[quote=sdrealtor]Now that is bunch of biased unrealistic advice if I’ve ever seen it. There are plenty of well qualified, great tenants chasing a pool of medicore rental properties out there. Lowball your way to a dump. If you find a great rental and it is close to reasonable take it.[/quote]
Sorry, but have to disagree with you, sdr.
We did it as well. We visited multiple homes and talked to a few property management firms. We negotiated and took the best offer. In our case, we agreed to do some maintenance on our house in exchange for no further rent increases.
You know where we live. We pay $2,100/month, and have been doing so for four of the past five years. The first year was $2,000, and the $100 increase was written into our first contract. Our LLs love us (again, long-time LLs who’ve been doing this for a while), and we love them. It works. 🙂
My parents were long-time landlords — of multiple properties — for a few decades. They would ALWAYS choose an excellent renter at a lower rate than a mediocre/poor tenant at a higher rate. Any experienced LL knows this.
