I disagree. We didn’t want to spend more than $2500 on rent but I wasn’t finding what I wanted so I used a search up to $3000.
We found a house, met the landlord and they could tell we were decent people who would take care of the place and pay the rent. Our credit scores probably helped too. He only made us sign a 6 month lease and allows us to go month to month because we told him we wanted to buy in the next year.
I told him in a 5 minute conversation we didn’t want to spend more than $2500 and he knocked $300 off the monthly rent so we are at $2475. It was painless and the saying is true, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”