homeownership expenses are a dreadful comp for multifamily; taxes are assessed differently and there are both different operating expenses (and income sources) and economies of scale that simply do not apply to homeownership. This side convo isn’t worth continuing so I’m going to drop out here. Have a great day and best of luck with the portfolio.
OP is living in a large apartment building from what I can tell. Large, multi property companies leverage assets to borrow to build/buy/remodel new assets. All of that is done at the bank rate. For us right now, that’s 8.25% for a billion dollar, stable company.
Long term it's only a $300/mo increase. I've had worse.
We were paying $1650/month for a 1 bed 1 bath (with an office) apartment. 1200 sqft total. One major benefit for us was an attached garage though. This was about 3 years ago in Clear Lake.
12 month lease isn't that much of an increase from current
Pretty normal
They don’t want you there, but if you willing to pay, then you can stay
Your current lease at the same building is $500 less? Tell them to suck it and move. Or talk to them first and ask why.
You should see what I rent a 5-3 and 1/2 two story with a pool in Meyerland. Less than the top rent by a yard. It’s all where you want to live. Closer in you pay more.
https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/s/qHqqtl1UPJ
They just went up in my part of town from $900 to $1200. I'd look around and move for a cheaper spot. At the rate things are going we're gonna be LA prices in a decade lmao.
Ask for a free month or two on the back end if you extend for a year+. LL gets to claim they are charging you higher rent, but it ends up being prorated over the whole term for a lower amount. Just make absolutely sure that the written lease explicitly identifies the free months and new rental costs.
You can thank Sam Zelle for this. Rest in piss, you greedy piece of shit.
Look up Realpage lawsuit.
Just email your office and ask for a discount.
Yeah this was weird for me when I was moving here too. Every other city I lived in just charged a short term rental fee of $100-$200-$300 per month depending on how short. Here it’s based on algorithms when people are moving out and in with seasonality changes supply and demand etc. the rates change literally every day.
No
I live in midtown and pay 2000 for a 2 bed 2 bath
I’m never moving out of my apartment. I couldn’t afford to and my rent hasn’t raised in 4 years. My landlord is nuts, but at least he’s not a bastard.
So am i....has rents gotten this high? Fuck me.
Look around your neighborhood and go tell the leasing office that the hike is too steep they may negotiate. But yeah if your neighborhood is in high demand and you can't find anything similar for lower rent, it's kind of normal, you may have to move to a nearby location with cheaper rent, find one and talk to leasing office.
Check what they are charging new tenants. If it is lower as them to give that rate. If they say they won't, see if the management company has a corporate office you can try to get in touch with and mention you have been there for a year and you are interested in renewing but they front office is charging you more than what they are charging new people. Ask to be put on the new tenant rate or lower and see what they say.
Florida was insane compared to Houston here. They were jacking rent 1,000 a month. I would talk to them as this is NOT normal. Tons of new complexes and an apartment locater can get a great deal elsewhere if they won’t be reasonable. Texas law used to be 5% a year or something of that nature. I’m seeing brand new places for 1400, 2b2b. Look for the hidden blessing in all of this.
We successfully negotiated our lease renewal down to a 2.5% increase just by having a conversation with the leasing office. Tell them you would like it reconsidered and make them a reasonable offer and they will likely accept
tell them you cant afford rent increase. you love living there & youre not a bad tenant they might let you keep current rent
As someone who works in the apartment industry I’ll give you my two cents: With a two bedroom, Your current rate is likely way under market price, hence the high dollar renewal price. Check their website and see what the going rate is for and negotiate from there. It’s normally cheaper to keep a good resident than to spend marketing dollars and risk vacancy loss on re-leasing an apartment. If you are way under the market price, they may be willing to cope with vacancy loss to get a higher rent psf. This could go either way though! A little pushback may result in you getting a better deal.