Homes Manual

How To Get The Best Rental Accommodation In The Area By Using Your Capital


My report is for you to use your power to negotiate, not only a reduced weekly cost of accommodation, but also to get the best accommodation available in the area in which you wish to live.

Hello Colm Dillon here ...

Market conditions will effect the final outcome.

Irrespective, a good negotiation, following these guidelines, will save you money. Get to know the state of the market before you commence.

Determine how much you can afford to pay and then go higher. For example if you can afford $200 per week, start looking at a figure of say $250 - $260 per week. If you fall into a higher bracket; say $400 per week, start looking at $500.

Go to several real estate agencies and ask them what they have on their books at the amount you nominate. Also tell them your preferred areas.

Go through the normal selection process and pick the best place in which you would be happy living.

Confirm the weekly/monthly rental with the agent and the length of the lease term i.e. 6 months etc

Confirm with the agent that you really like the place, although there are a few others you like as well. Don't say which ones, just give the impression that their agency is not the only 'cab on the rank.'

Note: Final selection by you will be made on the basis of the landlord attitude, as you intend living in the property for a 'while.'

Start The Negotiation. Ask the agent to find out how much the landlord would accept for a 12 month lease. He will probably reply by stating the same amount back to you as you would pay for a six month term.

Start ramping up your approach by enquiring about a 2 year term. At this stage you should be getting the agent to phone the owner and coming back to you with a discount.

You could leave the agency for a hour or so ... allows time for the agent to see that you are giving serious consideration to the other properties, as well as theirs.

Don't be to automatic in your process. "Time" is a wonderful tool in negotiation.

Generally talk a bit more to the agent and raise the question of what discount the owner would accept for a 3 year lease term.

Again a phone call to the owner should take place. If the agent is making all the decisions without calling the owner, you should insist, as h/er does not have a big latitude in rental decision making. The owner is the agent's 'boss.'

You should expect a further discount from this latest approach.

The agent may start to feel as though the negotiating should be coming to an end. Don't worry, you are about to bring out the 'Big Guns.'

Confirm again that you are warming more and more to the property, but there are a few other things you want to raise.

Tell the Agent that you would consider pre-paying 12 month rent in advance, if the owner would come to the party on the rent. Emphasize, the lack of risk to the owner; a large one off payment in his hand now that could be used to buy more property, etc etc.

Expect a reduction and Get It.

Depending on how your are going in the reduced rental stakes, in approaching your target base rent price, you may have one further go and offer 18 months or two years rent payment in advance.

You may hold off with this final offer by leaving the office after the last response.

The agent and owner have given ground on the rent so they may be feeling a bit tender. Let them 'marinate' for a few hours; maybe even over night, then put the last proposal of the 18 to 24 month prepayment of rent.

Once again, only you can judge how the negotiations are going. Most people want to 'do a deal' quickly and do not have the patience for a long term, several hours, negotiation.

By adding a more and more enticing offer you are making yourself more desirable as a tenant ... you will start to surround yourself with a "Golden Glow" of desirability.

When the final deal is done on rent and before you sign any Lease, you can now raise any property questions you have; i.e. carpet shampoo, condition, painting, plumbing, door locks, blinds etc etc.

Take photographs on a dated film of every aspect of the property (2 copies) one for the agent, one for you. You sign the back of the photos you give the agent and they sign the back of the copies you keep and it is noted in the lease.

When all these actions are taken, you will have accommodation, that you want, that is better than the original $xxx per week would get and you are secured for 3 years.

Finally, from these negotiation processes, both the owner and the agent will hold you in high regard, because most people admire a good negotiator.

Happy renting

Note: There is a financial mathematical formula called Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) which can be described as a means of calculating the 'Present Day Value' of 'Future Cash Flows.'

So what does that mean?

Let's say that you have got the $250 per week rent down to $230.00 before you start offering to pay rent in advance.OK?

In making the decision to pay in advance, you are giving the owner an amount of cash that they can use to make other buying investment decisions.

What this means is that the money you give them can earn them an amount of money, and we'll call that 'interest' - just like the bank. This is just one concept I want you to lock away.

That concept has been given to you so that you can see, or understand, my next concept of DCF.

Imagine writing across a page a whole string of $230, $230, $230 etc for every week you would normally have to pay that rent; 52 times or 104 times.

