Renting an apartment comes with a lot of hassle, from renovations to cleaning to checking your finances. However, it can all be made much easier if you know a few insider tips and tricks that most pros probably wouldn’t share openly with you. Former property manager Moriah Michelle – known on TikTok as @moriahhmichelle – posted an insider tip for apartment renters on the platform to help them deal with increased rent costs during renewals.
“Okay, this one is for people who rent apartments. I worked in property management a few years ago and here’s an insider tip,” Michelle said in her video. “So if you’re renewing your lease and it’s coming up for renewal and they raise your rent, like $200 to $300, they also have the option to lower your rent.” Michelle explained how they can either lower the rent or keep it the same by doing one thing. You just have to know the right person to talk to. “Don’t talk to the leasing agent, which is the person you can see. Talk to the person you can’t see, which is the property manager,” Michelle explained. She emphasized that you shouldn’t even talk to the assistant manager, you should reach out to the property manager.
“They can turn to their computer and there’s a screen that pops up. At least with the company I worked at, there’s a screen that pops up with all the rates of the comparison rates,” the former property manager explained. “There’s a little box at the bottom that tells them how much they can negotiate your renewal price down.” However, she added that different property management companies operate differently and may have different rules for the same thing. “But there’s a little box and on the box there’s a number. So it could be 50, it could be 300, it could be 400, 500. It could be 150, 175. That’s the amount I can use to set your renewal price,” she continued.
“So let’s say your rent is currently $1500 and your renewal price is 1750. Then I go into your little thing and look in the box and it says 150. I can lower the renewal price of $1750 by $150,” Michelle shared. “So if someone says they can’t change your renewal price, they’re probably lying to you because they obviously want to make money.” She expressed that there is always a way to lower the renewal price. “So there you have it, inside trick,” Michelle exclaimed. The video received over 1.5 million views and more than 174.6k likes. People commented on the video to share their experiences with it.
@deseremyles22 wrote, “I work in property management. If you don’t want to keep your current rate, ask them to upgrade your apartment to match the increase. Especially if they are already renovating apartments in the complex.” @liacohnnrbl commented, “AND if the property manager doesn’t want to do that, you can also call head office and speak to the regional manager.” @justdmack noted, “That’s right. Just negotiate and ask them to keep the budgeted amount. I have done extensions.” Meanwhile, @iesha_yvette commented, “Please remember that every company is different. Asking is good, but don’t assume that’s possible everywhere.”
You can follow Moriah Michelle (@moriahhmichelle) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.
