5 Tips to Save on your Monthly Rent

One thing to consider when buying any service or product is that everything is negotiable. Below are some tips and tricks to use when trying to save money on your lease.

1) Look for rental properties during these months (Nov - Dec - Jan - Feb) :
These are historically the worst months to try to rent out a property. There are less people actually looking to move during these months but that is precisely why you can save money if you move during this time period. The landlords are more flexible in working with you because of the slowness in demand.

2)  Use Rental Comparables Tools:
How do you know what something should be worth. Without going into Supply and Demand curves and evaluating the equilibrium price, an easier way to determine price is to see what other like rental houses are going for in the same area as well as how long those homes have been on the market. There are some tools that can help you with this including RentoMeter.com, rentbits.com, oodle.com, zilpy.com

3) Sign a longer Lease:
The longer you sign a lease for the better deal you can get.

4) Have great Credit:
If you already have great credit, you probably have already experienced the social profiling that companies and credit cards do to you. You are their prime customer. Why? Because you are more likely to pay your bills. If a landlord knows there is a higher probability that you will pay your bills, this gives you 1 up on negotiating the price down. If you have bad credit, I suggest you work on getting those credit scores up.

5) Don’t Own Pets:
Although pets can increase your life by 6 years, it will be harder for you to get into a rental home at a lower price. Once you narrow your search down to those homes that accept pets, you are losing negotiating power because pets are a higher financial risk for the property owner (damage to the property) as well as there are less homes that accept pets than there are that do.