As a lifetime member of Generation Z, I’ve come to terms with the fact I am never going to own a house of my own, nor do I really want to. Renting rules! Whilst it may prohibit you from plastering posters of the Jonas Brothers all over your room with blu-tack. It does give you the freedom to live a life without any serious commitments.
My lease ran out last weekend. My housemates and I are still yet to hear a peep about it from our real estate agent. At first, we thought that we’d struck gold and that our agent had forgotten about us dwelling in our delicious inner-city apartment.
So we began scheming as to how we were going to continue living our lives as quiet as a mouse. So that our agent would never kick us out and we’d be live and die in an art-deco haven for less than $200 a week.
Rent prices have dropped.
It was not long before we realised we were not the ones hiding from our real estate agent, our real estate agent was the one hiding from us. Why? Because Sydney rent prices have dropped.
I know. I couldn’t believe it either. I never thought I’d see the day that rent in Sydney decreased. If you don’t believe me, look for yourself. The Tenants Union of New South Wales offers a rent tracker tool on its website. The tool allows you to track rental prices by the area over a period of 12 months.
The rent for a two-bedder in my suburb has dropped -3.53% in the past year. Which works out to be around $1,500 cheaper per year. It doesn’t seem like much at a glance, but if you do the math it’s pretty much a year worth of takeaway coffee.
So you’ve realised that you’re paying a coupla hundred dollars more in rent than you need to be, what now?
You’ve made the decision to make like Josephine Anwhistle of Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events, and face your biggest fear… real estate agents.
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Communicating with real estate agents is possibly one of the most stressful experiences one goes through in this human life. So naturally, the thought of bartering with one triggers stomach-churning anxiety.
I think we all share a completely irrational fear that if we were to somehow impose on our real estate agent we would end up on the street within an hour. It’s important to remember that real estate agents are people too, despite their predisposition to do things like go to the races.
On a recent interview with triple j’s Hack, Leo Patterson Ross from Tenants Union of NSW told Hack, asserted listeners that it is beneficial for landlords to listen to you.
“From the landlord’s perspective, they are looking at their return over the whole year,” Ross stated. “If you ask for a rent reduction of, say, two per cent, that translates into about a week’s vacancy for them.
This puts the landlord in a sticky situation. They have to decide between granting you a rent reduction, or deciding whether they would be able to replace you with a tenant that would pay enough rent to make up the money they would lose if the house were to be vacated.
The latter option is inconvenient and risky as hell, so you’re in the position of power. Look at you go!
How to approach the bartering
Whilst the temptation to throw a life-sized doll at your landlord whilst yelling “gimme your fucken money” runs incredibly strong. It may not get you where you want to be.
Before you dive into the bartering, decide how much of a decrease in rent you’re going to request. The rent tracker service is a good place to start. Whilst you may not be able to haggle your rent down to exactly what you desire, the less you pay the better.
Worst case scenario, your ass gets kicked to the curb. At least you have the comfort in knowing you’ll be able to snaffle up cheap rent somewhere else. Happy bargaining!
Whilst you’re here, why don’t you read our article on why we believe its time Sydney renters should be allowed to own pets.