Now imagine discounting the 52nd $230 by an interest rate of whatever; say 5% for 52 weeks. Then the next $230 is discounted by 5% for 51 weeks and so on until you get back to zero weeks. Having done all these calculations and then add them up you arrive at a $value of all those Cash Flowed $230's for 52 weeks or for any other period.

I have not done the calculation for you because individual circumstances vary so much. However it is this discounted amount of money that you offer to the property owner.

Now going back to my first concept, you can see how the owner can invest the money. If they were to earn say 5% they would almost get back to the figure we started with i.e. 52 x $230.00 except of course the investment would also have gained in capital value.

I hope this brief explanation helps you understand why you should expect a discount for the Pre-Payment of rent or any other purchase you make where payment over time is the deal.

Last Point: If you were to leave your pre-paid rent in your bank account you would pay Tax on the interest you earned.

The Discount you get off your rent is Not Taxed and so is much more valuable to you and in effect you are getting a better return on your money invested in RENT.

This Article Shows You How To "SAVE MONEY & GET WEALTHY" by Renting & Using You CAPITAL.
Colm Dillon's eBook, "Residential Development Made Easy" is a best seller in 38 Countries World Wide, through his web site: http://realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/realestatedevelopment.html having developed $1.2 Billion worth of projects himself.


MORE RESOURCES:

Speculation swirls around ailing US mortgage giants (AFP)

People walk by Fannie Mae headquarters in July 2008 in Washington, DC. Speculation about the stressed financial health of US mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac swirled Wednesday as their share prices further plummeted.(AFP/File/Karen Bleier)AFP - Speculation about the stressed financial health of US mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac swirled Wednesday as their share prices further plummeted.



Insight: Is the UK market undervalued (FT.com)
FT.com - More UK fund managers, it seems, think their home market is cheap than at any time since the dark days of 2003. And despite that, they are sitting on record levels of cash. Or so the latest Merrill Lynch fund manager survey tells us.
Fannie, Freddie shares hit 18-year low on bailout fears (Reuters)

The corporate logo for Freddie Mac is seen at its headquarters building in McLean, Virginia, July 23, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dove to their lowest levels in more than 18 years on mounting fears of a government bailout that would wipe out shareholders of the two U.S. housing finance giants.



Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac shares plummet (AP)

The headquarters of mortgage lender Fannie Mae is shown in Washington in this file photo from October 3, 2006. (Jason Reed/Files/Reuters)AP - Shares of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued their plunge Wednesday as investors are increasingly convinced that the stocks will drop to zero if the government bails out the troubled companies.



Mortgage application volume hits multiyear low (AP)

The headquarters of mortgage lender Fannie Mae is shown in Washington in this file photo from October 3, 2006. (Jason Reed/Files/Reuters)AP - Mortgage application volume fell last week to its lowest levels in nearly eight years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.



Consumers face rising medical debt: survey (Reuters)

Beds lie empty in the emergency room of Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans February 14, 2006. REUTERS/Lee CelanoReuters - A growing number of U.S. adults are struggling to pay their medical bills, tapping into savings accounts, home equity and credit cards to cover health care costs, according to a survey released on Wednesday.



Americans think worst of 2008 oil spike over: poll (Reuters)

A New York City cab driver fills his taxi up with gas at a Hess station in New York July 2, 2008. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Reuters - Most Americans think that the worst of the fuel price spike that pushed gasoline above $4 per gallon has passed, but they have little hope that the housing market will stage a swift recovery, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.



Fannie, Freddie capital raising options uncertain (AP)

In this May 2, 2007 file photo, the Fannie Mae building in Washington is shown. Whether or not the government is actually on the verge of taking over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investor fears that a bailout is imminent could turn such a worst-case scenario into reality. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)AP - As mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac struggle with continuing credit losses, their ability to raise needed capital is uncertain and, analysts say, is complicated by the possibility of a government bailout of the two companies.



California home sales surged in July, prices fell (AP)

Pat Seymour with Neighborhood Realtors places a 'sold' sign on a home in Riverside, Calif., Tuesday Aug. 19, 2008.  A research firm says home prices in the San Francisco Bay area plunged 29.3 percent in July to a 53-month low. MDA DataQuick says in its report Tuesday that the median price for new and resale homes and condos stood at $470,000 last month, down from $665,000 in July 2007. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)AP - California homebuyers sprung to life in July, pouncing on foreclosed homes and deeply discounted properties but largely ignoring pricier homes that have been languishing on the market, a research firm said Tuesday.



