Secondly, from what I know

[no_such_reality]

Secondly, from what I know and truly believe, rents NEVER go down.

In 1996, I moved from a 2br 2ba apartment at $1250 to a 3bd 2ba house at $1050. The house was in a better neighborhood.

Apartment complexes were really uniform on rents. Renting private residences and prices were all over the map.