We are still renting, looking for a place now in Orange County instead of the Inland Empire. Anyway, we were visiting a large apartment complex in the Irvine area over the weekend, and I overheard the leasing agent speaking to a current renter. The current renter had just told her that he/she had lost their job. Without much hesitation or thinking, the leasing agent told them they would lower their rent to $1,000 per month with proof of the termination. Given that we were just there for a few minutes and that the agent didn’t seemed surprised, I believe that this must be happening a lot and they are getting a lot of calls. Rents do seem cheaper from about a year ago, with one bedroom units with an extra den in the nicer Irvine/Tustin areas going for about $1,600 now, fyi.