Euro comes off six-month lows after weak US data (AFP)

US dollar and euro bank notes. The euro rebounded from six-month lows against the dollar after a spike in inflation and weak US housing market figures stoked fresh concerns about the US economy.(AFP/File/Philippe Desmazes)AFP - The euro rebounded from six-month lows against the dollar after a spike in inflation and weak US housing market figures stoked fresh concerns about the US economy.



Inflation pressures mount as home building slows (Reuters)

A woman shops at at a mall in a Denver suburb, May 16, 2008. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. wholesale prices shot up in July at the fastest annual rate in 27 years, while home builders cut back on construction as they worked through a glut of unsold homes, government data showed on Tuesday.



Russia 'makes 1 bln dlrs' on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac bonds: reports (AFP)

The Freddie Mac headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Investments in the bonds of struggling US home-loan financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have earned Russia more than a billion dollars in the past six months, press reports said Tuesday.(AFP/File/Paul J. Richards)AFP - Investments in the bonds of struggling US home-loan financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have earned Russia more than a billion dollars in the past six months, press reports said Tuesday.



Euro comes off six-month lows after weak US housing data (AFP)

US dollar and euro bank notes. The euro rebounded from six-month lows against the dollar after a spike in inflation and weak US housing market figures stoked fresh concerns about the US economy.(AFP/File/Philippe Desmazes)AFP - The euro rebounded from six-month lows against the dollar after weak US housing market figures stoked fresh concerns over the outlook for the US economy.



Home Depot's 2Q profit drops 24 percent (AP)

Department signs hang at a Home Depot story in Chicago, Friday, Aug. 8, 2008. The Home Depot Inc., the nation's largest home improvement retailer, reported a 24 percent drop in second-quarter profit, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008, but beat Wall Street expectations. The company reiterated its downbeat outlook for the year amid a weak housing and home improvement market that shows no signs of recovery. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)AP - The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit sank 24 percent and reiterated its downbeat outlook for the year amid a weak housing market that shows no signs of recovery.



American Home to pay fraction of bankruptcy claims (Reuters)
Reuters - American Home Mortgage Investment Corp , which was among the largest U.S. home loan providers before seeking bankruptcy protection a year ago, said it will pay unsecured creditors no more than 5.9 cents on the dollar as it liquidates assets.
Fannie, Freddie fall on renewed bailout fears (AP)

A AP - Whether or not the government is actually on the verge of taking over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investor fears that a bailout is imminent could turn such a worst-case scenario into reality.



IBD's Top 10 - Monday (Investor's Business Daily)
Investor's Business Daily - 1 Shares of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fell 25% and 22%, respectively, both to new lows, amid reports that the Treasury Dept. might have to bail out the 2 gov't chartered companies. The move likely would wipe out existing shareholder equity in Freddie and Fannie. Other financials sold off. Lehman Bros. fell 7% on a report it might post a big Q3 loss.
Economy - Monday (Investor's Business Daily)
Investor's Business Daily - Gov't-insured mortgages accounted for more than 29% of all loan applications in July vs. 8.4% a year earlier, said the Mortgage Bankers Assoc. The gov't market share hit a low of 5.8% 3 years ago. Demand for home loans backed by Federal Housing Administration has increased as private funding has dried up and the gov't has expanded the FHA's scope. FHA loans are insured by the gov't in the event of default, but the actual mortgages are made by major lenders.
'Liar loans' threaten to prolong mortgage crisis (AP)

Salvatore Fucile, 82 and his wife, Clara, pose for a photograph in the kitchen of their Springfield, Pa., home, Friday, Aug. 15, 2008. The couple wound up in an Option ARM from IndyMac after consolidating two mortgages on their suburban Philadelphia home. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)AP - In the mortgage industry, they are called "liar loans" — mortgages approved without requiring proof of the borrower's income or assets. The worst of them earn the nickname "ninja loans," short for "no income, no job, and (no) assets."



Bailout concerns slam Freddie, Fannie shares (Reuters)

The corporate logo for Freddie Mac is seen at its headquarters building in McLean, Virginia in this July 23, 2008 file photo. (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - Investors dumped shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Monday after a newspaper report said government officials may have no choice but to effectively nationalize the U.S. housing finance titans.


home       | site map |       Disclaimer |       Privacy Policy
© 2006